Christian nationalism is the belief that a country holding the same tenets as Christianity is Christian. It is the conflation of national identity and spiritual identity. It comes by way of the physical nation of Israel and the as-yet physical political reality of the kingdom of God on earth. The Jews viewed the Messiah as a political figure. The thronging mobs desperate for Barabbas back did so because the Jesus they envisioned entering into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday turned to want something more profound. And that was infuriating to them.
I am a patriot. Both parents are buried in one of our nation’s national cemeteries. My youngest son serves in the military. My uncles have served. Webster’s have been a part of the uniquely American fabric since we came over on the Second Charter of Virginia. I am proud to be an American. I do wave the flag. I like what our nation stands for and think it worth sacrificing for. But I cringe at writing those American bona fides1 because they are rarely enough.
During 20th Century McCarthyism, a myriad of ways were created to show one’s “true” patriotism. Even our “pledge of allegiance” was ratified officially as late as 1945, with “under God” inserted in 1954. Written by an abolitionist, famed “Battle Hymn of the Republic” was sung by the Union during the Civil War. It’s since been sung all over our Union. Our President’s place their hands on Bibles. Our currency says “In God We Trust.” I grew up in churches where we pledged allegiance to both the U.S. and Christian flags, and the Bible. It was a whole thing.
And here’s the thing: I like the lyrics of Battle Hymn! I put my hand over my heart when the national anthem is sung. I believe national belonging is culturally important and significant. And with the United States, the identifier is not ethnicity, but citizenry. Whoever is a citizen adheres to the national identity expected by being a citizen. There is a responsibility that accompanies national belonging, and rightly so.
I also travel the world quite a bit and am not naive about its various power structures and values. Not all cultural values produce the same effects, and rightly so. There is an action/re-action component to our choices. The gods of this world can be cruel. Some places have morally abhorrent governments.
That said, not all cultural values are a zero sum game. I can appreciate the variety of cultures, places, and peoples because of the perspectives they bring through their various national identities. “Moral” superiority isn’t something one nation can claim exclusively.
Fundamentally, I am not a Christian nationalist for three reasons.
I
Conflating national and spiritual allegiances fosters national idolatries.
One of the most frustrating answers to the question, “Are you a Christian?” is the national answer. The patriot thinks, “This is America. Of course I’m a Christian!” It has nothing to do with actual submission to Jesus as Lord. It has to do with the religious jargon and rhetoric surrounding that jargon and patriotic language. By the way, this (was) largely the assumption by foreigners of Americans everywhere. I’ve lost count of how many Europeans I’ve met who simply assume religious identity = national identity. Of course you’re a Buddhist, you’re from Tibet. Naturally, you’re a shintoist, you’re from Japan. I knew immediately you’re an atheist, because you’re from Denmark. It blows their minds when I tell them that I’m not a Christian because I was surrounded by Christians or was raised by Christians. Everyone assumes a cultural brainwashing, denying people of any serious internal processing of spiritual allegiance or identity. And for some, it’s just easier to give a trite answer to a deep question of belonging. Plus, it’s easier to get “riled up” in a pinch.
When we raise “one nation under God” to the same status as “Jesus is Lord” we rarely wind up worshipping Jesus. We wind up worshipping the nation. And our nation can be a cruel mistress. We begin doing things in the name of our new god that Jesus would not allow. Like a child seeking out each parent for permission to do what they want, we’ll simply go to the “god” who is most convenient and willing to go along. That national apparatus will begin to eat its own tail. The Russians conflated their government with god, seeking to replace God altogether. The Ayatollah turns his nation into a deistic apparatus that rarely acts in the interests of the people, but stokes national fires with theistic explosives.
The idolization of America moves our worship from a Who to a What. Our faith ceases to become personal and is instead rooted in an ideology or hope. We slowly, but inexorably, move away from Someone to whom we're relating, and we begin justifying our actions to protect the ideologies we seek. Fear takes over faith, which is how idolatries behave.
