I’m a local pastor and one recent conversation on a Sunday after church made me convinced that Christian people in our country need to be speaking up loud and clear in rejection of Christian nationalism.
In September an organization called Turning Point USA held several events in Honolulu. One of my younger congregants, a student at the University of Hawai’i, attended an event at the invitation of a friend. His question to me the following Sunday was poignant and important: “Pastor, can you tell me what this group represents? Because nothing I heard at that event sounds anything like what I’ve learned here at church my whole life.”
I was glad for his confusion, because the kind of Christian nationalism Turning Point and others promote is not reflective of the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s incorrect, in fact, to even label that ideology “Christian.”
But it is labeled that way, and my congregant is not the only one who’s confused. People who don’t go to church, who have left the church for good reasons, or who profess a faith other than Christianity are feeling excluded and even threatened by the rhetoric of Christian nationalism.
All of us need to hear Christian people saying loudly and clearly that Christian nationalism is not Christian faith.
Christian nationalism is a political and cultural belief that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and, as such, Christians and conservative Christian values should be given primary power and cultural dominance. The United States constitution, however, the guiding document of our country, protects the freedom of every religion. Because of the constitution, in America there is no religion whose values are given primary power and cultural dominance.
And it’s critically important that freedom of religion in America is protected, because in order for me to be able to freely practice my own faith, I need to make sure that my neighbors have the right to practice whatever faith they choose or no faith at all.
As Christian nationalism has taken a more visible role in our shared political life, self-professed Christians must be asking if and how our faith is being distorted in pursuit of political power rather than the teachings of Jesus.
To follow Jesus means to love God and neighbor, to serve the poor, to advocate for the oppressed, to widely and generously show aloha for all who have been marginalized and excluded. We do not practice our faith by demeaning and excluding other groups of people in private or public forums, insisting that other citizens should be forced to practice a set of beliefs we prescribe.
My young congregant was right; Christian nationalism is not representative of Christian faith. Left unchecked, Christian nationalism quickly becomes hatred and exclusion dressed up with holy-sounding words and a couple of compelling praise songs.
This is not the faith we claim, so I hope you’re confused too when you hear the rhetoric of Christian nationalism represented as Christian faith. You’d likely never run into Jesus at a Turning Point Rally; he’d be too busy hugging people at Pride, protesting at the Federal Detention Center, feeding people who are hungry, and speaking up when the rights of our neighbors to practice different faiths or no faith at all are even in question.
I’m a local Christian pastor, and I’m here to make sure there’s no confusion: Christian nationalism has no place in the practice of Christian faith. Instead of Christians telling everybody else what they should believe and how they should behave, I’d prefer that we stay busy loving and caring for our neighbors so when people look at our lives and wonder about our faith, they will clearly see what Jesus came to teach us.