An Introduction to Christian Nationalism

Why it is a threat to the world

What is Christian Nationalism?

It's a movement with roots in Corporate America that says that the United States was founded as a Christian country and there should be no separation of church and state. This flies in the face of both the First Amendment to the US Constitution and the attitudes of the original Founding Fathers, who were adamant that there would be no official state religion.

Christian Nationalism is found among white conservative Protestants. While these Protestants have long been hostile towards Catholics, there is a trend among some Catholics to practice something known as traditional Catholic or trad-Cath. They are white upper middle-class people who are trying to revive how Catholicism used to be practiced before Vatican II with attending Latin mass and less of an emphasis on liberalism. Much of the trad-Cath beliefs dovetail nicely with Christian Nationalism. Whether the conservative evangelical Protestants would ever welcome trad-Caths among their Christian Nationalist ranks remain to be seen.

Christian Nationalism has two subsets. One is Christian Americanism, which promotes the narrative that God had specifically called the United States into being as an extraordinary—verging on miraculous—providence. The other is the Prosperity Gospel, which holds that financial blessing and physical well-being are part of God's will for our lives. God will only make these good things happen for us if we engage in faith, positive thinking, and making hefty donations to religious causes. Once we do all that, we will experience increases in wealth, power, and happiness.

This next video explains more about the basics of Christian Nationalism and the dangers it poses to the United States, especially if Donald Trump gets reelected.

What's wrong with Christian Nationalism?

Christian Nationalism is a form of white male supremacy and it is patriarchal in nature in that it considers women, racial minorities, immigrants from non-English speaking countries, and non-Christians to be second-class citizens. Christian Nationalism is focused on changing laws that would allow the display of Christian symbols in the public square (such as displaying the Ten Commandments in a courthouse), restrict voting access for those who aren't white Christian men, restrict immigration from certain countries, ban interracial marriage, ban same-sex marriage, and ban all forms of gender-affirming care for transgender and non-binary people.

One of the tenets of Christian Nationalism is the banning of abortion and birth control. These people will claim it's because they are pro-life but there's a racist white supremacist undercurrent to the pro-life movement, as Jane Elliot explains in this video.

There is some literature being disseminated by Christian Nationalists to children that looks like it could be borderline child porn or kinky erotica featuring children. This literature could plausibly be used as a tool to groom kids into accepting anything from their elders, including sexual abuse. This is a page from a children's book that has one drawing showing a girl knocking down a hornet's nest with a stick. A second drawing shows the girl laying in bed while covered in hornet stings. She has a dream, which leads to this third drawing: an image of Jesus bending the girl over his knees with her pants pulled down but she's still wearing underwear. Jesus spanks the girl's behind. The text says that if a child is being naughty the Lord may take away all protection as punishment. Sometimes being naughty can lead to getting sick, which is due to the Lord spanking the mischief maker.

That page is completely full of WTF.

There are Christian Nationalists who believe that the 9/11 attacks were some kind of a human sacrifice to a demon.

Many Christian Nationalists took part in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, which was a blatant attempt to subvert democracy and keep Donald Trump in office.

Christian Nationalists are happy with the current situation in Israel and Palestine because they hope that the war will lead to events happening as foretold in the Book of Revelations. Christian Nationalists could care less about the Jews and Muslims in that region who are affected by the war because they aren't Christians and/or they aren't white.

Is Christian Nationalism related to the teachings of Jesus Christ?

Christian Nationalism is a distortion of the teachings of Jesus Christ as outlined in the gospels. One example is Christian Nationalism advocating for laws that would combine church and state so people would serve only one master. In Matthew 22:21 Jesus said that people have an obligation to serve separately both the state and religion when he said, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

If you look through the gospels, you'd see that Jesus never said anything about abortion, birth control, or the LGBTQ community yet Christian Nationalists call for the banning of all three. Jesus never advocated for censorship but Christian Nationalists are in favor of book banning in schools and public libraries.

Yet Jesus had plenty to say about helping the poor and how it’s immoral to be wealthy. In Mark 10:21-22 “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

In Mark 10:25 Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

And there are plenty of other gospel passages where Jesus spoke out on the importance of helping the poor, the sick, and the less fortunate. Of course those who are into the Prosperity Gospel tend to conveniently ignore those gospel passages.