II
We’ve run these experiments before. They didn’t go well.
Insanity is doing the same things over and over expecting different results. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.2 I lived in Vorarlberg, Austria, where the Counter-Reformation hit…hard. Christian nation-states went to war against other Christian nation-states over theological differences. A nation that identifies itself as “God’s nation” has to define exactly what that means and why. And woe to those who disagree. It’s not just “Catholic v. Protestant.” Ask Ulrich Zwingli, a Protestant who hunted down former students because their common study led them to an Anabaptist conviction. Within Catholicism, try the Spanish Inquisition. At one point, the Church was so hated by the populace in France that they hoisted a prostitute on her period onto the roof of Notre Dame so she could “bleed” over the church. My point here is not to be crude, but just to say we ran the experiment.
From Constantine onward, we have seen what happens when nations march in the name of God. We know the good (yes, there was good!). We know the bad. The Church called it the “Golden Ages.” The people called it the “Dark Ages.” Same timeframe with very different perspectives.
When the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower, they were seeking a freedom of religious practice not allowed under Anglicanism. This wasn’t persecution by atheists or Islamic fanatics, but by other Christian religious forms. In my view, let’s leave the trails we’ve already trodden down in our rearview.
III
Frameworks and identities need not be the same. The tension between the two is helpful, not hurtful.
The United States does have a Judeo-Christian framework. I believe that’s a good thing. When YHWH gave the Ten Commandments and national laws, He also made it clear He wanted the people’s hearts. The challenge was that when the laws were there, the people focused on how to break them or keep them, leaving the Spirit of those laws behind. Jesus came in to remind us about the Spirit of the law (read his Sermon on the Mount). This brings in a rather important distinction:
A nation can have a Christian framework without being a Christian nation.
For Christians, this distinction is crucial because submission to Jesus as Lord is so intensely revelatory. It is the Christian framework that invites non-Christians in to participate and disagree. One prominent Baptist pastor in the 20th century made the comment that fighting for the rights of atheists to be atheists in America provides the canopy of freedom that allows Christians to worship openly.
This also invites disagreement by those who are Christians when non-Christians use a religious framework immorally. Samuel Marsden spoke out against his own British government when they came into New Zealand because they were practicing things in the name of God that had nothing to do with God. In other words, the separation between framework and Christian allows the Christian to speak out about the application between the two for those who do not come under the submission to Jesus as Lord.
This is not the same as keeping Christians out of government. Rather, it is inviting genuine Christians into government precisely so that we don’t conflate Christian identity with national polity.
There’s another aspect to this as well. Were Christianity the same as American patriotism, then Christians are already operating under a false government. We serve a benevolent theocracy (a Triune, loving God), not a representative democracy. So our entire orientation of government is viewed through a very different lens. We not only believe there is a King and Lord, but that His reign will be the greatest and best thing happening for eternity. That’s very different than putting our hope in a two-party political system with three branches of government.
But I would suggest that this different lens allows Christians to see where current political systems attempt (or fail) to achieve the “Spirit of the law.” Where it goes pear-shaped is when we conflate Scripture with our cultural preferences. Seeking the “essence” of German-ness led to German romanticism led to cleaning for an Aryan nation (whatever that means). All of those were cultural inventions coopted and leveraged for political national evils.
I do believe in a Christian national framework because the Christian believe in providing room for choice. I choose to follow Jesus; I am not coerced. For that choice to exist, I have to live in a place where that choice is possible.
I also recognize that this means our American experiment is unique (and uniquely messy). The multiplicity of religious and secular perspectives pushing to topple that framework, along with Christian voices yelling at the misapplication of those frameworks makes for a lot of noise.
This is why the “how” is as important as the “what.” How we steer and correct is as important as what we protect or assert and why. Pastor James (early church in Jerusalem) puts it this way:
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
These days, I think we could all use a little more peace.