Video: Baptist Leader Calls Out White Christian Nationalism
Christianity is defined by a set of documents written mostly by those who were the Apostles of the early church, known in the gospel narrative as the Twelve Disciples, chosen by Jesus to accompany him for the three years of his public ministry. It is a systematic faith, consistent in its practice and application of the principles and virtues taught by Jesus. The confession that is its foundation is that Jesus is "The Christ, the Son of the living God," who, through his birth, life, teachings and resurrection from the dead, brings about the redemption of humanity from its sin.
By remaining within the historical, cultural and religious context of the time in which the New Testament was written, an accurate interpretation of the Bible produces a consistent practice of the Christian faith which has remained consistent throughout the two thousand years of its existence. But it has been susceptible to deviations and departures from the simple faith that Jesus preached and taught as a result of intrusions into its membership from all kinds of ideological and philosophical influences coming from every society and culture into which it has entered.
Christianity is as susceptible to having its mission and purpose, and the core values of the faith, hijacked and radicalized as any other religious belief, including Islam. This is a fact that is recognized by several of the church's apostles who wrote the New Testament, including Jude, believed to be the half-brother of Jesus, who wrote, "For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who were long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only lord and master, Jesus Christ." [Jude v. 4, NRSV]
There are multiple warnings in Paul's letters about "so quickly deserting the one who called you in the gospel of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel" [Galatians 1:6]. Even in the earliest years of the existence of the church, Christianity was susceptible to radicalization and to accepting ideas based on the popularity of the one advocating for them at the time, or because they blended with worldly, pagan ideology that appealed to their entertainment tastes.
Christianity has Produced All Kinds of Deviations from its Scripture
It's not that the Bible is difficult to understand and interpret, it's that the structure and organization of the church, like all human institutions, can be hijacked and used for unintended purposes. That's because most people who claim to be Christians don't make the effort to educate themselves with the foundational principles, doctrine, theology and practice of Christianity, and can't answer objections or recognize the infiltration of false doctrine when it presents itself.
Christianity has been weaponized as a political tool since even before Constantine claimed to have his vision of the cross with the inscription "By this sign, conquer." By that time, there had been enough of the apostle's written works collected by the early church leaders to draw the conclusion that Constantine's "vision" was inconsistent with Christ's gospel, but apparently not many were willing to turn aside the kind of political power and the vast monetary wealth that Constantine poured into the church to capture it, manipulate it and use it.
What We're Seeing Now is More Than Weaponizing Christianity; It is Radicalizing It
There are those of us within the Christian church, even within the more conservative, Evangelical branch of the American church, who see this for exactly what it is. Not only is this turn toward white, Christian nationalism a means of weaponizing Christianity with distortions of both the intention of the founding fathers of the United States and of Christian doctrine and theology, it has changed the core beliefs and foundational principles of the Christian church, eliminating almost all of the core values of the gospel of Jesus Christ itself, replacing it with a worldly, anti-Christian approach to achieving its ends. Like the violent groups within militant Islam, White Christian nationalists are radicalizing the Christian faith.
There are two specific examples of just exactly how this has come about. The first is the images of all of those people wearing Christian symbols, carrying crosses and banners, headed into the Capitol on January 6th, some even pausing to pray, intent on overturning a legitimate election and the authority of Congress, which two of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, both make clear is authority "established by God." So in effect, according to the Christian scriptures, the insurgents who were involved in the January 6th act of sedition against the United States were rebelling against the very authority of God himself.
The other is the influence that an immoral, adulterous, sexually abusive, potty-mouthed, morally bankrupt, completely corrupt, pathological liar has over those among Evangelical Christians who are politically engaged on the right. They give him a measure of loyalty that nullifies their claims of being loyal to Christ and faithful to God, because that is what he demands from them. The incongruity that exists between Trumpism and Christianity is blasphemous, according to the Christian scripture. AS the Bible says, salt water and fresh water cannot come from the same spring. Christ cannot be served along with Belial. Loyalty cannot be given to a man whose lifestyle is exactly the opposite of that required of practicing Christians and who, himself, is not Christian by his own declaration and testimony.
