On Tuesday you read my thoughts on the myth of being founded as a Christian Nation. I purposely avoided the very large, very dangerous elephant in the room when dealing with the topic. The reality is that the vast majority of the time, discussion of being a Christian Nation implicitly or explicitly is used as cover for or justification for Christian Nationalism, specifically a white Christian Nationalism.
First, let me be clear. Nationalism is not patriotism. I say this as a daughter of a retired military officer and a sister of a veteran. I say this as someone who loves the potential of our nation enough to have studied its politics and structures and, at one time, seriously considered entering into service one way or another of that country. Patriotism is a love of country that also is able to see the flaws, injustices, and many areas where we need to put in hard work to continuously improve our country. Nationalism is a fiction told that a nation is perfect, that a particular way of being a nation is perfect. These are not the same. One can be a patriot and be utterly against nationalism in all forms. In fact, they are mutually exclusive in my opinion.
Christian Nationalism is a political view that appears throughout many nations’ histories and contemporary politics, mostly in western Europe and the United States. This often is a viewpoint cultivated by leaders as a way to exploit populations during times of suffering, such as economic upheaval or in the wake of tragedies like war or epidemic to gain power that ends up being autocratic, elitist, or at its most extreme, authoritarian. The elite craft a story that the country is exclusively for ‘good’ Christian folk and all the problems - poverty, war, illness, economic distress, inflation, etc. are caused by “those other people.” Each government has crafted their own narratives of who those “other people” are, often shifting the definition through their reigns to accommodate whatever is needed to retain power.
Christian Nationalism in the United States is insidious because it involves the systemic racism that is the natural child of the enslavement of the African people from the first days of the colonies. It also contains the systemic racism that comes from the oppression and eradication of the indigenous peoples followed by the countless ways that Christian Nationalism has used its narrative to harm other peoples of color. It is part of the narrative that underpinned the fear of Japanese people (and all Asian people in general) during World War II that led to Internment Camps on our own shores even as we would come to learn of the extermination and internment camps in Nazi Germany, a Christian Nationalist government itself.
Germany in the 1930s and 1940s is a good reminder for those of us who may think we can hide under white privilege and claim safety as Catholics. Catholics were quickly labeled “other” by those Christian Nationalists and we have the martyred saints to prove it.
Christian Nationalism is not a Christian theology. No Christian Nationalist is a patriot. It is not who we should be as a nation. It is not who we are called to be as Christians.
We must be mindful of the stories we tell ourselves. Especially in days like these. For the stories we tell shape our future. We are in a time where stories are needed that speak the truth. We exist in a time that dismisses truth, especially the difficult ones, for comforting lies. Allowing the mythology of being founded as a Christian Nation allows space for Christian Nationalism to breed its lies.
May we use our voices to dispel harmful myths and speak up, take action. For we are called by a God of love to build a world where all are loved, not just those who fit one small definition of “the right kind,” but all God’s beloved children. Not one kind, ignoring, harming, destroying “those others.” Loving all. That is who we are. The children of the loving God called to love all.
We need to use our voices to tell the stories of who we really are, who we are as a people, as the People of God, and the stories that will help us to create the loving, communion of God’s beloved family Jesus invites us to be.
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