Progressives fear “Christian nationalism” because of simple math. In the United States, politicians are using their executive and legislative power to make many aspects of Biblical Christian life illegal. To ensure our religious freedom and parental rights, the Judeo-Christian community must become political. Data shows that the majority of the Judeo-Christian community is no more likely to be registered to vote and vote than the general population, only about 50% actually vote. The 2024 election could be an exception to this generality. Unfortunately, we are probably too late for 2024!
In the United States there are about 75 million Catholics and many support traditional Biblical and family values, morality, and ethics, especially in Hispanic communities. The US population also has 18.5 million Baptists including 3.1 million African Americans in the in the National Baptist Convention, 8-10 million Mormons, and at least 4 million US citizens in other Biblically Christian denominations. In addition, an undetermined number of Muslims are actively supporting traditional family values. Therefore, those who support the traditional family values, a Biblical worldview, and our Judeo-Christian Heritage total at least 110 million US citizens. If 60% are of voting age, then 66 million are eligible to vote in our elections. This is a silent majority that must be politically activated and silent no more if we are to save the United States of America as we know it.
If we were able to increase our national voter registration and election participation from 50% to 75%, and only 33% actually voted based on Biblically conservative values, we would add approximately 5.5 million conservative Biblical Christian voters in presidential elections. Such an increase would require voter registration and get out the vote campaigns where necessary. Similar increases in the Christian vote would also impact state and local elections, including school board elections changing the nature of public education one board member and school board at a time. In these situations, there would be no question regarding the winner of the popular vote in election after election. Conservative candidates supportive of Judeo-Christian values from the Presidency, US Congress, state, and local offices would also be elected. As in 2016, election of candidates supportive of our Judeo-Christian values could also impact the composition of the Supreme and inferior courts of the United States. In the current situation, replacement of one progressive Justice with another Scalia would create a 7-2 Constitutional originalist Supreme Court majority or maintain the current 6-3 majority that would last for decades. Is this why progressives fear Christian nationalism?
Progressives could lose political power and their ability to enact their antireligious, anti-family, immoral social agenda. Jon Brown’s February 21, 2024 The Christian Post article, Rob Reiner’s ‘God and Country’ is a schizophrenic, partisan broadside against conservative Christians is a review of the documentary which earned just $38,415 in 85 theaters during its opening weekend. The subtitle for the article, “Film suggests ‘Christian nationalists’ are thirsting for political violence, highlights of Brown’s highly critical review that follows:
“’God and Country,’ … produced by archliberal Rob Reiner that hit theaters last week, is a partisan broadside that deceptively conflates so-called ‘Christian nationalism’ with positions held by a large swath of conservative Christians.
The premise of the film is schizophrenic, demonizing Christians with inflammatory insinuations that invoke the Third Reich, while at the same time deriding them for having a persecution complex because they fear a growing cultural hostility.
Of the 18 expert talking heads recruited to opine on “the implications of ‘Christian nationalism’ and how it distorts not only the constitutional republic, but Christianity itself,” … the movement, … is broadly defined… as ‘basically the idea that America was founded as a so-called Christian nation, and that our law should be based on the Bible….’
A senior adviser at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, at one point lists political positions common among conservative Christians to describe his idea of the ‘Christian nationalism’ that supposedly poses such a danger to the republic.
“‘Christian nationalists’ don’t like feminism, they want to roll that back,” he says. ‘They are appalled at the idea of LGBTQ rights; they want to roll those back. They do not like legal abortion, they want to end that in all 50 states. They do not like the idea that we have a secular public school system….’
‘Christian nationalists’… oppose Critical Race Theory and pornographic books in schools, as well as those Evangelicals who seek political change by mobilizing the electorate to vote for candidates who reflect their worldview. Entities like The Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA and Hillsdale College that contribute to such an effort are maligned as “Christian nationalist organizations.’
The film suggests that adhering to conservative Christian views is bad enough, but any attempt at securing political representation to enact them is presumably dangerous and even idolatrous, evincing what Russell Moore describes as ‘a valorization of power itself.’
Former President Donald Trump… is the main villain of the documentary, who supposedly played on the racism and lust for power simmering in the ‘Christian nationalist’ heart…, and tired accusations that Christians who support him have ‘abandoned their core principles.’
