Christian Nationalism! Part 1

God's way or man's way?

Becoming a Christian nation sounds like an ideal goal, the best thing Christians could ever dream of. I would agree if all or even if most leaders demonstrated true discipleship, as seen in personal growth, humility and a demonstration of the love of Jesus for everyone. However, according to Jesus, this will never happen. Jesus said, "The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few (Matthew 7:13)." Somehow, we have started thinking that if we just pass a bunch of laws dictating how people should live, that will make our country a Christian nation. As I read the Bible, this is not at all what Jesus envisioned for healthy Christianity. If we do not pay attention to what Jesus actually taught, we are going to totally miss His vision and His plan!

Jesus said His kingdom was a spiritual kingdom, one that is within the hearts of people who believe and trust in Him. He said, “The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).” He obviously did not come to establish a physical kingdom or He would not have allowed himself to be put to death only three years into his ministry. He knew God the Father had a spiritual kingdom in mind. After the Resurrection, He directed his followers to go into all the world to preach the Good News about this spiritual kingdom which people would enter through life-changing trust in Jesus. In this spiritual kingdom, people are changed from the inside out, causing them to actively show the love of God to people in every way possible.

Jesus’ followers themselves did not talk about making one’s nation a totally “Christian” nation. The early Christians tried to live by the teachings of Jesus in their private lives. They were following in the footsteps of Jesus, who emphasized a very key principle, what we call the Golden Rule. Jesus said, “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12).” It’s actually quite proactive, not just don’t do things to people you would not want done to you, but also to think and act on how you yourself would like to be treated in any situation.

To me, following the Golden Rule creates the biggest issue with forming a Christian Nation: Creating laws which force religious behavior that should be voluntary, violates the Golden Rule. Jesus said that loving ones’ neighbor [anyone you come in contact with] is the second greatest commandment, second only to loving God with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30,31). Paul pointed to the “law and the prophets” when he wrote “The entire law is summed up in a single command, “Love your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5:14).” In actuality, when we love God as we are asked to do, we will naturally love everyone else, because that is what Christian people, who are filled with His Spirit, do. Forcing other people to live like we want them to do, is not what Christians are called to do. However, one might ask, buy what about criminal behavior? I address that issue below.

So, in more detail, just how does being a Christian Nation violate the Golden Rule? As I listen to what many Christian Nationalists want, they often say that to begin with, they want “prayer put back in schools.” In general, from what I have heard, they want to go back to reciting the Lord’s Prayer and Bible reading in schools, as they did back in the '40's, ‘50’s and ‘60’s. 

The Lord’s Prayer and Bible reading are obviously important, positive behaviors when voluntary. However, have we stopped to consider that we are a country with many different religions and philosophies? What about children from other religions? Are we thinking about how they and their parents might feel? The Golden Rule teaches us empathy.

So, imagine for a moment the reverse, with most of the country being Muslim and you, a Christian, are in the minority. Would you want your child to be required to listen to and say prayers to Mohammed? Or be the only child not going to a Muslim special event in the middle of the day, and then having other children try to convert your child to Islam? Christianity is not about forcing one's faith on other people. It has always been about people being free to choose God, free to choose Jesus, free to choose a spiritual life, not being forced to do so or to feel ostracized if they do not participate.

Christians don’t want their child’s school experience to be totally secular with little attention to faith and I get that completely. Do you or did you teach your children that they can pray anywhere? Teach them to pray quietly when they get to school and throughout the day. That will probably mean much more spiritually to your children than teachers forcing them to recite a memorized prayer and having a Bible scripture read, every day, that no one is paying attention to. This seldom contributes to genuine faith and can develope resentment from unbelievers. I have been there when I was young, and I saw how the kids treated the daily prayer and Bible reading time. It was often a joke! In high school, some kid would pick out a weird verse. One favorite joke was reading, “Jesus wept,” the shortest verse in the Bible. Then in other situations, kids have been made to feel like heathen because they didn’t attend a particular youth revival that the school had dismissed classes for during the school day, so all the kids could attend. This was common in one neighboring Tennessee county, even after school prayer had been outlawed. Not surprisingly, one child’s family sued.

