A working title for this essay was "To Hell with Christian Nationalism," which is a clue that I feel strongly about the topic. I have recently written about the evils of nationalism and how it corrupts the church, but what is particularly deplorable about the flavor called Christian nationalism?
I should start with what I mean by the term – it is both a belief about what was and about what should be. Christian nationalism is partly fabricated history: that the United States was founded by devout Christians who intentionally created a "Christian nation." Often this is accompanied by the belief that the nation's founding was a special act of God, and that it is divinely chosen in a way that other countries are not. However, the doctrine is more than history – it usually includes the view that in the present the United States should be a nation that belongs to Christians and whose government should promote Christianity over other beliefs.
Why is it urgent to reject this doctrine today? While it has always been wrong, and has even been dangerous in some manifestations (like the KKK), we seem to be in a particularly perilous moment. Sociologists have identified belief in Christian nationalism as a key factor in the turn in American politics and society toward an amoral, selfish, racist-tinged nationalism. While Christian nationalist ideology has long been common (even among people whose commitment to Jesus is minimal at best), now it seems to have morphed into something darker, leading many American Christians in angry, neighbor-hating directions.
A Past that Never Was
This section should not be necessary. "Christian nation" mythology has become entrenched over the past 200 years, but actual study of history reveals that most of it is false. While the average person in the pew cannot be blamed for believing the myths (some of which even made their way into schoolbooks), it is harder to excuse the self-styled experts who perpetuate falsehood today. Some of them may be well-meaning, but many seem to be spreading lies for profit and/or political power, telling patriotic Christians what they want to hear.
Many historians have studied this; I particularly recommend two books by Christian scholars. The definitive work is probably still The Search for Christian America, written in the 1980s by Mark Noll, Nathan Hatch, and George Marsden. A more recent study is Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction by John Fea. As Noll and Fea both note, there are many different things that one could mean by claiming the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation. I will look briefly at several of these; the books (and others listed at the end of this essay) can be consulted for details
Did the colonists come to America for religious freedom? Not for the most part. Most of them already had religious freedom by the standards of the day; the colonies inherited a level of freedom like that in England. Most colonists came for economic, not religious reasons. An exception was the Puritans (and their religious cousins the Pilgrims), who established colonies in what is now Massachusetts based on their Calvinist religion. But it would be wrong to see these colonies as being established for religious freedom, since at least in their initial decades they persecuted other varieties of Christians.
Was the American Revolution for religious freedom? Absolutely not. By 1776, people in the British Empire already had as much religious freedom as anywhere in the Western world. It is instructive that, in the long list of grievances in the Declaration of Independence, there is no complaint about a lack of religious freedom.
Did early Americans see themselves as establishing a nation for God? Mostly yes, although this was also the case in other colonies around the world. The rhetoric of many early colonists, including some clergy, was that of God's New Israel, God's people conquering a Promised Land. As many have pointed out, this cast Native Americans in the role of the Canaanites, the people that Israel wiped out in taking possession of the land. While the New Israel metaphor cannot be blamed for all the injustice perpetrated against Native Americans, it certainly did not help. During the Revolution, many Christians saw the new country as something God was bringing about, despite passages like Romans 13:1-2 that might suggest they were disobeying the Bible by rebelling against the governing authorities.
Were the founding documents Christian? No. The Declaration of Independence has a few vague references to a generic god/creator, who could just as easily be the god of Deism as the Christian God. The Constitution's only religious reference is a statement that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." In fact, many Christians in early America criticized the Constitution for being "Godless." Indirectly, of course, the language was influenced by the Bible, since that was how educated people in the English-speaking world wrote. One can find hints of Christian concepts if one looks hard enough, but historians agree that other sources such as Enlightenment political theory were much more important in shaping these documents.
Were the Founding Fathers devout Christians? Mostly not. Some were pretty clearly non-Christian, such as Franklin and Jefferson. Others were somewhere in the middle. George Washington carefully avoided discussing religion; he attended church like a proper gentleman was expected to, but always left before communion was served. John Adams called himself a Christian but vehemently denied doctrines like the Trinity and the Incarnation. A few second-tier founders (John Jay, John Witherspoon, Samuel Adams) do appear to have been orthodox Christians. The common element for most founders was not Christian commitment, but an opinion that religion (of some sort) was beneficial in producing the sort of moral citizens they desired for the new nation.
Was the nation Christlike when it was founded? That is hard to defend. It was probably no worse than most other countries at the time, but its embrace of slavery, including explicitly protecting it in the Constitution, should disabuse us of any idea that the U.S. was especially Godly. The treatment of Native Americans is another case in point; while the Declaration of Independence contained nothing explicitly Christian, it did complain that the King was acting too favorably toward the "Indian savages."
Does God have a special relationship with the U.S.? That is Biblically indefensible. In some sense God once had a special relationship with a nation – Old Testament Israel. But Jesus redefined the people of God in a way that transcends national boundaries. The only "nation" that is uniquely special to God now is the church, the worldwide community gathered around Jesus.
Has the U.S. been influenced by Christians and Christianity? Yes, of course. Even as we reject the false history of Christian nationalism, we should not go to the other extreme that would say the Founders were all Deists and opponents of Christianity who wanted to exclude religion from American life – that's also historically false.
