What is it with Christians and fascism?

CHRISTOFASCISM 'krɪs.toʊ'fæ.ʃɪz.əm noun. A politically conservative, authoritarian, nationalistic ideology, which claims to be based on Christian principles.

[Christofascist adjective.]

Back in high school history class, we were introduced to the word “fascism,” but as I recall my history teachers had the darnedest time trying to explain what it was. I suspect it’s because they didn’t wanna offend any conservative parents who might lean a little fascist.

Properly, fascism is the movement led by Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 1930s. It’s not based on any particular political ideas, because Mussolini wasn’t an ideas guy; he was a populist. He just wanted to get elected, claimed he’d make Italy great again, and planned to do it by bypassing democracy and the usual checks and balances used to keep dictators from seizing power. The Italians called him il Duce, “the Duke,” because he tried to run the country much like a medieval duke—or one of the early Roman emperors, whom he used as his examples.

The few traits fascists and fascist governments have in common is they’re

• AUTHORITARIAN. The leader tends to act like an absolute monarch, tries to suppress his political foes and hold on to power, and tries to control everything in the country—regardless of existing laws and customs, and even civil rights. (Habeas corpus especially.)
• CONSERVATIVE. Fascist regimes are always anti-Communist, and anti anything they claim to be Communist, like unions and labor laws and government oversight. Always claim to uphold traditional values and standards… and always claim God’s on their side. Often go out of their way to look devout—mainly to help cover up how much they don’t act it.
• NATIONALISTIC. By “nation” they mean the largest ethnic group in the land, so yeah, we’re talking racism. Every other ethnic group is cast as “the problem,” and need to be enslaved, mitigated, deported, or eliminated.

The reason fascism was so widespread in the 1930s, and why it’s returned in such a big way in the 2020s, is because it taps into human nature so very well. People are inherently selfish. We want God to grant us all our selfish desires, Jm 4.3 and if God won’t grant it, maybe this fascist politician will. We want government to grant it, and if a democratic government can’t achieve it through negotiation and compromise, a fascist government can do it through steamrolling all our opponents.

And because fascists recognize that the biggest potential obstacle to their thirst for power is the one to whom we’re meant to grant all power—Christ Jesus—they go out of their way to make Christians believe, “No, really, Jesus is on my side. I’m doing this stuff for him. He approves. Lookit all the sinners I’m going to persecute on his behalf!” Historically they’ve been very successful at this, because obviously Christians don’t know our own Lord well enough to recognize this pursuit and elevation of temporal power, to do our will and claim it’s really Jesus’s, is obviously the spirit of antichrist.

Why Christians are so often tempted to try fascism.

Because Americans have grown up with democracy, lots of us naïvely think it, not human selfishness, is human nature. They’ll claim humans are inherently democratic; that we all recognize we’re politically equal; that it’s normal for kids to settle an issue by taking a vote and going with the majority. It is not. Democracy is learned behavior. I had to learn to surrender my will to a vote, instead of selfishly demanding my own way, and bullying the other kids into doing what I wished. But some of us never did learn that.

Despite the fact democracy arose in ancient Greece, it actually is a recent development in human history. Every country used to be a kingdom! Even the United States; the land used to be ruled by Indian nations, which might have appeared democratic from time to time, but were still largely ruled by chiefs. Then they were colonies of England, France, and Spain, under those empires’ kings. Wasn’t till the American Revolution that we decided to try Greek-style democracy; we revived a practice that had lain dormant for millennia. As for the rest of the world, democracy didn’t catch on till the 20th century—and often still hasn’t.

But the catch with democracy is it grants our fellow citizens equal political power, and forces us to compromise with them. My selfish tendencies have to negotiate with your selfish tendencies. My wants have to make a deal with your wants. Sometimes I’m not gonna get everything I want. Sometimes I’m gonna get nothing I want. And I have to be okay with that, because I recognize democracy is fair.

Well, a number of us aren’t okay with losing, and cheat. People rig elections and districts so their party will always get more votes. They find reasons to take the vote away from their opponents. They change the rules and procedures so their opponents can’t get anything done. Those who claim democracy isn’t fair: They’re actually not wrong. There’s a lot of cheating going on in the United States.

