White Christian Nationalists Are Scrambling to Respond to Public Criticism of their Ideology
An event hosted by the Family Research Council and Regent University reveals their confusion and ignorance about what to do.
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By now you’ve likely heard the term “white Christian Nationalism.” The phrase has increasingly become part of the cultural vernacular to help explain the authoritarian and anti-democratic forces trampling time-honored political traditions such as the peaceful transfer of power.
Defining the Term
I define white Christian nationalism this way…
White Christian Nationalism
White Christian Nationalism is an ethnocultural ideology that uses Christian symbolism to create a permission structure for the acquisition of political power and social control.
Now that the term has gained wider recognition, white Christian Nationalists, many of them pastors and politicians, are attempting to explain and rebrand the the ideology.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the personification of “saying the quiet part out loud”, proudly proclaimed on Twitter, “I call myself a Christian nationalist and that’s not a bad word.”
Christian Nationalists organized and led “Jericho Marches” across the country in support of “The Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former president Trump. They proudly fused their understanding of Christianity and what they considered the righteous cause of overturning valid election results.
But scholars, experts and activists are on to them. They are calling out white Christian nationalism for what it is—the most urgent threat to democracy and the witness of the church in the United States today.
The Scramble to Respond
One sign of the growing unease of white Christian nationalists is a town hall event called “The Rise of the Term Christian Nationalism: Where did it come from and why is it being used?”
They describe the purpose of their event to explain where the term came from, why it is being spoken of so frequently, and how it is supposedly used to “suppress” conservative votes.
One of the speakers, Dr. Mark David Hall, said that white Christian Nationalism, “is a term invented by critics.”
He neglects to mention that those “critics” are not only scholars, experts, and activists well-versed in identifying white Christian nationalism, but many of them are also Christians themselves.
One of the presenters for the town hall took particular aim at some comments I made on social media.
Steven Conglin shared several screen shots of tweets I had posted and added his own commentary (see below). I’m not sure why he singled me out, but I am glad that my stance against white Christian nationalism is clear and unequivocal.
The entire event demonstrated a lack of clear understanding of the technical uses of the white Christian nationalism and displayed how Christians on the far right are scrambling to understand it and respond to those who disagree with its tenets.
Faithful America, an organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of all people in the United States, not just conservative Christians, organized an event in response to the town hall.
I participated in the event along with Rev. Jen Butler, Rev. Nathan Empsall, and Rev. Adam Russell.
We defined white Christian nationalism, rebutted specific comments and lines of reasoning from the town hall, and encouraged all people, especially Christians, to continue pointing out the dangers of white Christian nationalism.
You can view our response here: The Threat of Christian Nationalism
It’s Working
The desperate clambering to either rebrand or reject the term white Christian nationalism means our efforts are starting to have an effect.
While stalwart adherents may not change their perspectives, by continually identifying white Christian nationalism and the danger it presents to true freedom, we can make it harder for this ideology to spread unchecked.
Keep talking about white Christian nationalism. Keep defining it. Keep explaining it. Keep sharing about it on social media and in-person. Keep reminding people there are other ways to think about God and nation and faith and politics.
We have no guarantee that white Christian nationalists will not succeed in their political program to undermine democracy or in their aims to co-opt an entire religion, but we can and must make sure we are not silent about it.
It's sadly fascinating to see reality erupt—again!—after a brief respite of love and appreciation for our siblings in the BIPOC communities. And as we've seen from history, in nearly every advance of human rights in the United States the blowback has been ferocious. After the enactment of the Civil Rights Amendments in the 1860s we saw the creation and evangelization of Jim Crow in the South reaching across America through the resurrected Ku Klux Klan. After the enormous changes of the 1950s and 1960s and the Civil Rights Acts and Voting Rights Acts we saw the blowback of the Democrats losing Congress in 1966 and the election of Nixon and then Reagan. After the historic election of our first Black president we saw the eruption of those who elected a president to destroy his every accomplishment and then in the next election started an insurrection at the nation's Capitol to destroy the process of carrying out a valid election.
And after the Black Lives Matter movement and the Me Too movement we have again the blowback of the Christian white nationalists who are affronted by the idea—and the theological truths—that we are all equal and worthy of dignity, grace, acceptance and love in a leveled playing field where those who have been disadvantaged are given equality *and* equity.
History doesn't repeat itself, of course. Not every advance is fully met with revanchment. And some of the changes inspired by the masses protesting their unequal treatment have made a foothold in business, law, and even the church.
But what we have to grapple with in our push for changes is the reality that people as people are very difficult to teach, inspire, lead, or grow. Those who are our leaders in politics and religion and law and education must have that grounded belief that their efforts, while good, can't be assumed to "work" until there is a moment of crisis that reveals character.
I feel bad for the pastors who thought that their churches and their Bible studies and their small groups were changing their attendees. The election of 2020 showed that the in-depth Greek word studies and the six week sermon series and the music and the genial agreement of their congregations was a commitment to discipleship and love that was as deep as a stripe of paint.
Sometimes I lie awake at night with troubling questions about what I believe. Is it true? Does God really exist? Do we who believe in Jesus simply follow a made-up religion? My questions stem not from "errors in the Bible" or issues of the contradiction between certain Biblical stories and scientific observations.
My questions stem from the understanding of church history throughout the ages, focusing on the United States, that has had such a rich tradition of teaching and cultural influence from the Christian churches and yet has been the birthplace of near-uneradicable racism towards the BIPOC communities.
How is it that this Gospel of Truth and Liberation is so powerless against the American sin of racism? The words I was taught in my earliest years about the gospel being the power of God to salvation seem nearly impossible to believe when I see the people who have shared this gospel with me descend into the madness of Christian nationalism. That "gospel" seems to have had but one end in mind: the creation of a white ethnostate where only "one true religion" is allowed.
Where did we lose our way, and what do we need to do to gain our way back to a religion that is both true *and* lovely, grace-filled *and* transformative, comforting *and* demanding in the ways that Jesus not only showed us but told us were the marks of a gospel encounter with him?
I still believe in the power of God to salvation through the words of Jesus and the works of Holy Spirit under the grace of the Creator. And I'm still going to believe that change is gonna come. Yes it will.
We must simply continue to sow and water seeds in hope of harvest, giving to God the work to grow the true crop of love and grace.
Thanks for a very thoughtful essay. You always spark both my imagination about and my willingness to continue in the work.
Dear Jemar, Christian Nationalism is dangerous. I thank you for being on the front lines of it. I would love to be. I am a white woman 74 years old. I have been writing about looking back on my life. In my reflections I see how I knew I should speak against the debauchery that was so cleverly subtle in deceiving as it happened. But since I did not, I would love to be able to speak up with a clear voice now. If I may be so bold as to ask you if I could share a few lines of what I wrote to be an encouragement to you. In doing so, I would feel that my voice can at least speak out against this diabolic heresy of Christian Nationalism. Sandra Taylor, Huntsville, AL