There is the famous gospel story in Matthew 21:12-13 about Jesus taking on the money changers in a temple, which inspired this memorable scene in Jesus Christ Superstar.

There was this event that recently happened in Missouri that made what the money changers did in that temple thousands of years ago seem boring by comparison. Last month the James River Church held its annual Stronger Men's Conference, which is supposed to help men learn how to live Christian lives. Yet the highlights from the weekend conference included things that one wouldn't usually find at a Christian retreat, such as a monster truck rally, live rock concerts with all kinds of theatrical stage effects like flames, and boxing matches.

One could be forgiven for thinking that had Jesus returned to earth and learned about that event, he would've arrived at the Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Missouri with an entire wrecking crew ready to smash it all down.

One of Christian Nationalism's biggest adherents, former Trump Administration National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, is touring the country making himself out to be a Christlike figure.

Then there is Donald Trump. Christian Nationalists have embraced him as their own even though Trump's own actions are a far cry from being a true Christian who follows everything that Jesus taught. There are the numerous extramarital affairs, the constant lying, the accusations of not paying his contractors for work they did for him, the frequent insults of other people, and numerous other transgressions. Trump has never apologized for any of his past misdeeds and has consistently refused to even publicly say “I'm sorry.”

But Christian Nationalists aren't attracted to Trump because they believe that he's living a devoted Christian life. They know that, through his actions, he is far from being a real Christian. They are attracted to him because through him they hope they can access the raw political power that they have always wanted for themselves.

Are all evangelical Christians also Christian Nationalists?

The good news is that the answer is no. In fact this video went viral where evangelical pastor Loran Livingston denounced the blending of church and state and Donald Trump selling his special edition Bible.

Furthermore, not all Christians—whether evangelical or not—subscribe to Christian Nationalism. There are prominent Christians who have openly denounced the rise in Christian Nationalism.

What would America be like under a Christian Nationalist government?

The best book on such a scenario is Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. It depicts a very dystopian future where only one kind of Christian religion is allowed to exist, all of the laws are based on the tenets of that one Christian faith, and only a certain class of men have all the political and economic power. Women have very little human rights and a woman's worth in this soceity is based solely on her fertility.

Sadly there are a number of Christian Nationalists who would love to see The Handmaid's Tale become a reality, which is what makes Christian Nationalism such a dangerous threat.

If you prefer something more factual than a dystopian novel, the Heritage Foundation has come up with something called Project 2025, which would be a completely radical makeover of the United States and it would include Christian Nationalism. Donald Trump has indicated that, if elected, he would implement it. You can read the full document or a synopsis on the Wikipedia.

Has anything like Christian Nationalism ever happened in the US before?

Back in the early days when the US was originally being established as a British colony in what is now Massachusetts, the Puritans settled there in order to flee persecution in their native England. Once they settled in their new home they began to show the same kind of intolerance towards non-Puritans that other faiths had shown towards them back in England. Non-Puritans who were driven out of Massachusetts settled either in Rhode Island or Maryland.

This kind of intolerance eventually focused on their own fellow Puritans, which culminated in the infamous Salem witch trials.

In the South during slavery the Bible was used to justify keeping slavery legal. After slavery was abolished the Bible was continued to be used to justify the infamous Jim Crow laws separating blacks from whites in every aspect of life.

Are there any believers in Christian Nationalism currently in US politics?

Yes. Congresswoman Mary Miller is one. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is another. There are two other congresswomen who are Christian Nationalists who also happened to be supporters of QAnon (which I wrote about in a previous post)—Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. On the state level Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano is a Christian Nationalist. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has supported policies (such as the “Don't Say Gay” bill) that are favored by Christian Nationalists.

Is there Christian Nationalism in other countries?

Yes, most notably in Russia. Vladimir Putin has increased the power of the Russian Orthodox Church and proclaimed his staunch belief in Eastern Orthodoxy. Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill has been a strong supporter of both Putin’s government and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Patriarch Kirill has banned Dimitry Safronov, the priest of the Moscow Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God, from his duties for three years, demoted him and stripped him of his robes and cross. What was Safronov’s crime? He conducted the memorial service for the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

According to this post by Roman Sheremeta, the Russian Orthodox Church doesn't bear much resemblance to other Christian churches. He wrote:

Russian orthodox church is not a church but a sect. It is a part of a spy and intelligence network, directly controlled by the russian state. Many russian priests have both clerical and military rank. The current head of russian orthodox church, Archbishop Krill, is also a general of FSB (formerly KGB). European Assembly officially recognized him accomplice of Putin guilty of the genocidal war.

