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The Baptist Joint Committee on Public Policy (hereafter referred to as BJC) is spearheading a campaign against what they label as Christian Nationalism. The name is not original with them but Amanda Tyler the BJC’s Director and her staff have adopted it and taken the lead on trying to expose and destroy it. Her stance has received the endorsement of Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; Sister Simone Campbell, head of Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK; Tony Campolo, founder of Red Letter Christians; Jim Winkler, president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Melissa Rogers, former executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships under President Barack Obama; the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, director of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Office of Public Witness; and the Rev. Paul Baxley, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship . . . . . all Left leaning Christian leaders (Progressives).
From the list above and others found elsewhere it appears that this disingenuous indignation that seeks to bring condemnation down upon the heads of Conservative Christians who dare to be found active in the public square is the result of theologically liberal Christians who afraid of the gains social conservatives who are Christians have made in the last few years. They are attempting to sideline faithful Christians by creating “Christian Nationalism” which one prominent conservative historian has referred to as a "radioactive term" designed to soil their reputation.
What is Christian Nationalism? . . . . It is the “merging of Christian and American identities by distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian."
By defining Christian Nationalism this way Amanda Tyler, et. al. are seeking to redefine nationalism in a way that implies something sinister about conservative Christians who love their country and who often refer to the United States of America (hereafter referred to as “America”) as a Christian Nation. The very term Christian Nationalism is a “Newspeak” implying that there is something sinister about Christians who love their country. Are there people who would like to see the United States and Christianity merged into a single entity? I am sure there is. There all kind of nutty people in our world and sadly our religious and political leaders too often pander to some of them. I am also sure that among the nutty people are a few who would like to see the country adopt the Bible or the Koran as the basis of our national government. Some would support Sharia law. Other twits want a Socialistic agenda and to do away with things like Electoral College and the Senate. Neither of these constitute a significant threat.
Most Christians I know believe that mixed with the empiricism of John Locke and Alexander Pope are the moral Principles of the Christian Scripture. From early founders fleeing religious persecution to those who simply wanted a new start in life for their families virtually every people group that constituted the founding culture whether Christian or not accepted the fact that the moral and ethical standards found in the Christian Scripture were the underpinnings of the new nation. Even the "Create a more perfect union” made an appeal to the commonly accepted notion that our basic rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness come from God and were not negotiable.
It is also true that the founders recognized that government and religion should not be organizationally united. Hence the prohibition on government in the first amendment of involving itself in religion. They included no such provision for religion. So while Jefferson spoke of a wall of separation existed between state and church it was a wall to keep government out of religion not religion out of government.
So I find myself asking, “And just what is that you're against that is real? I'm a Christian and I'm against "gobbledygook." Do you know what it is that I am against when I call it “gobbledygook?” Well, just so you know I am against the use of “Newspeak” to distort and confuse. Through the use of propagandistic language marked by euphemism, circumlocution, and the inversion of customary meanings and that is what Christian Nationalism is they denigrate conservative Christians.
If you are just talking about merging Christian and American identities by distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy then say so and there is a better than even chance I'll agree. However, when you added “Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian" you revealed your true colors. So I have to ask, “Who the heck are or talking about?” This is a Quixotic windmill. Never in my 73 years among Christians and Baptist in particular have I ever heard anyone say that to be a good American you must be a Christian. That’s just a cleaver phrase designed to be a windmill, i.e., create a reality out of a non-reality.
To go a little further . . . .I had posted on the BJC Facebook page a short blurb about the use of "Newspeak" and I got a response that said, "Yes David, but it is a little more comfortable than Christian White Supremacist isn't it." I don't know exactly what this person was saying but I have a strong inclination that "Christian White Supremacist" is what their Newspeak term "Christian Nationalist" really means. That in turns says something about how folks who follow the BJC see conservative Christians. So anytime you are referred to as a Christian Nationalist they are in reality lumping you in with White Supremacist and by extension Neo-Nazis.
As I said, I have never heard anyone but Leftist leaning Christian leaders make the statement that to be a good American you had to be a Christian. I have never head it. What I have heard is, “dedicated Christians make good citizens.” I have heard conservative Christians stress the need to win, through evangelistic efforts of preaching, teaching, personal testimony, home visitations etc. to win the non Christian to faith. All of these fall within the Christian’s responsibility under God not government,. Laws that minimize these efforts or make them altogether impossible are to be challenged and changed.
Add to this the fact that we are to be salt and light in the national culture both through how we live personally and for what we endorse and seek to enact into law politically. Christians are to do that both individually and are to organize themselves in ways that effectively bring these things to pass. This IS NOT Christian Nationalism! It is simply Christians living out in the real work their faith. Unfortunately for the Christian Left (Christian Socialist and Progressives) the basic truths of the Scripture run contrary to their world view. I encourage the “Christian Left” to consider that there was a reason God wrote the Ten Commandments in stone and not on parchment.
The people that the BJC seek to suck into the false category of National Socialism are Believers who simply believe the Bible. Their mantra is, “The Bible says it and that settles it” whether I believe it or not is irrelevant to its validity. Christians seeking to bring their government into compatibility with Christian moral values through political action are seeking to do exactly what our founding fathers said they were doing . . . . . “Create a more perfect Union.” We are committed to the rule of law even when that law violates our understanding of Scripture but we also will not surrender our right to change those laws to ones that are more compatible with our Christian ethics and morals. So get used to it.
The BJC and other Left leaning Christians know full well that men such as the late Jerry Falwell, Robert Jeffress and conservative pastors/leaders across the nation are not and never have sought to merge the Church with the State. Quite the contrary . . . . . We simply believe we have been tasked by God to call the nation to righteousness and to implore and yes pressure the “secular” leadership to lead the way. We are to be both salt and light to our world and that means pressing the culture to evolve a nation that adheres to the core principles of Scripture. Blessed is the nation who God is the Lord."
I suggest the BJC look around. The real threat to the Republic and to the church is not the merging of the two. There is no evidence that there is any risk of that. To the contrary. The government is under assault fro liberalism, socialism and internal corruption. The church is under attack the world over and Christians are literally dying for their faith; being excluded from the American public square by court rulings that are too broad and sweeping . . . to the point of literally “throwing the baby out with the bath water.”
I further suggest that the America has nothing to fear from conservative Christians. Christians do not want special standing they want equal footing. Trust me, the conservative Christian is not the enemy . . . . their love for their Lord overflows into love for their country as established by our founding fathers. The conservative Christian's sin is that he loves both God and Country and stand in the way of the Socialist Left whether they be Christian or not and their goals for this nation.