If you can read it without throwing up, this has to be one of the most self-serving, anti-Christian statements ever made by an American. Eric Trump: Trump has done more for Christians than anyone else
An accurate, Biblical definition of the term "anti-Christ," found only in I John and 2 John, is those who "do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh," referencing the conviction that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament requirements for being the divine Son of God, the Messiah. The Apostle John, using this term in these two epistles, was referencing the Roman emperors, who were proclaiming themselves as a "god" to be worshipped. But what's happening with Trumpism is quite similar to that, and these scripture passages are accurate and applicable to that.
Hijacking Christian Churches and Denominations in the Name of Political Power and Wealth
And let's not kid ourselves now, money and political power, not the gospel of Jesus Christ, is exactly what is behind this perversion of Christianity we call white, Christian nationalism. There is no connection between the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the interpretation of it that is found in the works of the Apostles in the New Testament, and any point made by white, Christian nationalism. Only the rhetoric and the symbols are similar.
The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a Washington, DC-based legislative advocacy organization supported by a group of Baptist denominations and which is one of the strongest advocates for separation of church and state, democracy and religious liberty among Washington think-tanks, has identified five specific points in the ideology of white, Christian nationalism.
1. America is a divinely appointed nation by God that is Christian.
2. America's founders, rather than wanting to disestablish religion as a unifier for the nation, were in fact establishing a nation based on Christian principles, with white men as the leaders.
3. Others (Native Americans, enslaved Africans and immigrants) would accept and cede to this narrative of America as a Christian nation, and accept their leadership.
4. America has a special place not only in world history, but in Biblical scripture, especially concerning the return of Christ.
5. There is no separation between church and state.
Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, 2022
The fact that this has come from the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is a clear indication that many of those who recognize the real dangers and subversive nature of white, Christian nationalism are Christians themselves, mainly from among those churches and denominations in which the theology and doctrine reflects a more Biblical perspective which they don't have to make such a big deal because the practice of their faith reflects it. A large percentage of the BJCRL's support comes from African American denominations, and the more progressive wing of Baptists who understand that Christianity embraces social justice, racial equality and that a free church in a free state, which is pure separation of church and state, is one of the core values that actually identify them as Baptists.
Turn This Fallacy Upside Down
As the author of the book of Jude warns, white, Christian nationalism is an intruder whose advocates have stolen in among the churches. They have, as Jude says, perverted the gospel of Jesus, whose "kingdom" which he said "is not of this world," but is a spiritual realm, fulfilled the only biblical covenant with a nationality and people, and turned it into a very worldly means of conquest, aiming not at spiritual reform, but at accumulating enough wealth to run the whole world.
The Baptist Joint Committee has called this false gospel out by identifying its foundational assumptions and showing how it isn't consistent with Christian faith and practice. That opens up a way to counter it with an intellectual argument. It should also make it easier to identify it in the political rhetoric of someone running for office so that you can vote against them in the next election. In effect, what America would be under this kind of governing philosophy is a religious, segregated dictatorship. Knowing this about them should be a rallying point for Democrats.
I would also suggest that anyone who hears this tripe from the pulpit of their church needs to get out now. And I mean now. Taking your presence and your money with you starves the movement of the needs it has to sustain itself. Go find a church that doesn't compromise its preaching of the gospel by intruding on its worship time with a false gospel. If you've paid attention and you understand the theology and doctrine of the gospel, call it out in in the church where it's allowed, point out it's fallacies and see how many people you can get to leave with you.
The Apostle John is the writer who mentions and defines the term "antichrist," found in two of his epistles, I and II John (not in Revelation, by the way, nor is the term "rapture"), as being one who denies the nature of Jesus as the Christ. White, Christian nationalism is "antichrist," because it turns the gospel of Jesus back to the old covenant concept of theocratic rule by a "chosen" people. That is clearly not what Christ intended to happen to his church.
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