However, what many people don’t realize is that even since the Supreme Court ruled against public school sponsored prayer, students have been free to form Christian groups that meet at school, particularly in high school, if they can get a teacher to be a “sponsor.” Our youngest son did this back in the late ‘90’s at his high school, in a city that many people might think would be one of the least likely places in Tennessee, to allow it, Oak Ridge, the site of Oak Ridge National Lab, where uranium was separated to make the atomic bomb. It was a city known and still known for having an extremely high number of scientists and intellectuals. He found a teacher who agreed to sit outside the room after school and be the sponsor. Our son and his friends met there for almost a full year after school with no hassle.

There have been other Christian groups that have met at the high school, too, mostly before or after school, which have been initiated by students. Just as these groups are allowed, groups of children of other faiths should be allowed to meet at schools, too, as long as other children and especially teachers don’t make non-participants feel pressured to attend any religious group or feel ostracized if they don’t meet with those groups.

Prayer in school, is just one issue on which Christian Nationalists want to focus. Another is “LGBTQ” legislation. In my opinion, making laws that cause people of “other” sexual orientation to feel discriminated against is not following the Golden Rule. Some issues such as gun control, abortion and medical care get complicated. Legislators in my state (who almost all call themselves Christian) do not seem to listen to what the majority of citizens have indicated through many polls. Instead, the legislative votes are suspiciously almosy ¹always in accord with expressed stances of wealthy groups and individuals such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), Charles Koch and others.

Recently, gun control legislation was proposed by Tennessee's Republican governor to the state, mostly Republican, legislators. In the news, during this time, a strong public statement came from the NRA telling legislators not to listen to “radicals” who want greater gun control. Not surprisingly, no reform was passed by the legislators, despite several polls indicating that most Tennesseans want some gun control. The NRA had spoken! So who do these legislators, many of whom espouse the creation of a Christian Nation, actually respond to when they vote? It does not seem to be their constituents, who, by the way, were not “radicals,” but ordinary Tennesseans concerned for the safety of their schools and communities.

So, what about crime? Certainly, we can’t let crime happen because of the Golden Rule. The issue over whose values we should follow and enforce is a legitimate consideration, which, even in a secular consideration, can get very complex. Journalist and public figure, Robert Reich, has written a book about values from a secular viewpoint, called “The Common Good,” and he makes an interesting, but useful distinction that could work for anyone, religious or not. He divides values into public and private. Public values are those that affect the safety of the public, no killing, no stealing, respecting the property of other people, and so forth. Private values are ones that decide personal relationships, such as marriage and other relationships, how to worship, how to dress, etc. He believes the nation would be less divided if we followed those distinctions. Even here, though, some issues could get complicated, such as what is a safety issue, but it would be more Christian, in my opinion, if religious beliefs were left up to private citizens. 

The problems with Christian Nationalism extend even beyond these concerns. Some of those espousing Christian Nationalism are advocates of White Supremacy, certainly not a Christian point of view. However, the leaders of Christian Nationalism do not seem to be actively disavowing that point of view. Instead, politics have started to dominate Christian Nationalism in a way that is not particularly Christian. Name calling, such as labeling people as “woke,” “radical,” “socialists,” etc., bashing people who are “pro-LGBTQ,” and threatening violence are not behaviors of true Christians. 

Jesus said to look at the fruit of those who claim to be Christian leaders. He said, “By their fruit you shall know them.” If you look at the context in the book of Matthew, where He said this (Matthew 7:15-20), He had just warned against false prophets (also translated public speaker/leader). He said, “Beware of false prophets/leaders who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. You will know them by their fruit.” Yes, we can’t personally judge anyone’s standing with God, but Jesus is saying we should not follow and cater to people who do not exhibit Christian  qualities in their speech and lives. Outwardly, false prophets/leaders look good, possibly agreeing with one or two “Christian” positions (ones which don’t cost them anything), but mainly they work to promote themselves and their own interests.

Jesus teaches us the qualities we should be looking for in our leaders: honesty, generosity, humility, forgiveness, respect, kindness, concern for the poor and more. No leader is perfect, but we should look for those who meet at least some of these characteristics. Later, in the same book, Jesus says in effect that If you want to be great in God’s kingdom you need to be a servant to all (Matthew 20:26). Instead, these days, many people are blindly putting unworthy people on false pedestals, which, eventually, will crumble.

I hope you will give these things some thought and express your opinion! There are other issues involved with Christian Nationalism that I will take up in a Part 2 article.