Labels can be important and very handy. If the label on the chocolate bar says “75% cocoa” then I’m happy. If it says “Milk Chocolate” I walk on by. Every thing on earth has a label, or in other words, a name. Without labels, there would be no way to actually meaningfully communicate about anything.
“Christian Nationalist” is a label. Tonight I looked up some definitions, and they are plentiful and diverse. Some outright contradict each other. Liberal outlets on the interweb will paint it in the blackest light possible, while some sites actually make it sound like something not only morally acceptable but just and correct.
I guess it depends on your own experience, because the term is relatively fresh. It takes a while for language to evolve, and “Christian Nationalist” is a term I think we ought to let percolate for a while.
Here’s why:
If you define it the way Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary does, you get this:
Christian nationalism, in short, is a worldview where one’s theological imagination is coopted by state power. It exchanges the church’s loyalty to the Lord of Peace for a false god fashioned by the myth of American exceptionalism. In fact, Christian nationalism is a form of political idolatry that distorts our knowledge of God and neighbor through a xenophobic, racialized and militarized gospel that is at odds with the life and teachings of Jesus.
(https://ambs.edu/learn-now/what-is-christian-nationalism/)
That’s pretty negative! Nothing redeeming there.
According to another website:
Matthew McCullough defines American Christian Nationalism as “an understanding of American identity and significance held by Christians wherein the nation is a central actor in the world-historical purposes of the Christian God.”
(https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-is-the-meaning-of-christian-nationalism.html)
Huge difference.
The obvious conclusion: we all ought to very careful when we call out Christian Nationalism, either in good light or bad, unless we also define very carefully what we really mean.
The latter definition above is speaking plainly of the simple character of the United States of America since its foundation. Despite what Gregory Boyd (author of Myth of a Christian Nation) may think, America was founded as a Christian nation and has strongly held to its character up until only the past few decades. I don’t have time or space to go into it here, but I can strongly recommend a must-read book on this topic.
It’s a history book, written by David Barton and Tim Barton, called The American Story. It’s a two-volume American history, and I have only read the first one, but it is an absolutely incredible read.
The Bartons own the largest private collection of original American founding documents outside the Smithsonian. They are born again Christians, and are the best experts I know on American history. The book includes hundreds of quotes, directly from the writings of the founders of our country, beginning with Reverend Hunt who, in 1607, arrived at Cape Henry, planted a cross he had brought all the way across the pond from the old country, and made this declaration:
We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these
shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us,
and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this
Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains
and may this land, along with England, be evangelists to the world. May all who
see this cross remember what we have done here, and may those who come here
to inhabit join us in this Covenant and this most noble work, that the Holy
Scriptures may be fulfilled. From these very shores the gospel shall go forth, not
only to this new world, but the entire world.
The book goes on through the foundation of our nation, quoting many of the founding fathers and many other influential people who helped form this nation into what it needed to be. It is sufficient to simply state that American was truly founded upon biblical truths, for a biblically-minded people, for biblical purposes.
“But there was slavery!” many shout. Yes, but just read the book.
“The government abused the Indians!” Yes, but just tread the book.
“The founding fathers wanted a separation between church and state!” Wrong. Read the book.
From prayer meetings in every single session of Congress, to state governors and senators calling for prayer and fasting, to the federal government calling the entire country to prayer and fasting, especially during times of national duress, the entire history of America is one of utter reliance upon the providence of God Almighty (although it may be argued that we’ve really messed it up these past few decades).
There is no possible argument one can make to me now that would convince me that American was not founded as a Christian Nation. Our history books have been dumbed down and history has been outright re-written in order to hide the obvious truth. American was founded for a morally upright people and, in the words of John Adams:
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
So, back to Christian Nationalism.
People (among them many modern Christians) shout and yell and get their knickers in a twist when they hear the term Christian Nationalist. For them it’s all negative, it’s an intrusion on the pure and holy mandate for Christians to remain untainted by the world, which to them apparently means hide out and touch no unclean thing until Jesus comes to rescue us all from an ever-increasingly-wicked world via a rapture in the clouds.
As I have written elsewhere recently, this rapture theory is nothing but fear and ignorance. America’s best years are ahead of her, and many of you reading this will now think I am either insane or hopelessly ignorant. Well, just hide and watch. The Bible is crystal clear about God’s plan for this world: His glory will cover the entire earth, and nations will bow to Him, THEN the end will come.
When I think about Christian Nationalism, I am reminded of the Black Robe Regiment, pastors during the time of the American Revolution who would preach on Sunday, and under their black robes they wore their military uniforms. For them it was a service to God to fight from the freedom of this nation, and pastors today would do well to leave behind their cowardice and fear of losing their congregation and tell the truth about serving God and country.
I believe being a Christian Nationalist means that I have a desire for God to bless this nation economically and socially so that we may be the brightest light for Jesus Christ in the world.
I believe it means that we ought to live by the rule of law – laws that defend righteousness, freedom, purity, and justice for all.
I believe it means that all social and political leaders do not need to be Christians, but they need to abide by the Constitution and other laws that portray God’s idea of justice and mercy.
I believe it means that we ought to fight hard for fair elections, honesty in the financial dealings of the nation, enforcement of the rule of law, and biblical definitions of men, women, and families.
I believe it means equal treatment of all citizens, removal of non-citizens, and a way for non-citizens to become citizens through the lawful means already in existence.
I believe it means that our nation must stand with Israel as her strongest ally, because those who pray for and bless Israel will themselves be blessed.
If these things make me a Christian Nationalist, then I wear the title proudly, and I will strive for that end. The time has come for pastors who avoid the issue of politics altogether in their churches to be judged. I believe such pastors and churches will become more and more irrelevant as time goes on, because true revival has come, and with that the truth of who God wants us all to be in this world, and that is a people who are devoted to HIS causes in all aspects of our culture.
Why?
Because He told to do exactly that. “Thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Ours is a kingdom mandate, and it’s not just American Christian Nationalism we need to be concerned about. Our mandate is to bring the Kingdom of God to the WHOLE EARTH.