Tag: religion

On The Right Side of History

Pat Liberty

Christian traditions in the United States stand at a crossroad. This is the moment when we need to choose if we are going to be agents of empire or keepers of the Word. This may sound melodramatic, but I am trying desperately to get your attention.

A lesson in history is instructive. According to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website:

” The population of Germany in 1933 was around 60 million. Almost all Germans were Christian, belonging to either the Roman Catholic (20 million) or the Protestant (40 million) churches. The Jewish community in Germany was less than 1% of the total population of the country.

The rise of Anti-Semitism in Germany was reflective of the dominant culture in most of Europe and had deep roots in Christian history. Misinterpretation of key scriptures seemed to support their prejudices.

After Germany’s defeat in World War I, the rise of Nazism seemed a welcome relief from the Weimar republic. For the most part, the German Evangelical church saw itself as a pillar of German culture and society with a theologically grounded loyalty to the state. During the 1920’s, a movement emerged within the German Evangelical Church that embraced many of the nationalistic and racial aspects of Nazi ideology. Once the Nazis came to power, this group sought the creation of a national “Reich Church” and supported a “nazified” version of Christianity.

The “Confessing Church” emerged in opposition to the nationalist “Reich Church.” Its most noteworthy leaders were Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller. These two movements created an ongoing struggle for control of the German Protestant church.  

The Roman Catholic church was not as divided largely because nationalism was not as deeply rooted in Roman Catholic culture.” (Edited for length and clarity)

For the most part the dominant Christian church of the 1930’s made an uneasy peace with the rise of Nazism. Concerned about schism, state interference in church affairs and the rise of “Aryanism,” the church kept its head down and avoided confrontation.

In other words, with very few exceptions, it sold out.

In our time, as we face the rise of religious nationalism and an increasingly fascist political system, churches stand at a crossroad. Will our concern for not pissing people off quell our faithful sensibilities about the demands of the Gospel? Will our unwillingness to speak truth to power eclipse our prophetic responsibilities as people of God? Will our stupid and arrogant notion that “it can’t happen here” blind us to the fact that it is happening here?

The jury is out.

We need to speak out against the Supreme Court’s decision to grant widespread immunity to a president. This, in effect, makes the President above the law. This paves the way for policies that stand in opposition to the Constitution without consequence.

We need to educate ourselves about the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 and other behind the scenes decisions that are unraveling the heart of our democracy.

Mostly, we need the courage to speak truth to power. To stand firm as followers of Jesus and say no to the agenda of a political machine that seeks to undo decades of progress in caring for our environment, caring for our most vulnerable members of society, and reaching for equality for populations that are “othered.” 

The bizarre notion that America is meant to be a nation for white European descendants, to the exclusion and subordination of all others, dovetails with the rise of religious nationalism. (I can’t bring myself to call it Christian.) A very narrow definition of “Christian” is at the heart of this religious nationalism. It is homophobic, fundamentalist, anti-just about everything and firmly nestled within the political machine. They feed off each other and enable each other’s goals.

Oklahoma now requires the bible to be taught in public schools. You can bet it will be a “bible” that leaves out the verses about justice and righteousness and caring for the alien, widow and orphan. You can be sure that proof texting to condemn homosexuality will roll off the tongues of those who teach the lessons. It is a sure bet that there will be one Christology, one definition of salvation and one understanding of church. Other Christian traditions will be demonized, minimized and ultimately silenced by the onslaught of the joining of (some version) of church and state.

In short, if you aren’t outraged, scared and deeply troubled by what is going on, you aren’t paying attention. By the time the German churches realized where their uneasy peace with Nazism landed them, it was too late. Let’s be on the right side of history this time.  

The views in this blog belong solely to the author and do not reflect the position of any religious institution or church.  

White Christian Nationalism and Current Politics

Pat Liberty

As I write this, we are on the verge of hearing a verdict in the current trial against former President Trump. He is still facing multiple felonies in other states. I am mindful of the words of Maya Angelou, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”  Anything less than a not guilty verdict will unleash hateful rhetoric and cries of foul play, which will incite his base of supporters. The potential for violence cannot be overstated.

Riling up Trump’s base will lead to a surge in the entrenched position of white Christian nationalism, and this is dangerous. Working with an accurate definition of white Christian nationalism is important. Often, when people hear the phrase, they think of patriotic Christians. Surely there is nothing wrong with being patriotic and being a Christian. That’s not what we are talking about.  According to Philip Gorski, chair of the Department of Sociology at Yale, “Patriotism is an adherence to the ideals of the United States, and nationalism is loyalty to your tribe and not the country.” The Republican Party has ceased to be a political party. It is a cult of Donald Trump.

Our nation was built on a two-party system that provides checks and balances to one another. Republicans, at their best, check the tendency of Democrats to spend more than is wise. Democrats, at their best, check the tendency to favor big business at the expense of the working middle and lower classes. Of course, it is much more complex than that. This is just an example of how a healthy two-party political system can function. We need a functioning Republican party for balance. What we have is a cult of personality and raging nationalism. It is complicated by the fact that this particular nationalism calls itself “Christian,” when there is nothing Christian about it. 

