‘White Christian Nationalism’ Why We Must Fight It
“White Christian Nationalism” is a homegrown, would-be theocracy. It detests democracy, human rights, women’s emancipation, empiricism….actually, most of the scientific and political advances of the last 150 years.
Only “real” citizens (i.e. white Christian men) really matter to the pretend-theocracy. Strongman leaders are promoted as God’s defenders of the faith.
Core Beliefs of White Christian Nationalism
“White Christian Nationalism” — also called Dominionism, or Christian Reconstructionism– believes in the following tenets: (from Andrew Decort and Scott Leadingham):
- America was founded as a white Christian nation and must be returned to such.
- America is the new Promised Land, and Americans are God’s Chosen People.
- U.S. laws must be based on Christian values.
- If we do not change our ways, there will be an outpouring of God’s wrath on unbelievers.
- Immigrants are invading our country, and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.
- Black people are for the most part undesirable internal malcontents.
- If you are unhoused, you probably deserve it, and you should be considered a lost cause.
- Women who refuse God-given heterosexual relationships, or reject their ‘natural’ roles as reproducers of the nation, are an enemy. (Just as in the fictional Handmaid’s Tale)
How White Nationalists View American History
According to White Nationalists, America once was a godly country, which was blessed for its piety……but after about 1920, things begin to go seriously wrong.
Great universities turned away from scripture; Darwin’s theories eroded the public’s faith in God’s supremacy. Biblical beliefs were openly laughed at during the Scopes trial.
In 1933 America rejected Prohibition, which had been a purely white-Christian power move.
In the 1960s, Catholicism went through a thoroughgoing liberalization, with the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
Supreme Court judges since 1970 were perhaps the worst; they scorned God by outlawing prayer in public schools, endorsing contraception, and legalizing abortion. Human interpretations took over from God’s laws. Today’s Court has Jews and Blacks, but rarely any Protestants on the Bench.
What White Christian Nationalists Would Change
White Christian Nationalists would turn all this around……..
Churches would carry all the responsibility of aid to the poor. Churches could deny benefits to anyone whose lifestyle or gender orientation was undesirable.
Without public schools, families would be responsible for their own children’s education.
A Christian Nationalist government would also be responsible for:
- Censoring the media, and criminalizing opposition to morality laws…… (Sorry, Hollywood)
- Regulating night life and television entertainment…… (Sorry, Las Vegas)
- Enforcing morality in academia, particularly in colleges…… (Say goodbye to ethnic studies, women’s studies, and all other ‘woke’ history and social sciences.)
- Restricting office holding to practicing Christians…..(sorry, Josh Shapiro, Jamie Raskin, Bernie Sanders, et. al.)
- No more same-sex marriages; certainly no more subsidized sex changes…..
- Changing voting practices to award votes by household, with the default vote-holder being the male head of the household.
(With all this, the U.S. economy might crash – after all, everyone in Las Vegas could be unemployed — but it’s already a bad economy in so many ways. The survivors would become virtuous and stronger. People who had not saved their money would be wiped out – and that would be a valuable lesson to others.)
Turning Point USA and Related Beliefs
Turning Point USA (the late Charley Kirk’s group) gets right to the point….. it calls for:
- Gays, back in the closet;
- Interracial marriage, banned;
- Illegals, pack your bags;
- Trannies, back to the asylums;
- Women, back to the kitchen;
- Abortions, illegal;
- Jesus and daily prayers, back in our schools.
Other extreme beliefs (among the related “Christian Zionists”) include:
“Make America Great again” is code-speak for “Make America white and Christian again”, per Bradley Onishi. David Brooks comments: “They have crosses on their chests but Nietszche in their hearts.”
Christian Nationalism is a hiding place for reactionaries — closet racists, would-be warlords, and fantasy polygamists. As described by Talia Lavin, Chip Berlet and others, white nationalism gives alt-right bigots an umbrella for their ugly fixations.
These men are heirs to American traditions, all right……but their tradition is the slave trade and the Indian Wars. Suzy Hansen describes them as “the primeval thugs of the heartland, who openly desire the submission of the most vulnerable….” These are the guys who joined ICE and believed in it.
The very name ‘White Christian Nationalism’ reeks of dishonesty, as noted by Amanda Tyler:
- ‘White’ instead of the universal calling of the gospel;
- ‘Christian’ which for them implies domination instead of service;
- and ‘Nationalism’, which is contrary to Jesus’s Great Commission to make disciples in every nation.
Power Rather Than Faith
The goal of “white nationalism” is not saving souls one at a time. Instead, its leaders desire to seize influence over the entire culture.
They’ve been waiting for decades – essentially, since the Scopes trial — for a chance to really put liberals in their place. This is the most ancient, pre-Christian, fascist role of religion – namely, to glorify one’s own conquests.
Nationalists also argue that liberal Jews are orchestrating the “great replacement.” This entails making people of color — whom they believe to be less intelligent and more easily manipulated — into the numerical majority of Western countries, in a bid to secure complete political control.