He went on to explain that it's very common to see Russian Orthodox clergy bless rockets, missiles, rifles, tanks and other weapons of war. He called the Russian Orthodox Church a Christian version of ISIS.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has accused Putin and Patriarch Kirill of hijacking religion.

This closeness between Putin and Patriarch Kirill had inspired the feminist protest and performance art group Pussy Riot to write a song called “Punk Prayer,” whose lyrics are translated as this:

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Рut Putin away, put Putin away

Black robe, golden epaulettes
All parishioners crawl to bow
The phantom of liberty is in heaven
Gay-pride sent to Siberia in chains

The head of the KGB, their chief saint,
Leads protesters to prison under escort
In order not to offend His Holiness
Women must give birth and love

Shit, shit, the Lord's shit!
Shit, shit, the Lord's shit!

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist
Become a feminist, become a feminist

The Church’s praise of rotten dictators
The cross-bearer procession of black limousines
A teacher-preacher will meet you at school
Go to class - bring him money!

Patriarch Gundyaev believes in Putin
Bitch, better believe in God instead
The belt of the Virgin can’t replace mass-meetings
Mary, Mother of God, is with us in protest!

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Рut Putin away, put Putin away

This article in The Atlantic has a breakdown of the lyrics where it explains what incident in Russia each lyric refers to.

Pussy Riot shot the music video for their “Punk Prayer” inside of Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, which went viral worldwide.

As a result of the video three members of Pussy Riot were later arrested, put on trial for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” and sentenced to two years in a penal colony. After the members were released from prison Pussy Riot faced more harassment from the Russian authorities. When Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the authorities began its crackdown on Pussy Riot and it led to most of its members fleeing Russia.

Initially Russia claimed that it had to invade Ukraine because its government is full of Nazis. As the invasion dragged on, Russia came up with a religious reason that dovetails with Christian Nationalism: Ukraine is the starting point in the war against Satanism. Russia claims that it is conducting a holy war in order to protect Eastern Europe from such evil.

Meanwhile many of the Christian Nationalism adherents in North America have expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin because Putin is a close ally of Donald Trump and he has severely cracked down on the LGBTQ community in Russia, with the most recent law passed that classifies LGBTQ people as extremists and terrorists. There are Christian Nationalists who would love to do the same to LGBTQ people in America.

This anti-LGBTQ sentiment in Russia was what led this Canadian family decide to move to Russia even though they hadn't learned Russian nor had they done much research about their new country ahead of time. They were so intolerant of LGBTQ people in their native Canada that they sold their farm and went through extraordinary lengths to move to Russia only to be denied a temporary residency permit because they hadn't learned Russian. As a result they were required to leave Russia for three months then maybe try to move back to Russia again after the three months were up.

Despite what happened to that family, there are Americans who have successfully relocated to Russia. Many of them had moved because they became disillusioned with Donald Trump and they are enamored with the country's Christian values. One relocated American described Russia as being just like America was in the 1950s while another American ex-pat said that he liked the fact that around 20% of the Russian women look like supermodels.

Additionally, many Christian Nationalists see Russia as this ethnically pure (white) land of traditional religion and gender roles. There is a proposed new village in the Moscow region that is supposedly being built to house up to 200 North American families who are so sympathetic to Donald Trump and Christian Nationalism that they would rather live under Vladimir Putin's rule. This proposed village is supposedly being financed by the families themselves.

Christian Nationalists are so enamored with Vladimir Putin that the Russian Orthodox Church is gaining new followers in the US not from recent Russian immigrants but from American-born converts. These converts are using their new faith to spread white nationalist views.

Where to Learn More About Christian Nationalism

How Corporate America Invented Christian America

Evangelicals for Democracy

How Christian is Christian Nationalism?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Christian Nationalism

The Populism of Prosperity Theology

Christians Against Christian Nationalism

Wikipedia page on Christian Nationalism

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 document

Wikipedia page on Project 2025

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