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Ph.D., a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University, [claims that] ‘Christian nationalists’ to believe political violence is acceptable….
After implying that ‘Christian nationalists’ are thirsting for bloodshed, the film [lays] January 6… at the feet of ‘Christian nationalism….’
‘This threat of what I no longer even pretend is Evangelicalism — this white religious nationalism — may present one of the greatest dangers ever to our democratic experiment… It’s an ugly exercise to try to imagine what America might do as a fascist state.’
“Christian nationalism’ uses Christianity as a means to an end…, some form of authoritarianism….’
‘The biggest sin, if you will, of ‘Christian nationalism’, is that it sees pluralism, [‘a theory that there are more than one or more than two kinds of ultimate reality (Church and State)] as a weakness, and not what it is: the foundation of what it means to be American,’ says Reza Aslan, who abandoned Christianity for Islam and once proved his own radical devotion to multiculturalism by eating a cooked human brain with a fringe Hindu sect on CNN….
The clear takeaway is that for many on the Left, ‘Christian nationalism’ is simply any form of Christianity that seeks political representation without first bowing the knee to their progressive orthodoxy.
Many factions vie for their place in the rough-and-tumble of the public square, but conservative Christians seem to be the only ones expected to give up the battle, even by those within their own ranks.”
Reiner’s “God + Country” documentary demonstrates that progressives fear “Christian nationalism” as a potential Biblically Christian check on their immoral social agenda. Additionally, progressives are unwilling to reveal the cost of the production. Does that mean they are afraid to reveal how much they are willing to spend to call Conservative Bible believing Christians fascists and racists. It simply shows progressive ignorance concerning Christianity. One could ask whether progressives just project their intolerant, fascist, and racist attitudes onto Christians. Again, progressives fear “Christian nationalism” as Reiner’s God + Country so ineptly demonstrates. Rob Reiner and his fellow Marxist progressives fear “Christian nationalist” because they encourage Biblical Christians to register to vote and actually vote according to their Biblical values.
A conservative, Biblical Christian perspective on “Christian nationalism” is provided in an article by William Wolfe, op-ed coordinator for The Christian Post. Excerpts from Wolfe’s The Christin Post article, What do secular critics of ‘Christian Nationalism’ really want? follow:
“Apparently, any Christian who wants to see just laws grounded in biblical principles and Christian morality enacted in America these days is now a scary ‘Christian nationalist,’ according to secularists.
As Dr. Mark David Hall explained in his white paper on ‘Christian Nationalism’ for the Freedom Center’s Theology of Politics series, ‘Christian nationalism’ is an amorphous concept that is primarily used to tar Christians who are motivated by their faith to advocate for policies that critics don’t like.’
Now, many politically engaged conservative Christians either don’t like — or outright reject — the label of ‘Christian nationalism.’ Many argue that it’s unhelpful, too vague, too provocative, ill-defined, etc….
But what I think all Christians need to understand is that what the secular opponents of ‘Christian nationalism’ mean when they use that phrase is just ‘conservative Christians who vote their values.’ One of the main ways they hide this, and simultaneously try to shame and silence conservative Christians, is by accusing them of ‘lusting for power’ [when it is secularist who lust for power].
Because what these activists masquerading as ‘scholars’ want is nothing less than to silence politically engaged conservative Christians. We can’t let that happen. Because what America needs now, more than ever, is even more Christians voting their values and bringing their faith into the public square. That’s not a quest for power, it’s just biblical faithfulness….
Christians must unapologetically and wholeheartedly love and embrace God’s created order, vision, and commands for human flourishing — and work to manifest that vision, as faithfully as they can, in their national environment.
This means Christians must embrace a pro-life political posture as an unavoidable outworking of Exodus 20:7, Leviticus 18:2, Leviticus 20:1-5, and Psalm 139:13-16.
Christians must also acknowledge God-given binary gender reality and embrace complementarian gender roles because of the clear teachings of Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:21-25, 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, Ephesians 5:22-33, and 1 Timothy 2:12.
Christians must oppose homosexuality and transgenderism as sin because we are constrained by Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:24-27, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
Because each of these issues touches on the sacred nature of the [Image of God] and the marriage of our spiritual and physical realities, I argue that to subvert the priority of these concerns to lesser political interests, whether economic, environmental, or even related to the tone and tenor of the political candidate at hand, is to fail to exercise moral judgments in the political realm as guided by Scripture….
Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the ‘Christian nationalism’ that contemporary secular critics deride — that is, Christians who advocate for laws that protect life, honor marriage, and acknowledge biological reality both through the national culture and the laws of the land — is nothing more than faithful Christians seeking to steward their God-given political talents in America in such a way as to love God and their neighbor.
As Jason Mattera wrote in his excellent article for the Standing for Freedom Center, ‘The Canard of Christian Nationalism’:
“Those throwing the biggest temper tantrums regarding ‘Christian nationalism’ are doing so because they despise any push by Christians to ‘reproduce’ other biblically grounded Christians in the areas of law, politics, and culture. The real target isn’t ‘Christian nationalism’, whatever that is. Or even ‘people of faith’ in politics. The real target is conservative Christians in politics.”
You don’t have to adopt, or even like, the term “Christian nationalism’ to be able to see that this is what’s really going on.
These secular scholars aren’t trying to silence ‘Christian nationalists’ — they are trying to silence you, the average conservative Christian who reads and believes your Bible and then votes accordingly.”
In Jared Bridges’ The Christian Post article, Putin, Christian nationalism and the American Left, Bridges compares the Marxist Putin’s attitude about religion in Russia with the Marxist progressive’s attitude toward Christianity and “Christian nationalism” in the United States. They are frighteningly similar. Putin wants to “compartmentalize and internalize” Christianity and religion “at the individual level.” Putin said, “it’s not about external manifestations… It is in the heart.” In the United States during Covid, governors and civic leaders used similar arguments to close churches and regulate the manor of worship. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said: “Is it the worship or the building? For me, God is wherever you are. You don’t have to sit in the church pew for God to hear your prayers.” Faith is a matter of the heart. “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved (Romans 10:10 NIV).” Northam’s view is much the same as Putin’s in that religion should stop at the heart. In their view, faith is a private affair that should be kept in check when it bleeds over into public life.
“Christian nationalism” is a tricky topic. There are as many views of “Christian nationalism” as there are “Christian nationalists.” In one sense, “Christian nationalism” is a term used to categorize Christians who are motivated by their faith to action in the political realm with wildly differing perspectives. For Reiner, who is not a Christian, Christian nationalism is equivalent to Christian involvement in politics. For the Marxist progressives of the American Left, “Christian nationalism” is simply a tool that they can use to draw lines against political action by those who oppose their agenda. In that way, it’s not unlike Putin’s use of a religion for purposes of achieving his own political stability. Putin celebrates it out loud while quietly shutting it down. The American Left lampoons it out loud to the same end: that “faith would stay put in the heart of the individual. But a faith that stays put in the heart is a faith with blocked arteries. A heart that can’t pump its lifeblood outward will end in cardiac arrest.”
Bridges concludes his article by stating:
“’Christian nationalism’ or not, biblically faithful believers can’t let their faith be defined by political forces intent on corralling them. Putin may believe that “no one will be able to separate the soul,” but we believe that, “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39 NIV).”
During an interview with Former Obama administration official and Founder and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, Michael Wear discussed “Christian nationalism.” When asked whether he believes it’s a genuine political and spiritual threat to America or if it’s just a derogatory term to malign conservative Christians. He said, “I think it depends on what ‘Christian nationalism’ you are talking about,” he said, adding that “there’s a range of ‘definitions’ different people use.” In one way,
“the term identifies… a marginal group that isn’t even necessarily practicing Christianity, but they leverage religious symbols, rhetoric, to promote political violence, for instance, and it’s that that I’m concerned about.”
Wear added that the term has “become counterproductive,” believing that the term “has become so misused.” He also said, “to the extent that ‘Christian nationalism’ has to be rejected, the problem is not that it’s too Christian, it’s that it’s not Christian enough.” Wear also said he wanted people to know “that the kind of people we are has much to do with the kind of politics we have and that spiritual formation is essential to civic renewal;” and “The way of Jesus is viable in public life. We can trust Jesus.”
Two additional articles, written from the Biblical Christian perspective regarding “Christian nationalism” are Robert Barron rebukes Heidi Przybyla for God-given rights comment and Christian conservatism versus Christian nationalism.
Although they will not admit it, progressives fear “Christian nationalism” because they fear God fearing people united in service to God.
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