- NATIONALISM
'næʃ.(ə.)nəl.ɪz.əm noun. Belief a particular ethnic group (i.e. nation) should be congruent with the state, or be supreme within it; and the state’s native identity must share this ethnic group’s characteristics. - 2. Exalting one ethnic group above all others; promoting its culture and interests above (or against) those of other ethnic or multinational groups.
- [Nationalist
'næʃ.(ə.)nəl.ɪst noun.] - CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM noun. Belief (white) Christians should be congruent with the state, or be supreme within it; and the state’s native identity must share (white) Christianity’s characteristics.
- 2. Exalting (white) Christians above all others; promoting its culture and interests above (or against) those of other religions and philosophies.
Let’s not mince words: Nationalism is a racist belief. Period. Doesn’t matter whether we put “Christian” before it: Still racist. Inherently racist.
French nationalists believe France should only consist of ethnic French people. To them, any immigrants from Algeria, Spain, Switzerland, or any other country aren’t really French, even if they were born in France, speak fluent French, have French citizenship, and contribute to society. In fact French nationalists would really rather they didn’t contribute to society, ’cause they’re “not really French.”
Turkish nationalists: Same deal. Israeli nationalists (often called Zionists, which isn’t always the same thing): Same deal; if you’re not Jewish you’re not really Israeli, which is why Israelis have no problem with utterly wiping out Palestinians like Joshua ben Nun did with the Amorites.
United States nationalists: Same deal. Except instead of insisting Americans be the original occupants of the continent, the aboriginal Indians, they insist the only real Americans are white English-speaking Anglo-Saxons like them. And sometimes other whites of European descent; largely they’ll include you if you speak English. They’d also really like it if everybody else would just “go back to where you’re from,” and thereby make America great again—by which they mean white again. As if it was ever only white.
Now yeah, there are various conservatives who admit they’re nationalist, but insist they’re not racist; they’re perfectly fine with nonwhite Americans! Some of their best friends are nonwhites! The United States is a melting pot; diversity is one of our greatest strengths; immigrants make some of the best Americans; and they just love ethnic food. They even have nonwhites in their family: A nonwhite spouse. Mixed-race kids and grandkids.
So why on earth do they identify themselves as nationalists? Well they’re Christian nationalists. It’s the very same idea the racists have… but now let’s swap out some of the racism for Christianity. To them, the United States should only consist of Christians. Any immigrants with other religions need to abandon those religions at the border, and either embrace Christianity or recognize its supremacy in American culture. And not resist that supremacy: They can practice their weird religions in private or in secret, but they must always remember America is a Christian nation.
Yes I said some of the racism. Though many Christian nationalists will claim they’re absolutely not racist, some of the racism is still right there, plain as day, proven by the fact they’re not entirely sure nonwhite Christians are real Christians. If nonwhites were real Christians, wouldn’t they attend
Whereas other Christian nationalists are fully, proudly aware they’re racist. Always have been. They want the United States to be a country for white Christians. But they find they get more traction if they emphasize the Christianity part, and downplay the racism part. Privately, they’ll tell you all about it.
No, nationalism isn’t just extreme patriotism. Some of the lousier dictionaries will define it that way… and some Christians will define it that way ’cause they don’t really understand the purpose of nationalism. They just think it sounds patriotic. It’s got “nation” in it! But they don’t understand “nation” doesn’t merely mean country; it means, same as
“Make America Christian Again.”
The Christians I grew up among, heavily promoted
(And of course there are those people who think Anglo-Saxons are descended from the Israelis who were deported in the Assyrian conquest, and therefore both Britain and the British colonies are bound by that covenant. But it’s a profoundly stupid theory, and let’s not go down that rabbit hole today.)
These are the folks who, when I was a lad, taught me there’s no such thing as “separation of church and state,” ’cause these words aren’t in the Constitution; they’re just in some letter by Thomas Jefferson, who was
done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, Article 7
True, “Year of our Lord” is meant to indicate the Christian Era, but “our Lord” is still in there. Ergo he’s America’s Lord. It’s constitutional!
So there is no such separation, these Christians insist. Congress opens with prayer. The Supreme Court opens with “God save the United States and this honorable Court.” Presidents swear their oaths on bibles and hold prayer breakfasts. We have “under God” in the pledge of allegiance. Our national motto is “In God We Trust.”
So what’s the First Amendment about?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion… Amendment 1
Well, I was told, “religion” back then didn’t mean religions, like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and so forth. It meant the particular way Christians practiced their Christianity. How one was religious; how one specifically expressed their faith. Did you follow the Church of England’s customs, or the Church of Scotland’s? Were you Quaker, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Mennonite, nonconformist, or some other Christian sect? Basically Congress wasn’t allowed to muddle in the many different ways you could be Christian. But American society generally expected you to be Christian.
So the myth, according to Christian nationalists, is the United States was founded by Christians for Christians, to be Christian. And by and large has actually been Christian. Yeah there have been aberrations, like
I kinda knew that last part was bogus, because my irreligious family members hadn’t ditched any Christianity in favor of the Beatles. Mom’s parents were pretty much Catholic in name only, and her siblings weren’t anything till they came to Christ in the late 1980s. Dad’s parents were
I was also a history buff. The more I read about American history, the more I discovered Americans have likewise been mighty pagan when it comes to God. Collectively, Americans sorta believed in God… but not necessarily in Christ, and American history clearly demonstrates Americans didn’t follow him much. Why else would we need the Great Awakenings?—why would Americans need revival after revival to win so many to Christ, only to see the next generation need yet another revival? Same as ancient Israel, y’notice.
But Christian nationalists insist we’ve always been Christian. And the reason for America’s various problems today, is we’ve violated our forebears’ covenants with God. Hence we need to go back to being Christian. We need to elect good Christians to public office, and have ’em ban
Yeah, it’s hypocrisy.
As I’ve said elsewhere on this blog, obligating everybody in a country to be Christian doesn’t make ’em Christian.
We also see this throughout American history. You see people joining secret societies, like the Freemasons and Klan, which permitted them to be as unchristian as they pleased in private. You’d see their “civil” and “Christian” behavior completely collapse and vanish whenever they felt they had to promote white supremacy. Or whenever there was a war; especially when their opponents were nonwhite, like aboriginal Indians, Mexicans, blacks, Filipinos, Japanese, Vietnamese, Afghans, or Iraqis. People committed excessive, vengeful atrocities towards their foes just because they could;
Since I’m already bringing up the racism: You also see a lot of this “Christian nation” talk tend to evaporate whenever we’re talking about Christians of color. Whether it’s historically black churches, or Roman Catholic parishes which are predominantly Hispanic or black, Christian nationalists generally treat the people of these churches as if they’re not real Christians. Mainly ’cause race. Often ’cause they don’t vote the same way racists do: If you’re in any way part of the Christian Left, or
The nationalists who want America to be Christian “again,” don’t actually want it to be all that Christian. (Mostly because true Christianity
The reality? The United States is post-Christian. And back “when it was Christian,” it wasn’t really. Christians just lived in it; many really devout Christians too. But most of the Christians who coveted and sought political power, promoted a superficial, namby-pamby Christianity which looks the other way when a whole lot of sins took place. That’s why over the years, people rejected this civic Christianity as the hypocrisy it is. Many still equate Christians with hypocrites because of them.
That’s why we need to quit being hypocrites—quit claiming we’re Christian when
