Rejecting the Narrative of 'Christian Nationalism'

One of the biggest myths that the left foisted onto the general public is the idea of “Christian Nationalism.” Anytime a conservative talks about his or her Christian faith, leftists throw the epithet of “Christian nationalist” (or worse, “Christo-fascist”) at him or her. At the same time, left-wing Christians never have to dodge those canards.

Last year, a Miami Herald reporter suggested that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) was “playing with fire” when he quoted scripture on the campaign trail. No reporter ever makes that claim when Democrat politicians speak at churches, which they do all the time.

Earlier this year, when the “Asbury Revival” had broken out and Christians from across the nation descended onto the campus of Asbury University, a professor went out of his way to assure the lefties at Christianity Today that “Christian nationalism” wasn’t part of the movement. The “Christian nationalism” canard came out most recently when the House voted Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), an outspoken evangelical, as Speaker of the House.

At the time, I wrote, “In reality, ‘Christian nationalism’ is an epithet that the left likes to use anytime a conservative Christian takes a place in power. Leftists wave the arms of the straw man wildly to make it look even more menacing. You see, the left only wants leftists to use scripture; when a conservative does (especially correctly), it’s ‘playing with fire.’”

Josh Howerton, the pastor of Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, Texas, took on the notion of “Christian Nationalism” in a recent Instagram post. “Increasingly, any Christian politician or voter advancing their values is decried as ‘CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM!’” Howerton began. “REALITY: 99% of the time ‘Christian Nationalism’ is just a scare-label whose subtext is, ‘You can't advocate for your values in the public square, but I can advocate for mine.’"

Howerton points out that the left loves to cry, "You can't force your beliefs on people who don't share them!" He countered that argument with a headline from an article from August that reported that a federal judge denied parents in Maryland the opportunity to opt their kids out of an LGBTQ curriculum. He also followed up the cry of "You can't mix politics and religion!" with a photo of the White House lit up in rainbow colors for Pride Month.

But it gets better. Howerton brings the receipts when he counters the argument that "Evangelical Christians are sooo politicized." He brings out some data from Ryan Burge of Graphs About Religion that shows that evangelicals are far from the most politically motivated people in the U.S.

Back in May, Burge wrote:

The last forty years of politics and religion has been focused squarely on the ascendancy of the Religious Right. I must admit that I’ve probably contributed my fair share to that discourse, as well.
A motley crew of white evangelicals and traditional Catholics locked arms on some social issues, started voting in large numbers for Republican candidates, and changed American politics forever.
But I think that era of religion and politics is rapidly coming to a close. The Religious Right is no longer a primarily religious movement - it’s one about cultural conservativism and nearly blind support for the GOP with few trappings of any real religiosity behind it.
Here’s what I believe to be the emerging narrative of the next several decades: the rise of atheism and their unbelievably high level of political engagement in recent electoral politics. Let me put it plainly: atheists are the most politically active group in American politics today and the Democrats (and some Republicans) ignore them at their own peril.
The data is clear and unequivocal on this point - no one gets involved in the political process to the level of the average atheist.

Burge cites tons of statistics to prove this point. To give just a handful of examples from a 2020 survey, half of atheists gave to a candidate during the campaign cycle compared to 26% of white evangelicals (because, in the eyes of the left, only white evangelicals can be guilty of trying to foment "Christian nationalism."). Thirteen percent of atheists attended a protest march in 2020, while only 5% of white evangelicals did. Over twice as many atheists as white evangelicals worked for a candidate, to the tune of 9% to 4%.

Howerton takes a slight detour to talk about separation of church and state, another penalty flag leftists try to throw when Christians engage in the political sphere. He points out:

Secularism has twisted "separation of church and state" to mean the opposite of its intent. Separation of Church and State does not mean...
Separation of God & state
Separation of morality & state
Separation of politics & religion
How do I know that?
FAST (inconvenient?) FACTS:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled about America in 1892, "This is a religious people ... This is a Christian nation."
6 of 13 original colonies required every public official to be a Christian and swear allegiance to Christian doctrines
When the Constitution was adopted, 8 of 13 states had an official Christian denomination
Of the remaining 5 colonies, 4 established Christianity as the official state religion
50 of the 55 men at the Constitutional Convention were orthodox Christians
In their political literature, the Apostle Paul was quoted as often as Montesquieu and Blackstone
Deuteronomy was quoted twice as much as John Locke

"Separation of Church & State means a separation of governments: that the leadership of the church and the leadership of the state shouldn't be the same," he continues. "And its intent was to keep the STATE from interfering with the CHURCH (like, for example, trying to shut churches down for 18 months 😉)"

Howerton moves on to the canard that Christians are always trying to impose their beliefs on others. "You say when I oppose abortion, my morality is imposed on the woman. But when you support abortion, your morality is getting imposed on the baby," he suggests as an example. "The question isn't whether morality gets legislated. The question is 'Whose morality gets legislated?' Everyone in a democracy is advocating for beliefs they think are best for society that some don't share."

He concludes by responding to the contention that the church is getting more political by writing, "No, politics is getting more theological."

"When you moved beyond teaching math, building roads and issuing driver's licenses to redefining marriage, erasing gender, cheering late-term abortion as "reproductive rights," and indoctrinating children into those beliefs — we didn't move," he insists. "Politics did."

Howerton makes salient points in this post, but nothing he says will ever convince the left. Commenters disagree with him, bringing up the same tired points, including one who debates with Howerton over the "racial" and "partisan" overtones of "Christian nationalism." (Don't forget: it's only white evangelicals who are a problem when they talk about politics.)

The painful truth, at least for the left, is that the "Christian nationalism" that the left wants to gin up fear about is a fringe idea that will never gain traction. As Christians, we can and should make our voices heard about politics, but we should never make it an idol. As I wrote almost exactly a year ago, "Christians aren’t called to make a kingdom here on earth; God calls Christians to pave the way for His eternal kingdom."

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