Christian Natuonalism

 Paul Dazet

The question comes up everywhere now.

In coffee shops after service.

In small group discussions.

In late-night texts from worried church members.

People see the news.

They watch the rallies.

They notice the flags and crosses side by side.

They hear politicians invoking Jesus.

And they wonder:

Is this what Christianity looks like now?

The Scene at the Capitol

January 6, 2021.

A wooden cross next to a gallows.

Christian flags flying beside Confederate flags.

“Jesus Saves” banners carried by people calling for blood.

Prayers offered in Jesus’ name

While police officers were beaten unconscious.

Sociologists Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry in The Flag and the Cross call it 

“an eruption of white Christian nationalism.”

The symbols told the story.

The cross had become a sword.

The gospel had become a weapon.

Jesus had been enlisted for insurrection.

And many of us watching felt something break inside.

Because that wasn’t the Jesus we know.

That wasn’t the gospel we’ve staked our lives on.

That wasn’t the kingdom we’ve been seeking.

The Mythology

Christian Nationalism tells a story.

Once upon a time, America was a Christian nation.

Founded by Christian men.

Blessed by the Christian God.

Governed by Christian principles.

But then the secularists came.

The liberals.

The immigrants.

The “others.”

They stole our country.

Corrupted our culture.

Attacked our faith.

Replaced our people.

Now we must take it back.

By any means necessary.

Because God is on our side.

As Kaitlyn Schiess shows in The Ballot and the Bible, even Scripture has been recruited to tell this myth, phrases like “city on a hill” torn from Jesus’ lips and used to baptize American exceptionalism.

The False Gospel

But here’s what troubles me most as a pastor:

This story isn’t just wrong historically.

It’s wrong biblically.

Jesus said love your enemies.

Christian Nationalism says defeat them.

Jesus said the last shall be first.

Christian Nationalism insists we stay on top.

Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers.

Christian Nationalism prepares for war.

Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world.

Christian Nationalism says this world is our kingdom.

Christian Nationalism is not Christianity.

It is a counterfeit.

The Price We’ve Paid

The cost has been enormous.

Whitehead and Perry’s research shows 

Christian Nationalism predicts support for: 

Authoritarianism, 

Voter suppression, 

And even political violence.

But the deeper cost is spiritual.

We’ve lost sight of Jesus.

We’ve wrapped him in flags.

We’ve turned him into a weapon.

We’ve trained generations to equate following Christ with fighting their neighbors.

And young people are walking away.

Not from Jesus,

But from the Jesus we created.

The Real Tragedy

Here’s what breaks my heart:

Christian Nationalism isn’t preserving Christianity.

It’s destroying it.

It’s not protecting the gospel.

It’s perverting it.

It’s not advancing the kingdom.

It’s abandoning it.

As Brian Zahnd says in Postcards from Babylon:

We’ve traded the way of the cross

For the way of the sword.

We’ve exchanged the kingdom of God

For the kingdoms of this world.

We’ve chosen Caesar’s power

Over Christ’s love.

The True Gospel

But here’s what gives me hope:

Jesus is bigger than our politics.

The gospel is stronger than our nationalism.

The kingdom outlasts every empire.

The same gospel that confronted first-century power structures

Can confront twenty-first-century idolatries.

The same Spirit that sustained the early church

Can sustain us now.

The Choice Before Us

So we have a choice to make.

We can keep defending Christian Nationalism.

Or we can start following Jesus again.

We can keep fighting culture wars.

Or we can start building beloved community.

We can keep trying to save America.

Or we can let America be saved by Jesus.

Because the world doesn’t need another political religion.

The world needs the wild, dangerous, beautiful, transformative love of Jesus.

What It’s Not

Before we go further, let me be clear about what this isn’t:

This isn’t about being anti-American.

This isn’t about hating conservatives.

This isn’t about blaming liberals.

This isn’t about dismissing patriotism.

This isn’t about partisanship.

This is about untangling Jesus from the things that obscure him.

This is about recovering the gospel from those who weaponize it.

This is about following Jesus even when, especially when, it costs us something.

The Hope

Here’s what I’ve learned in my own journey of unlearning and relearning:

Jesus is still Jesus.

The gospel is still good news.

The kingdom is still coming.

Even when, especially when, his people get it wrong.

Even when we wrap him in flags.

Even when we enlist him for our agendas.

Even when we make him into our image.

Jesus remains Jesus.

And he’s still calling us.

Beyond nationalism to the nation of God’s love.

Beyond empire to the kingdom of heaven.

Beyond power to love.

The Invitation

So here’s my invitation:

Let’s meet Jesus again. For the first time.

Let’s read the Gospels with fresh eyes.

Let’s ask what he actually said instead of what we wish he said.

Let’s follow where he leads instead of trying to lead him where we want to go.

Because the Jesus problem in America isn’t that we’ve lost Jesus.

It’s that we’ve tried to domesticate him.

But Jesus won’t be domesticated.

He won’t be tamed.

He won’t be used.

He remains wild.

Dangerous.

Free.

And he’s calling us to be free too.

Free from nationalism.

Free from false gospels.

Free from the seductive power of Caesar’s kingdom.

Free to follow the way of the cross.

Free to live the way of love.

Free to be the people of God, 

In the world, but not of it.