A Very Good Reason To Be Very Concerned...

December 13, 2022

All it takes for racist and authoritarian ideology to succeed is for good decent people to do nothing in response.

This is a threat to everything our constitution and the rule of law stands for.

The USA is not a "Christian" Nation. Never has been and never should be.

Unless of course we want to be just like the Middle Eastern theocracies. With their extremism and lack of civil liberties in toe.

Beware of what you wish for "Christian" Nationalists.

There is nothing Christian about "Christian" Nationalism.

As a researcher, I’ve tracked the ascendance of White Christian nationalism in the United States for years by following preachers, rallies, politicians, militias, and, sadly, insurrections. As a former evangelical minister, it’s a world that shaped my youth and young adulthood. However, even after years of researching some of the ugliest corners of the Internet and living through some of the most sensational religious-political spectacles around the country, there are times you can’t believe what you’re reading—and what others are too.

Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism is already a bestseller; it’s been in the top 2000 books on Amazon for weeks, and, since its November 1 release, it’s been charting in the top 500. This isn’t another fringe text touting an obscure ideology; the National Conservatism website has it at the top of their Books section, and it appears at a time when American Christians have begun to gladly accept the Christian nationalist label.

In June, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists.” In September, a University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll found that Christian nationalism is becoming a bigger factor among Republican voters, with 61% of Republican respondents saying they supported declaring the United States a Christian nation.

Christian nationalism is having a moment. Scholars and journalists are signaling its dangers in articles, op-eds, and books. Preachers and politicians are encouraging their flocks to take on the identity proudly as a way to blend their faith and politics. Yet, even if Christian nationalism has become part of common parlance over the last half year, Wolfe’s book signals the dangerous escalation of a movement. It goes well beyond the rhetoric of benign Christian patriotism to a theological justification for White ethnonationalism.

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