We have been hearing about Christian Nationalism for some time. We may hear comments about Christian Nationalism more during this election cycle. It is vitally important to point out that the U.S. was not founded as a Christian nation, but a secular nation providing the freedom to choose to be religious or not and equally free to choose what religion everyone chooses for themselves. Some of the founding fathers were indeed Christian and others were not particularly religious.
To understand this growing reference to Christian Nationalism it is important to understand its definition, and there are quite a few. One definition is expressed by the following statements. “Christian nationalism identifies the nation with God’s will and action in the world; conflates national and Christian identity; and identifies service of the nation with service of God,” “Christian nationalism gives moral cover for actions, even unseemly ones, taken in pursuit of national or political goals.” As you can see by this definition, Christian Nationalism is subject to individualized interpretations that may or may not reflect the basic of Christianity. Recently politicians have used Christian Nationalism for political gain that has very little to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ, the impetus for the spread of Christianity.
North Dakota as a state ranks highest among all states in a recent survey on Christian Nationalism. Approximately 50% of surveyed state residents believe in Christian Nationalism. It is very likely that many state residents don’t fully understand what is meant by Christian Nationalism and are conflating some political interpretation of Christian Nationalism with the basic of Christianity as defined by Jesus Christ. There are those who practice religious nationalism throughout the world and often these countries are looked upon unfavorably by most of the world nations. Iran operates its government under a strict adherence to Islamic religious law and the U.S. looks at Iran as brutal and oppressive country where a minority rules over the majority in an authoritative manner.
The basic principles of Christianity include love, self-sacrifice, tolerance, non-judgement, service, compassion, sharing and hope. These basic principles and teachings would be good qualities for any nation to operate its government on to best serve its citizens. The problem with Christian Nationalism is that it quickly becomes a minority imposing its interpretation of Christianity, often more authoritative and brutal, on the majority under the disguise of Christianity. Christianity is generally about freely accepting teachings of Jesus Christ to follow as an individual and having others consider becoming a Christian by seeing the good works and actions of Christians. It is not about forcefully imposing your religious beliefs and philosophies on others to live their lives according to a personal belief system that may or may reflect the teachings of Jesus Christ. The current use of Christian Nationalism by most of the politicians mentioning it involves an effort to impose minority religious viewpoints on most of the U.S. that often conflict with the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Everyone, well at least those that have a reasonable amount of political awareness, will hear discussion about Christian Nationalism. Just remember Christian Nationalism is not being used to promote compassion, charity, tolerance, sharing, love and all the positive life affirming aspects of being a Christian but to politically impose the beliefs and principles of an extreme minority on most Americans. To reiterate, this once great country, (we are still a good nation that has been declining over the past few decades), was not founded on being a Christian nation but a nation of religious freedom that allowed individuals the option of being religious or not. There is no inalienable right provided any individual to impose extreme beliefs, principles, and philosophies on how other individuals live their lives simply because they feel superior or more religiously empowered. Christian nationalism, in its current political context, is not something that any nation should aspire to because the terminology often reflects something quite different than the promotion of Christianity as hope for humankind rather the imposition of extreme doctrines on the citizens of that nation.
