Pulse
30 September 2024
The evangelical Christians who support former president Donald Trump have often been characterised as adherents of ‘Christian nationalism’. This label is often associated with the religious far-right in the West, those whose religious commitments and loyalty to the nation are interwoven in a distinctive way.
The term ‘Christian Nationalism’ can be traced to the 1940s, especially with the advent of the Christian Nationalist Party, but many scholars are of the view that the ideology dates back to the Spanish-American War at the end of the nineteenth century.
There are many ways in which Christian Nationalism has been defined. In his book The Case for Christian Nationalism (2022), Stephen Wolfe describes it as:
… a totality of national action, consisting of civil laws and social customs, conducted by a Christian nation as a Christian nation, in order to procure for itself both earthly and heavenly good in Christ.
Matthew McCullough, in his book The Cross of War: Christian Nationalism and U.S. Expansion in the Spanish-American War (2014) writes that Christian Nationalism is ‘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.’
McCullough adds that Christian Nationalism often presents an exaggerated and transcendent meaning of American history, and that it supports American militarism.
In their book, Taking America Back for God (2020), Samuel P. Perry and Andrew L. Whitehead explain that ‘Christian nationalism is a cultural framework – a collection of myths, traditions, symbols, narratives, and value systems – that idealises and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life.’
Perry and Whitehead make it quite clear that the ‘Christianity’ of the Christian nationalists ‘represents something more than religion.’ This ‘something more’ includes ‘assumptions of nativism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity along with divine sanction for authoritarian control and militarism.’
These descriptions help us to form a picture of what Christian Nationalism is about and where its inspirations and motivations lie.
As mentioned above, Christian Nationalism presents a relationship between Christianity and patriotism. But its religious commitments are grounded in a peculiar interpretation of the Bible and the Christian Faith, and its patriotism is nourished and energised by a certain narrative about America’s origins and history.
Christian Nationalism can also be a vague and amorphous term which expresses visceral reaction rather than a thoroughly worked out ideology.
Thomas Kidd gives the example of a yard sign which read: ‘Make Faith Great Again: Trump 2020.’ This prompted him to ask: ‘How can re-electing Donald Trump make “faith” great again? What Faith? When did it stop being great?’
Then, he realised that those were the wrong questions. The sign is not a philosophical treatise but has an evocative purpose:
No coherent answers would be forthcoming to such questions, but that’s the point. The sign speaks to a person’s ethnic, religious, and cultural identity in ways easier to notice than to explain.
Be that as it may, Christian Nationalism represents an odd (in some cases, even bizarre) miscegenation of Christianity and politics, church and state, that is not found in or warranted by the New Testament. Christian Nationalism has introduced such serious distortions to the Gospel and the teachings of the NT about the Christian’s relationship to the state that some theologians and commentators have rightly described it as a heresy.
The New Testament teaches that although Christians are citizens of an earthly nation, their true citizenship is in heaven. Writing to the Philippian Christians, the apostle Paul reminds them that ‘our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Philippians 3:20). In Ephesians, Paul expresses the same point when he states that Christians are ‘fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God …’ (2:19).
In his letter to the Christians of the diaspora in Asia Minor, Peter uses imageries such as ‘exiles’ and ‘sojourners’ to describe believers and their relationship to the societies to which they belong. He exhorts the recipients of his letter to ‘conduct yourselves with fear [of the Lord] throughout the time of your exile …’ (1 Peter 1:17). Adjuring believers to ‘abstain from the passions of the flesh’, Peter once again describes them as ‘sojourners’ and ‘exiles’ (1 Peter 2:11).
This suggests that Christians must have a particular understanding of their relationship with the world, and the country or nation to which they belong. Christians are first and foremost citizens of the heavenly kingdom, even as they are also living in earthly kingdoms as resident aliens. They are in the world, but not of it (John 17:11, 14-15).
This truth is clearly expressed in a favourite hymn (whose composer remains anonymous) which sings: ‘This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.’
This, of course, does not suggest that Christians should abdicate their responsibilities as members of their respective societies and as citizens of earthly nations. The New Testament contains concrete instructions on how Christians should conduct themselves as responsible members of the civic and political community.
For example, they must render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar (Matthew 22:21), and submit to the governing authorities when they fulfil their God-given role of maintaining civil order (Romans 13:1-10; 1 Peter 2:13-17).
They must contribute to the common good of society and ‘seek the welfare of the city’ – to use the familiar expression taken from the Old Testament (Jeremiah 29:4-7). And they must pray for the governing authorities, ‘for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all goodliness and holiness’ (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
In other words, as citizens of an earthly nation, Christians must strive to contribute to the flourishing of society even as they love faithfully as disciples of Christ.
This requires Christians always to stand on the side of justice and truth, and to resist and reject all that is false and dehumanising. This is how the Christian expresses his measured and critical patriotism to his country – by being a faithful and obedient disciple of Christ who loves God above all else.
But Christian faithfulness also prohibits the Christian from supporting or endorsing everything that his country or nation aspires or does. The patriotism of the faithful Christian is never unquestioning and never uncritical.
Christian faithfulness also means that although the Bible exhorts Christians to submit to civil authorities, this submission is never unconditional. The Bible and Christian tradition sanction Christians to practice civil disobedience when the state permits what God forbids and forbids what God commands. The faithful Christian must always ‘obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).
Herein lies the fundamental problem with Christian Nationalism.
It is not just that Christian Nationalism forces the Bible and the Christian Faith into the procrustean bed of a political ideology and a national identity – which tantamount to the politicisation and thus bastardisation of religion.
Christian Nationalism also endows the country (in this case, America) with the God-like attributes of infallibility and invincibility – which borders dangerously on idolatry.
This is evident in the numerous ‘God and Country’ worship services conducted all across the United States today, which underscores American exceptionalism, and where God and country are exalted in the same breath.
Perry and Whitehead highlight the troubling implications of this aspect of Christian Nationalism thus:
Those who embrace Christian nationalism insist that the Christian God formed, favors and sustains the United States over and above the other nations of the world. They proclaim the United States plays a central role in God’s plan for the world. But, if the Christian God has truly ‘always been on our side’, America’s side, then on whose side are Christians from Iraq, Vietnam, China, England, Afghanistan, or any other country? It serves to reinforce an assumption that Americans are favoured over and above all other nationalities within the Christian tradition. The rituals, symbols, and celebrations assert not only that in order to be truly American one must be Christian, but in order to be truly Christian one has to be American. (Italics in original)
The Bible does not prohibit Christians from loving their country or from being patriotic. But it does require Christians to love, obey and honour God above all else. For it is only when Christians learn how to give to God what belongs to God, that they also learn how to give to Caesar what belongs to him.
It only when Christians are unreservedly and resolutely faithful to God and his Word can they be truly patriotic.
Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor at Trinity Theological College (Singapore) and Theological and Research Advisor of the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity.