Month: April 2023

While it is coming to the fore in strong and frightening ways, the idea of Christian nationalism is nothing new. There are, according to John D. Wilsey in The Many Faces of Christian Nationalism, several distinct periods when Christian national identity was strengthened in American history. These periods are American Puritanism and Puritan Millennialism, Christian Republicanism, Manifest Destiny, Lincolnian Unionism, Wilsonian Idealism and Christian America.

Christian America is the period in which we find ourselves today. It first gained ground in 1977 when Peter Marshall and David Manuel published a book called The Light and the Glory. It set forth the idea that persists today, that America is the new Israel, God’s beloved and chosen people. It promulgates the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation and that all efforts to blend American and Christian identity together were to be supported and strengthened.

Christian nationalism is once again coming to the limelight and has widespread support in various sectors of American life. Such ideology is seeping into our national leadership with legislators (I cringe to use the term) like Marjorie Taylor Green selling T-shirts on her website sporting the words “Proud Christian Nationalist.”

According to the Religious News Service, a poll from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that fully one third of Americans hold Christian nationalist views.

If you’re not afraid yet, you should be.

At its simplest, Christian nationalism is the belief that being Christian is central to American identity. As an ideology, the “Christianity” it embraces is racist, homophobic, xenophobic and about every other phobic you can name. While the percentages of people who wholeheartedly embrace this ideology are relatively small, they hold positions of power and influence that make their numbers more than the sum of their parts.

There is, however, some good news. The Religious News Service reports that, according to PRRI, “Americans who have heard of Christian nationalism are twice as likely to hold a negative than a positive view of the term. These Americans also reject the specific ideas associated with the ideology. Indeed, the 3 in 10 Americans that PRRI found who align with Christian nationalism to some degree are opposed by near the same percentage who completely reject the ideas associated with Christian nationalism. Another 39% are skeptical.”

The good news is that there is value in making our voices heard to stand against Christian nationalism. The squeaky wheel does indeed get the grease, and it is time for us to squeak more loudly than those who support the ludicrous notion that America should be a straight, white, Christian nation.

The pushback against Christian nationalism is taking a pluralistic form. Christians Against Christian Nationalism and Vote Common Good are visible groups working to counteract Christian nationalism. They are joined by the longstanding Baptist Joint Committee, the Poor People’s Campaign and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Vote Common Good has a state of the art curriculum titled, “Confront Christian Nationalism Curriculum,” for faith community leaders and individuals.

As is often the case, the majority is often the silent majority. Clearly more Americans stand against Christian nationalism than for it. It is time to make our voices heard. Join one of the organizations listed above and support their work. Educate yourself on the manifestations of Christian nationalism. Here are some examples posted by Keith Simon on the Blog “Truth Over Tribe”:

• You believe America was founded by white evangelicals.
• You want your church to fly the American flag in the sanctuary.
• You think America is God’s chosen nation.
• You call yourself an evangelical but don’t go to church.
• You think it’s wrong to criticize America.
• You think government zoning laws should allow churches to be built, but not mosques.
• You want mandatory Christian prayers in public schools.
• You think immigrants aren’t as good as Americans who were born in this country.
• You think spiritual revival will be ushered in by a new president.
• You believe the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are divinely inspired.

Think long and hard about which of those statements lives somewhere in you. Your country is depending on you.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus made his final journey to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Long before Jesus ever set foot toward the city of Jerusalem for Passover, however, the most important journey of his life was well underway.  It was the journey inward, to a place that was not a place but grounded all other places.  This journey kept Jesus grounded in what he was supposed to do and kept him doing it even when it ceased to be popular. This journey gave him the fortitude and clarity to remain undeterred. 

All that he did and said and spoke was the fruit of this journey. Before Jesus ever answered a call to do, he answered the call to be.  His first pilgrimage was inward.

It is no coincidence that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem coincided with the celebration of Passover.  Passover is all about freedom from bondage.  It is the celebration that marks the Exodus and the end of slavery in Egypt at the hands of Pharaoh.  Like all Jews who were physically able to make the trip, Jesus and his friends made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the celebration. Passover was and remains a ritual symbolizing their belief that God set them free. It is an archetypal story that speaks to the human experience–from bondage to freedom, from death to life, from vulnerability to strength and back again, through suffering to new life.  Every great world religion has a feast/festival or celebration that marks the cycle of renewal and refreshment, freedom and new identity.

Passover and the rituals that surround it are all about freedom, deliverance, identity and the kind of inner clarity that keeps one going when nothing else can.  Much of Jesus’ teaching and ministry was about setting people free from bondage and slavery that came from too much money and too little money, too much power and too little power,  those who were broken and isolated and shunned  for whatever reason.

Jesus was formed in the crucible of the Passover celebration. It was a reminder that God’s intent was freedom and life without fear.  He was tempered by the prophets’ words and scarred with the fire of others’ pain.  He lived and laughed and loved after the way of God and showed God to all who would look and listen and follow.

It’s hard for us to grasp this. We are so intent on doing and accomplishing and having.  In our culture we are what we have and we are what we do.  And when we read this back into the Bible it’s easy to focus on all the cool stuff Jesus did; but this wasn’t about doing, it was about being.  This was a moment that defined Jesus and gave us a glimpse of his inner space. Most of us can point to a few moments that define who we are.  As Frederick Beuchner says, we are formed by a tender and terrible process, moments too wonderful and too awful to tell.  As life rolls out around us and sometimes right over us, we are shaped by the response we make, by the place deep inside that we reach to in order to keep on going. 

Jesus did not go to provoke the situation, though it seems pretty clear he knew what was waiting for him, that this would bring clashes with the religious poobahs of the day to a head.  It’s kind of ironic. He is going to celebrate freedom knowing he will be arrested.

Maybe today is a day to think twice about what freedom really is.  Jesus came into the city for a celebration that marked freedom. It suggests that he saw a truth beyond what appeared. Though he would be arrested later in in the week, this day staked Jesus’ path of freedom that was not measured by the absence of bars but by clarity of purpose.

The celebration of this day lies not in the palms and cheering crowds but in Jesus’ gentle resolve to keep on being who he was, to keep on doing what he was doing.    Jesus’ inner journey is a path for us to follow, but in a way that is uniquely our own.  We discover it by reaching inward and listening for God’s whispering presence.  It’s one of the ways Jesus stayed grounded; he went off by himself because it was the only way he could hear what was happening inside of him. 

Jesus lays a path for us to follow. It is the journey inward to that place that is not a place; yet it grounds all other places.  This journey will keep us focused on what we are supposed to do, even when it ceases to be popular. This inner journey will give us the fortitude and clarity to remain undeterred.  This is how we follow Jesus on the way.