A Debate About Faith: Christian Nationalism vs Jesus

We are in the midst of a national debate on politics.

We are in the midst of a national debate on politics, in the face of an election which offers moral choices about what we want the future of our country to be. I believe we also need a conversation about the faith factor in this election, even a debate about the role we want religion to play for our public life in America going forward.

An old ideology is making a religious comeback in support of Donald Trump. It’s called Christian nationalism, which puts one nation ahead of all others, Christians over other people of faith and those of no religion in America, and has had white supremacy embedded into it since the founding of the nation with a racial hierarchy of who belongs in this country and who doesn’t.

That is a false religion and can biblically be called an idolatry and a heresy. It should be subject to a debate between Christians and among churches who would claim to have Jesus at their core. This is a conversation about both religion and politics. And it is a debate about faith that we need to have in the next two months.

A bishop recently told me of a minister in their church who was angrily attacked for the Scripture he had chosen for a Sunday service. The church member claimed it implied criticism of a particular presidential candidate. The sermon didn’t name either candidate or the election or even politics per se. But the church member felt it was meant as a direct critique of Donald Trump. The Scripture the minister used? The Beatitudes.

I have heard similar things from other clergy around the country about attacks they have received because they raised particular Scriptures and issues of truth, or compassion, or justice, or loving our neighbors in public life. Some clergy have even received hate mail and threats against them by anonymous members of their congregations or wider communities.

I was talking to a pastor of a  liberal congregation in a key battleground state and asked whether she was in conversation with more conservative clergy in this volatile campaign season, and she simply said “no.” I then asked if many of them would call themselves “Christian nationalist” churches, and she replied “yes.” I believe it is time to reach out to one another, in clergy groups and congregational meetings about what faith means to us at this critical moment of national crisis.

How can we find ways to have conversations together about the values of faith that should be shaping our political participation and even our voting in the most important election in our lives and  perhaps since the civil war?

“The Way” was the earliest name used by the followers of Jesus.

It’s time to go back to Jesus- something that is always important to do in a time of crisis-both personal and public. He said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” What does truth telling mean right now when so many people are captive to lies about elections, or minority groups, or political opponents?

In the beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Doesn’t that mean we need conflict resolvers, not conflict makers in a time when the political trajectory has become fear, that leads to hate, that results in violence? 

Jesus' final test of discipleship is in Matthew 25 when he spoke of the poor and most vulnerable and said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, who are members of my family, you did it to me.” How does this economics of Jesus overturn our national politics where the people at the bottom are not the priority?

He particularly instructs us to welcome the “stranger” and the Greek word in the text literally means “immigrant” or “refugee” who are now the subject of such abuse, lies, and threats of massive deportation and are now central to this political campaign.

The Good Samaritan parable shows Jesus answering “Who is my neighbor?,” perhaps the most important question for democracy, by naming the example of one who was “othered” by his society, helping one wounded by the side of the road who was “other” to him.

These are not just political issues but religious ones, and instead of religion being a partisan chaplain, how can it be a faithful interrogator of candidates and policies in this election? What do the teachings of Jesus mean in this polarized political moment?

People who feel left out, left behind, and disrespected can be easily drawn to authoritarianism as can white evangelicals who believe the same about themselves. But one way to turn people away from political extremism is to respect their faith and even try to help bring them back to it.  And if they are Christians, that always means a return to the way of Jesus. An honest, respectful, and deep debate about faith before this election could challenge both political authoritarianism and the false white gospel of Christian nationalism.

Check out the brand new companion study guide for The False White Gospel here.