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Adrianna K's avatar

Hi Dr. Tisby! I’m a Footnotes subscriber and I just finished listening to this last episode of the White Nation Under God series. The whole series has been so incredible and informative!! Thank you so much! I wonder if you might be willing to go into more depth in a future episode or article about how conservatism (like Rev. Armstrong described) can lead to an embrace or acceptance of White Christian Nationalism. It would be helpful to understand more clearly how the two are directly connected. Thank you!

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Mark Fedeli's avatar

It’s funny, as I think about my story above, especially the power of my dad’s example to me, after more reflections on my words above, I see I am really missing a big point. I haven’t escaped the toxicity. I still feel it and deal with it every day. I was part of the problem, even as I felt like I saw through the problem.

I was a small group leader in that church I left. So many of my spiritual habits, including my sense of calling and self-justifications for how I set my goals, were and are wrapped up in either protecting or defending elements of white Christian nationalism, especially the theological books and ideas around the doctrines of grace those churches taught. There was a ton of legalism in that church masked as humility, and the baggage people have carried from the failed experiment of Sovereign Grace Ministries is truly multi-generational.

It sucks to think about. I am glad I left, but that toxicity and presumption of spiritual superiority still lives in me and comes out through my own toxicity. It’s an every day fight, played out in my anxiety levels and my communication patterns.

This discussion really spoke to me today about all of this, and it says what I’m trying to get at far better than I can now.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-disrupters-faith-changing-culture/id1495107302?i=1000586124890

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