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An aside: The Jefferson Bible
An illustration of the faith (or lack thereof) of one of the most important Founding Fathers is the book that has become known as The Jefferson Bible, although he titled it The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. Made by Thomas Jefferson after his time as President, it isn't really a "Bible," since it has no Old Testament and not much of the New Testament, just pieces of the four Gospels. I say "pieces," because Jefferson did what we all sometimes want to do – he cut up a Bible with a razor and kept only the parts he liked. And Jefferson didn't like Christian doctrines about Jesus. For Jefferson, God was an impersonal designer, and Jesus was only a great moral teacher. His Jesus does no miracles; any hint of divinity is cut out. Here is the end of the Jefferson Bible: Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus, and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. So ends Thomas Jefferson's Jesus. |
What's the Harm?
It is fair to ask whether it is worth getting worked up about this. Maybe Christian nation mythology is as harmless as the story of George Washington and the cherry tree (which was made up in the early 1800s by the same writer who invented a story about Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forge). Yet I believe there are some serious problems, not only due to the promotion of false history but also due to the connection of the falsehoods to the other aspect of Christian nationalism, the doctrine that we should have a "Christian nation" today. Let's look at a few of these problems.
First, Christians should reject lies. Christian nation myths may be what some people want to hear, but if we follow "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" we should disown all falsehood. It destroys our witness when Christians promote lies; the prime example of this is the "creationist" movement, but the distorted history of Christian nationalism is not far behind. There is a book and website called "Liars for Jesus" that mainly exposes the false history promoted by Texas-based Christian nationalist David Barton. The disrepute that such people bring on the faith falls under the scope of 1 Peter 4:14-15: If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief-maker.
A second problem is that the association of Christianity with Americanism harms Christian mission in the world. Rightly or wrongly (it is probably some of each), much of the world has negative feelings about the United States. If we tell the world that the country they despise is a Christian nation, we should not be surprised if they want nothing to do with Christianity.
Third, Christian nation mythology can blind us to the very un-Christian things in our history. This begins with the fact that much of the nation was built on slavery, and on the mistreatment of Native Americans. It continues through the ongoing effects of racial bigotry and the bullying behavior of the U.S. in the world.
Related, this ideology can perpetuate injustice. The "Christian nation" being yearned for is one where white men had all the power. Sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry (in their recent book Taking America Back for God) stated it well: For many Americans, Christian nationalism captures a cultural vision of whose country the United States really is ("ours"), and consequently who are the "Others" or "outsiders" .... Americans who sensed a threat in the form of ethnic and religious outsiders encroaching on their privileged position most likely envisioned a Trump presidency as a "return" to a better time. He would make America great again by making it their America again. We might also point to the example of apartheid South Africa, which defined itself as a Christian nation.
Fourth, it baptizes the evils of nationalism. People who are far from Christians themselves (like Donald Trump or Rush Limbaugh) use Christian nationalism as a tool to further their power. In these hands, the U.S. is pushed away from the "Christian" part (e.g., the ways of Jesus, such as self-sacrificing love) and toward the "nationalism" part that demeans and dehumanizes our neighbors around the world. If you define yourself as the Christian nation, it is easy to treat those outside as enemies of God. This nationalism also leads to idolatry, where devotion to America rivals devotion to Jesus. From the Crusades to Nazi Germany, history is full of bad examples when the church is seduced by the power of the nation.
Finally, Christian nationalism is bad theology. According to Christian theology, no nation can define itself as specially Christian. On this side of Jesus, the Bible makes clear that God does not have favorite tribes or nations. All ethnic groups and nationalities are invited to participate in the Kingdom of God, without favoritism. To imply that God has some special connection to America or Americans that others lack is a denial of the doctrine that in Christ there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. (Col. 3:11)
Closing Thoughts
I have a friend who sometimes reads drafts of my writing and usually suggests that I add something constructive or hopeful. It is often a valid criticism, but for Christian nationalism that seems as difficult as finding something constructive to say about cancer. Some things are so bad that the imperative is to excise the malignancy, and worry about reconstruction later.
We might wish to say of those who hold this doctrine, "Their heart is in the right place." In some sense that is true for American Christians who have been trained to love Jesus and love their country, even if some of that training comes from people who profit from selling a false narrative to the gullible. But in another sense their hearts are in exactly the wrong place. The heart of Christian nationalism is idolatry of country and failure to love our neighbors. And sometimes that heart includes a desire for a nation were only white men matter.
Perhaps the right metaphor is that we need to drive a stake through the heart of Christian nationalism.
But that brings to mind Luke 11:24-26, where Jesus warns about a house that is left empty after an evil spirit is driven out; later it returns with seven spirits that are even worse.
Destroying the evil heart of Christian nationalism is not enough; it needs to be replaced with something good.
A better metaphor is a heart transplant.
We must replace it with the heart of Jesus, a heart that prizes truth and rejects lies, a heart that is inclined to love our neighbors, no matter what their nation.
Recommended Reading
Gregory A. Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church (Zondervan, 2005)
John Fea, Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction. Revised edition (Westminster John Knox Press, 2016)
Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2022)
Steven K. Green, Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding (Oxford University Press, 2015)
Richard T. Hughes, Christian America and the Kingdom of God (University of Illinois Press, 2009)
Mark A. Noll, Nathan O. Hatch, and George M. Marsden, The Search for Christian America. Expanded edition (Helmers & Howard, 1989). [my #1 recommendation]
Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2020)
| 2023 Addendum: Some of the material in this essay is now contained in my book, co-authored with Carl S. Hofmann, Christ or Caesar: Church and Nation in Christian Perspective. |
| Disclaimer: The views expressed in this essay are the opinion of the author of this essay alone and should not be taken to represent the views of any other person or organization. |
Originally written September/October 2020. Page last modified May 4, 2023.