Now if you’re a legalistic Christian, who believe some of your wants are in fact moral obligations—and you think God is outraged whenever you make deals with pagans over those things, because you’ve morally compromised yourself and your homeland—sometimes you’re gonna start looking for alternatives to democracy. Not just cheating; full-on antidemocratic stuff like war, monarchy, and fascist dictatorships.

That’s what happened in other countries that ditched their democracies in favor of fascism. That’s what happened in the United States in the 1860s, when southern states tried to create their own separate pro-slavery confederate government—and then, after they went to war over it and lost, rejiggered their laws to keep the newly freed blacks terrorized and not voting. Too many people figure, “In this issue, there’s no compromise,” and ditch democracy and go to war. And think they’re righteous for doing so… and no they’re not. It’s kinda obvious by the tactics they use to rebel, the godless laws they pass, and the ways they wage war. It’s the spirit of antichrist.

Humans, and Christians especially, aren’t safe when it comes to wielding power; we need oversight, checks and balances, and constitutional limits. We need fellow citizens, who have equal power to us, to keep us from running amok. And really, we need to surrender all our power to Jesus, who’s the only one who can handle it properly. Not a fascist ruler; not even one who claims he comes in Jesus’s name.

But again: Christians don’t always recognize this. And if they already live in an authoritarian environment—if they go to a legalistic church, if they run their families like little patrarchies and boss around their kids like kings and subjects—if they’re used to always getting their way, and democracy aggravates them because it actually hinders them, fascism is gonna look mighty appealing to such people.

How do you know it’s not of Jesus? The racism.

As I said, fascists are nationalistic. They’re fixated on “purifying” their “nation” from foreigners. They wanna deport immigrants, regardless of whether the immigrants are here legally, and are looking for any excuse to get ’em out of here. They’re even looking for ways to take citizenship away from immigrants who were naturalized, and to eliminate birthright citizenship.

And since Jesus is king of “all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” Rv 7.9 because he’s called every Christian out of our homelands to make us part of his kingdom, this idea of segregating us into different lands, putting up border walls to separate us, sending people “back to where you’re from” even though they’re from here now: Nationalism goes against the kingdom of God. It’s anti-Christian. It’s antichrist.

The racism is how you know fascism isn’t Christian, and fascists are antichrists. Hating your neighbor defies Jesus’s command to love our neighbors. “I was a stranger and ye took me not in,’ Mt 25.43 is how Jesus describes people who are going to hell. If fascists are gonna claim they’re helping us become a Christian nation, they oughta get that right, at least. But hating our neighbor is how they get people to grant them power, which is why you’re not gonna see any compassion come out of them. If anything they’ll just pollute Christians and discourage us from displaying empathy: “They’re the enemy! Stop loving your enemies!”

Is it possible to have a conservative authoritarian government, yet get rid of the racist nationalism and be compassionate to strangers and the needy? In theory, of course! In practice, it’s never worked out that way. Authoritarians realize pretty quickly that if you love your subjects and try to do them good, the selfish ones among them will see this as weakness and try to knock you out of power. If you wanna hold on to that power, it’s much easier to be evil. It’s why authoritarian parents, despite what they tell themselves their goals and motives are, actually don’t love their kids—and the kids are fully aware of this.

So while an authoritarian dictator might try to convince the people, or at least his party, that he loves them; that he’s looking out for their best interests: Of course he’s not. He covets power, he’ll say whatever it takes to gain it, and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep it. Selfish people don’t love their neighbors, so he’ll appeal to that, tell you it’s okay that you don’t—that there are good reasons you shouldn’t—and he’ll persecute ’em for you. He’ll smite your enemies for you. But if he ever gets it in his head you’re one of those enemies, he’ll come after you too, just as mercilessly.

Again: That level of power is only safe in the hands of Jesus. That’s the only hands into which we should commit it. Never a fascist dictator; never someone who can easily, quickly turn out to be the Beast we’ve been warning ourselves about for years.