Christian nationalism plays on people’s fears. They argue that everything that is wrong with this country can be blamed on non-Christians. And since their definition of Christianity is very narrow, it excludes the LGBTQI community, women, people of color, and those with physical and mental challenges. By the time all the exclusions are made, the only ones left are healthy, white males. They believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that laws and policies must protect whites. They deny the separation of church and state which is enshrined in our constitution. It is their belief that the re-entrenchment of patriarchy as the interpreter of all things political and Christian, is the only hope for the future of the country.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Christian nationalism is anti-democratic and threatens to unravel more than the edges of our democracy. In fact, it has the potential to shred the whole fabric of our democracy.  The rise of authoritarianism in the political rhetoric of our current situation is more than troubling. The appeal is to groups who feel they have been anointed by God to take political power. All this is toward the end of protecting white privilege. Make no mistake.

Bart Bonikowski, associate professor of sociology and politics at New York University says, “Christian nationalism in the United States is exclusionary and nostalgic, seeing the nation as going downhill and needing to be recaptured by people who seem themselves as its rightful owners—possibly through authoritarian means.”

According to a recent survey from the Public Religion Research institute (PRRI), nearly one third of Americans now hold Christian Nationalist attitudes. And at the center of it all are fundamentalist churches who have been sucked into right-wing disinformation, conspiracy theories and fears promulgated by nationalists. These fundamentalists are told they need to “take their country back.” And indeed, they will–to about 1700.

There is nothing Christian about White Christian Nationalism. It slaps a little Jesus language on a philosophy that is filled with hatred, misinformation, outright lies and a theology that is twisted almost beyond recognition.

What is needed are moderate Christian voices that speak out against Christian nationalism. It takes courage. It requires being informed. It demands a capacity to articulate Christian faith in different terms than Christian nationalists. If we don’t find our voice and use it, we will surely lose it in the cacophony of political agenda baptized with Jesus language. At its heart it harbors a deep desire for political control, exclusive rights on interpreting Christianity and a systematic dismantling of our democracy.   

History is repeating itself. Knowing that gives us the perspective we need to be a louder voice than that of the Christian nationalists. The future of our country depends on it.

Can We Please Stop Calling it Christian?

Pat Liberty

Let’s face it, there is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. So, it’s time we stopped calling it Christian as if it bears any resemblance to the faith and practice taught by a middle eastern man two thousand years ago. Calling it Christian legitimizes it and strengthens its purchase in the minds of those who think the United States was founded as a Christian nation.

It encourages people to envision a “return” to Christian values.

Religious nationalism is a more accurate name, though seeing the followers as religious is a stretch. At least it separates the radical nationalism that is sweeping our country from any connection with the Christian tradition. Religious nationalism is a socio-political power play to put white men in positions of power, roll back rights for women and LGBTQI people and return to a time long ago when women were the property of men. It also demeans other religious traditions and promulgates a distorted view of Christianity. Then they varnish it all with a little Jesus language and call it Christian.

Christian nationalism as a movement has roots that date back five centuries. According to an article in Time magazine, some of our forbears saw America as a “promised land for European Christians. Others saw it as a pluralistic democracy where all stand on equal footing as citizens.” Most Americans favor the latter vision of the United States, while the increasingly radical Republican party clearly favors the former.

Sadly the white Republicans have some ground to stand on. In the fifteenth century a series of papal bulls (which carry the full weight and authority of the church) established the Doctrine of Discovery. According to Time magazine, “the doctrine claims that European civilization and western Christianity are superior to all other cultures, races and religions. From this premise it follows that domination and colonial conquest were merely the means of improving, if not the temporal, then the eternal lot of Indigenous peoples.”

It was just a half step from there to the “Christian” superiority that has plagued our nation from the very beginning. We call ourselves a melting pot nation, but in truth Christianity is still the favored religion and it informs social, national and foreign policy at an increasingly alarming rate.

The “Christian” roots of white supremacy are sunk deep in American soil. From the convoluted theology of a few misguided popes’, unfettered permission was given to seize land, displace Indigenous people, murder those of other religions, remove children from their homes to be raised in “Christian” orphanages and overthrow barbarous nations so they could be brought to Christianity. It is a litany of horrors too long to list and too nauseating to read in one sitting.

The religious nationalism that is sweeping our country is firmly planted in the five hundred year old Doctrine of Discovery. By claiming a legitimate Christian history as foreordained from the beginning, there is no arguing with them over a different vision of America.

In the Time magazine article, a recent pole done by the Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with the  Brookings Institution, the following question was asked, “Do you agree or disagree that ‘God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world.’ The survey found that while only three in ten Americans agreed with this statement, majorities of Republicans (52%) and, white evangelical Protestants (56%) affirmed it.”

This movement is not going away. It is growing stronger. The best we can do as Americans is educate ourselves on our history and take away the name “Christian” from its association with nationalism. It seems a small vocabulary change, but words have power. Relegating it the amorphous category of “religious” takes a little of the wind out of its sails. As Americans, it is up to us to shift the narrative and we can’t do that if we don’t know our own history.

A meme on Facebook asked the question, “What did Germans do during the rise of fascism? You’re doing it now.” If we are arrogant enough to think it cannot happen here, is not already happening here, then I guess we deserve what we get. And trust me, it won’t be pretty.

Excerpts from the Time magazine article are from The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and a Path to Shared American Future by Robert P. Jones, published by Simon and Schuster 2023.