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What Is Christian Nationalism?

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What Is Christian Nationalism?

Short, informative definitions of the most pernicious element infecting Christianity in the U.S.

Jemar Tisby, PhD
Jan 8, 2021
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What Is Christian Nationalism?

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I have called Christian Nationalism the greatest threat to Christianity in the United States.

If you look at pictures of “Stop the Steal” protests and the historic insurrection that occurred at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, you will notice all the trappings of the Christian religion.

From signs that said “Jesus 2020” right along side ones that said “Trump 2020” to a literal wooden cross being carried by members of the mob, the fusion of Christian symbolism with a perverted form of patriotism has been on full display.

Members of the Proud Boys and others help James Chapman of Belleville raise a large red cedar cross he brought as hundreds of Trump supporters gather outside of Michigan’s State Capitol building in Lansing on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 during a rally to pray for Trump.
Members of the Proud Boys at a rally in Lansing, Michigan. Photo Credit: Ryan Garza

Yet whenever I mention Christian Nationalism and its pernicious presence in US Christianity the obtuse and obsequious often retort, “But what is Christian Nationalism.”

Amid the willfully ignorant, there are also legitimate effort to understand Christian Nationalism by people who are genuinely curious. The definitions below mainly come from sociologists Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead.

I encourage you to read their book Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States.

  • Christian nationalism—an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity* with American civic belonging and participation - Samuel L. Perry and Andrew L. Whitehead

  • “Christian” in this sense represents more of an ethno-cultural and political identity that denotes a specific constellation of religious affiliation, cultural values , race, and nationality . - Samuel L. Perry and Andrew L. Whitehead 

Trump supporters at a rally in D.C. on January 6, 2021. Photo Credit: Ken Cedeno/UPI

The authors also posted the graphic below on social media from the Christians Against Christian Nationalism website.

Pay special attention to how they define the “Christian” in Christian Nationalism.

“But the ‘Christian’ in Christian nationalism is more about identity than religion. It carries with it assumptions about nativism, white supremacy, authoritarianism, patriarchy, and militarism.

So the next time someone asks you to define Christian Nationalism, just share this post!

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What Is Christian Nationalism?

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Uppity White Man
Nov 10, 2022

The Lord will always pick up His end of the log. We must lift our end and we haven't been doing that. God gave us the power to take this land and manage it in his name (all land eventually reverts to God) his land to be guided by Christian framework and morality. Not other cultural and religious cultures.

America has grown into the freest, most charitable, and most welcoming country in the history of the world because of that moral framework. That Judeo-Christian structure has the sustainability of 3000 years of civilization.

Our churches must become the framework and structure of that America once more. Our churches must become the basis of our culture and politics once again. The Constitution forbids the establishment of a state religion. Other than that Christians have free reign and should do so while we have a somewhat conservative court.

Churches are full of patriots and good Christians as a basis for organizations.

We owe it to GOD for giving us this wonderful motherland and we should keep it in His name it is the only thing that will save our country. Our laws must always be secular our culture must be aggressively Christian. I am a Christian Nationalist and MAGA. God, Family, and Country.

State collectivism atheism has again reared its ugly head, call it Communism, Socialism. Social Democracy or co-opted American Democrats. It is all about power being centralized in the core of the government and separating individual Americans into competing groups rather than a United America and stealing our freedom and individual power, our power to associate, protest peacefully, or even communicate.

We now live in tyranny with political prisoners, the government pulling opposition politicians out of bed, in the middle of the night, by jackbooted thugs, rigged elections, and the government coercing social media into stopping free speech

Only GOD will save us and only if we pick up our end of the log.

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