Christian Nationalism Needs to Come With Warning Labels
What is wrong with wanting an inclusive future, one where people of all faiths, or even no faith, can participate without fear?
Ask a Christian nationalist this question, and they may tell you:
If you do not believe, as they do, that this country was founded as a Christian nation, then you are a blasphemer.
If you believe that church and state should be separate, then you are an anti-American heretic.
Let us beware of any religious movement’s agenda to insert its dogma into our politics. The United States was founded on a belief in religious diversity, and our government should not underwrite any particular religious practice with tax dollars.
We are now hearing more Christians say that Christian nationalism must be challenged. Alan Novick, writing in The Pantagraph, recommends Pastor Drew J. Strait’s book Strange Worship: Six Steps for Challenging Christian Nationalism. Strait is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.
Why challenge Christian nationalism? Novick writes that it must be challenged because it is “an immediate threat to the church’s public witness, to democracy, to our climate, and to human relationships.”
Quoting Strait, Novick explains:
“Christian nationalism is a collection of myths, traditions, symbols, narratives, and value systems that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic life. … It also assumes nativism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity along with divine sanction for authoritarian control and militarism. It is as ethnic and political as it is religious.”
Novick offers a direct rebuke of Christian nationalism: “What it isn’t is everything Jesus stood for.”
https://pantagraph.com/opinion/letters/article_a6f58735-c8ca-4574-ae78-6fa1744a65a3.html
The National Catholic Reporter editorial did not hold back. In its analysis of the May 17 “Rededicate 250” prayer meeting on the National Mall, the editorial staff characterized the event as “another step by religious and political extremists intent on destroying the wall that separates church and state as well as the constitutional guarantees of freedom of, and from, religion.”
The editorial concluded with a piercing question: “The event in Washington was repeatedly touted as a rededication of the country to God. But whose God?”
Is it the God of those who preached Christian nationalism on the Mall, or that of the preachers and believers who marched in Selma?
Is it the God of those who plan aggressive ICE raids, or the God who mourns with devastated parents and bewildered children who have been cruelly separated?
Is it the God of architects of war, or the God of schoolchildren needlessly killed in unjustified bombings?
Is it exclusively the God of Christians, or might we include Jews in synagogues and Muslims worshipping at local mosques?
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/religion-display-trumps-dc-rally-was-not-gospel-jesus-christ
Is America the new Babylon?
Theologian Brian Zahnd claims that “MAGA theology” misinterprets Scripture. America is not God’s chosen nation. It is not the New Jerusalem. America is Babylon.
Zahnd warns that trying to change the world through political force is the wrong mission for Christians. After all, what does allegiance to Christ look like when Caesar demands complete loyalty? When that happens, Christianity degenerates into politics.
His YouTube interview with Pat Kahnke covers discipleship, allegiance, and what it means to follow Jesus. His stark warning is that ours is an era in which some Christians have traded religion for political power. He calls Christians back from this regrettable entanglement with partisan politics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKUo5i7hMeo
The Southern Baptist Convention has leaned toward support of Christian nationalism as it has transformed from a more moderate entity to a conservative one, according to Boston University Professor Nancy Ammerman. She explores this shift in her chapter “Southern Baptists and the Evolution of White Evangelical Politics,” included in the book Understanding Christian Nationalism: Perspectives on the Political Religion of Trump’s America.
Who would have thought that Baptists would become advocates for government as “an instrument of religious enforcement”?
America is largely a Christian nation, but it is complicated.
In his book Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity, Matthew Avery Sutton explains how Christians in this country have rebranded and redefined Christianity in order to gain followers and influence.
Sutton writes that America has never completely separated church and state. Throughout our history, activists have used the Christian Bible to define and describe American values. And no one should be expected to separate their civic self from their religious self.
However, Sutton asks Christian nationalists whether it is fair to impose their religious beliefs on our secular state. Would that be in the best interest of our pluralistic country and all of its citizens?
So how do we challenge Christian nationalism?
Rev. Dr. C. J. Koen offers several strategies:
Education and awareness about the historical roots and consequences of white Christian nationalism
Interfaith dialogue and collaboration between religious communities
Counter-narratives that challenge the ideology with uplifting stories of solidarity, diversity, and resilience
Debunking myths and misinformation
Political and legal action
Community building
Civic engagement
Addressing socioeconomic inequality
Media literacy
Support for victims and vulnerable communities
Positive identity formation
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vE5RdzqsmRkSv07vBHhQUZpj-xkrLwtg/view
Marylee Raymond Diamond
July 7, 2026