There’s no such thing as Christian Nationalism. What we call Christian Nationalism is a rather naked thirst for power disguised as faith. A dragon in wolves clothing. It doesn’t take much scriptural exploration to see its heretical foolishness.

The Gospels describe a scene at the outset of Jesus’ public ministry in which he travels the wilderness to fast. In fasting Jesus is tempted by the Devil. The temptations are varied in form but share an essence.

1. Turn stone into bread to satiate his hunger.
2. Throw himself off the Temple roof, allowing the angels of God to save him, demonstrating his unique power.
3. Bow down to the devil in order to gain power over the kingdoms of the world.
   • (See Matthew 4:1-11.)

Christian Nationalism seeks to gain power over the kingdoms of the world by gaining power over a globally-powerful nation. Something that is a temptation from the devil is now a goal being pursued by so-called Christians.

Perhaps Christians just shouldn’t pursue political power of any stripe. Isn’t it the case that Christian faith is far more powerful when operating from the gutters and leper colonies of our world?

Something Curious Happened on the Way to Calvary

After 50 years of church-going, seminary studying and church-leading, I noticed a detail in the Holy Week story for the first time.

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’
    but you are making it a den of robbers.”

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. (Matthew 21:12-14)

I had never noticed that last line: “The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple.” I had always seen that line, but admittedly had never really seen it. Does that make sense? Tables flipped. Dove feathers scattered everywhere. There was shouting, whipping, scrambling, furniture clattering. These are the headline gathering elements of the scene. Implied between verses 13 & 14 is the act of someone opening the gate to allow the blind and the lame–the ceremonially unclean, the deliberately excluded–to enter into the holy temple. Again, I confess my oversight here. I had always understood that Jesus’ offense was largely about the commerce of the Temple, and I maintain that was a large offense. What I had not seen was that Jesus occupation of the Temple during Holy Week was not only about money, but about who he invited into the sacred space. I know that in my ministerial experience, there have always been church-goers greatly offended by the poor and the needy. I cannot unsee the parallel going back to Jesus’ own day.

What Then Are We to Do?

I think three main things are needed to push back on the heresy of Christian Nationalism.

1. Teach the Gospels
2. Promote the Academic Teaching of the Bible
3. Center the Outcast

Teach the Gospels

The Bible says lots of things about lots of things. It is a library of viewpoints. It is an inter-generational conversation about people’s experience and understanding of God. For Christians, the Gospels take priority. The Gospels are the authoritative record of Jesus’ identity, teaching and example. Whereas it is proper that we read the Hebrew Bible and the Epistles in their own contexts, the Gospel record remains standard by which we judge the rest of scripture.

In the Gospels we routinely see Jesus upholding the inherent value of the outcast, eschewing calls to political power and choosing grace and mercy over punishment and violence. Calls to take over governments or other authoritative venues misrepresent the teachings and example of Christ. The Christian is faithful and right to reject such calls.

While many may be grieving the declining influence of the institutional church, one must remember that Jesus never even called for such an institution to exist. Our only authority is our adherence to Christ, as flawed as that often is. Recall, for example, Christ’s parable of the yeast.

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” (Matthew 13:33)

For a large swath of history, the institutions of Christianity have operated as the dough of society, leading governments through westward expansion, institutionalizing slavery, operating indigenous erasure programs, invading lands and exterminating whole societies. Yes, we can acknowledge many goods: the establishments of higher education and the societal gains brought, the periods of enlightenment that brought us increased voting rights, civil liberties and enduring peace accords. Nevertheless, the role of the Christian in society is as yeast: an element that, while small, brings light, liveliness and flavor to society. That is far different from running militaries and taxing adversaries.

By prioritizing the Gospels, the church would do well to teach the example and ethics of Christ to a world that doesn’t seem to know his name from his purpose.

Promote the Academic Teaching of the Scriptures

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I favor teaching the Bible in schools. I believe it ought to be taught alongside the Quran, Upanishads, Book of Mormon and other major religious texts. I have academic as well as strategic reasons for believing so.

Religion should be taught academically since it is a major element of societies around the world. It seems unconscionable that we graduate adults into society with no formal understanding of such a force in the world. It is clearly possible to teach the major tenets of the major religions without endorsing one over the other. Many nations around the world so this. Such education would go a long way in uprooting reliigous bigotry as it would increase awareness and knowledge. Imagine how post-9/11 American society would have been had the average American had even a basic knowledge of Islam. Think of how Sikhs were targeted for harassment and violence because too many people didn’t know a Sikh from a Muslim. Similarly, when a Christian nationalist tries to present their bigotry as “Christian,” a well-informed populace would laugh in their face. As it stands, the great irony of Christian Nationalism is that it festers in the ignorance of the population. Root out the ignorance and Christian Nationalism can’t find room to reproduce.

Center the Outcast

Perhaps this is kind of like 1b. One of the routine but provocative things Jesus did was center the outcast. So as we are prioritizing the gospels, centering the outcast is a natural progression. Do we not live in a world of winners and losers? How is it then, that so-called Christians are so enamored with winning, when Christ himself centered the losers: the poor, the diseased, the displaced, the disenfranchised?

I like to frequent a nearby rocky beach. When I go I look for seashells. Initially, I have a hard time locating shells in the midst of all the rocks. Usually, once I spot one, I begin seeing all the ones that I overlooked. If the church (yes that institution) is looking for a way to reclaim its yeastiness, relocating to the gutters and dives of our world would be a good way to begin to rebuild our influence. Like those seashells, once we start seeing the precious children of God wasting away in the gutters and dives, it will become nearly impossible not to see that there are oodles of people hunger and thirst for righteousness. But we must begin to de-center our own need for power and validation and recenter our lives among the beaten, broken and forgotten.

So…it seems easy to me that once we get into Jesus, we are getting out of Christian Nationalism. Not only are we getting out of this, are we not also shielding the precious one’s around us from its corrosive influence? The people of the Way of Jesus must begin teaching that Way, lest the false prohpets aorund us gain more ground.