White nationalists want the America that predated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1924. Both laws are cited as harbingers of white dispossession.
Trump says he will “take back the country” from the invaders —immigrants, secularists, Muslims and Mexicans—and then restore it to its rightful owners — i.e. white Christian Americans.
Christian Nationalists believe that white settlers were “destined” to expand westward, and the Indians were just obstacles to progress. The settlers were to claim land in God’s name, and then Christianize the indigenous “heathens.” (Sounds like the Israeli settlers, who covet the West Bank and eagerly kill Palestinians.)
Christian nationalism is much more about power than faith.
Chasing down and arresting your cultural enemies is much more gratifying than what liberal Christians like Jim Wallis do with their time — i.e. self-examination, piety, and loving those who are not like you.
Regular Christian services in America are just no fun for nationalists. Everyone is too polite.
Nationalism wants to hurt people. Nationalist Christianity is not about elevating the meek and the suffering; It is much closer to the Third Reich than the Sermon on the Mount.
The nationalists stir up racial and sexual emotions, which is key to their recruiting. I recently read a 6,000-word essay by Amanda Tyler about combating Christian Nationalism….but there wasn’t one item in it with the emotional appeal of mandatory school prayer or banning abortion…. nothing even close.
(In fact, an eloquent woman like Ms. Tyler is part of the problem – women are supposed to be silent helpmates. Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry point out that all reactionary movements focus on re-establishing the traditional family.)
White Christian nationalism is founded upon resistance — fighting social change, fighting integration, and fighting unisex ‘diversity’ with all their might. Their Jesus is a vengeful power, here to set everything right.
Nationalists claim that they are the victims of an anti-religious, militantly secular state. Therefore they adopt a religiosity that allows them to reassert their dominance — at least, like Archie Bunker, within their home.
As Jason Stanley explained, “In the fascist imagination, the past invariably involves traditional, patriarchal gender roles…Whenever economic or cultural circumstances destabilize men’s ‘proper place’ in the household, societies are ripe for a fundamentalist resurgence.”
References
Reference Moodie
Reference Du Mez
Reference Whitehead and Perry
Reference Perry, McElroy, Schnabel and Grubbs
(Note: It could be worse than Christian Nationalism. Men in strict Muslim societies – I.e. the Taliban– commit rape and murder to re-establish their headship. Sometimes the greatest problem that societies face is “What do you do with the men?” per Margeret Mead.)
Conclusion
Will the Nationalists ultimately take over America?
I doubt it. Christian wing-nuts are not even close to a majority nationwide.
While “red states” like Kentucky have many prospects, the more populous ‘blue states’ are like Western Europe in their liberalism.
According to polls, the religiously unaffiliated and Jews are the most resistant to Christian Nationalism. 63% of each qualify as firm ‘rejecters,’ and another one-third of each qualifying as ‘skeptics.’
Hindus, Unitarian-Universalists, and other non-Christians are also nationalism rejecters (48%) and skeptics (38%).
Latter-day Saints (49%) are also skeptical, followed by Hispanic Catholics (48%), and other Catholics of color (47%).
However: while liberal states are in the majority, their advocates must not be complacent….
White nationalists will focus on restricting abortion access, targeting LGBTQ+ rights, and mandating religious instruction in public schools.
Nationalism will support anti-Muslim bigotry and antisemitism.
Nationalists will try to force schools to teach from the Bible; they will attempt to whitewash America’s history of racism and slavery.
Project 2025 (the true Trump agenda) called for dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, and diverting taxpayer dollars to private, mostly religious schools.
The nationalists are backed by a billion-dollar shadow network that spends on litigation, lobbying, and messaging.
They would like to control who can marry whom, who can vote, who can teach what to whose children, which books we can read, who can receive health care, and ultimately – who can be admitted to America.
Here Are Some Small Steps You Can Take Each Day to Combat White Nationalism
Call it what it is: Do not let exclusionary ideologies pass as normal “patriotism” or simple religious devotion. Clearly identify the merging of white supremacy and religious identity, when you see it in the media or hear it in conversation.
Support inclusive local voices: Actively advocate for candidates who uphold the separation of church and state. Use non-partisan voter guides to vet candidates for school boards, city councils, and county offices.
Oppose Mass Deportation and Protect Birthright Citizenship: These anti-immigrant policies tear apart families, our communities, and the fabric of our nation. Taxpayer dollars should not fund cruel, racist policies.
We must remind ourselves that Progressive Christians have nothing to be ashamed of.
They helped lead the battle to abolish slavery.
They opposed imperialism, and segregation.
They fought for humane conditions for the American worker, and for the end of child labor.
The first-ever American protests against slavery and rights abuses were lodged against Christopher Columbus — led by his ship’s own Catholic priest- Bartolome de Las Casas.
Let him be the real hero amongst America’s founders.
White nationalism is another dreary male-dominated religion….not unlike Islam, with whom America is ironically at war. Let’s hope both these faiths decline and lose adherents.