The Word in Focus with Dr Larry Taylor

“Democracy was on trial in Dayton [at the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925], as it would be again in our time: teachers being told what or how to teach; science regarded as an out-of-control, godless shibboleth; books tossed out of schools and libraries; loyalty oaths; and white supremacists promising that a revitalized white Protestant America would lead its citizens out of the slough of moral and spiritual decay to rise again, regardless of what or whose rights and freedoms might be trampled.”^[1]

I am a Christian, ordained minister, and a heterosexual cis-gendered male in his 70s with ancestors from northern and western Europe. My family on both sides has been in what is now the United States of America since the very early 1600s – nearly two centuries before the nation was founded. My direct ancestors fought in the Continental Army, Civil War, World War I, and World War II. I am a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. I live in the Midwest.

From the soaring mountains of the west to the wide tributaries and capes of the east, I love this land. I love its natural beauty. I love its diversity. I am proud that the United States has historically welcomed the downtrodden.

I also see her flaws. Colonizing invaders stole land that had been occupied by indigenous people for 10,000 years. They worked the land with African slaves who began arriving in August of 1619. They slaughtered natives and lynched black people. And now, because of greedy extraction capitalists, a massive gun lobby, white supremacists, insurrectionists, and conspiracy theorists, her end is in sight. 

Populist Christian Nationalism is on the verge of replacing the great experiment in democracy with demagoguery by supporting the most dishonest, hateful grifter ever to run for office.  

Populism sounds like a good thing – championing the common people who are being exploited by the elite. Historically, populists lead labor movements to improve working conditions and promoted democratic ideals over monarchies. They sought to use the legislative process to create a more humane, ethical, and equitable society. They championed free public education, workers’ rights, safe working conditions, child welfare, truth in advertising, ethical standards for public servants, universal healthcare, affordable housing, and environmental sustainability.  

Contemporary right-wing populism, however, is a different animal. It appeals by demonizing the educated, the press, intellectuals, BIPOC, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community. It persuades by employing conspiracy theories, repeating lies, mocking the weak and disabled, and scapegoating. It is anti-intellectual, anti-public education, xenophobic, homophobic, racist, antisemitic, islamophobic, and anti-democratic. It seeks to replace the will of the people with demagogues and quasi-dictators. It seeks to impose its vision of society by banning books, prescribing curricula, fictionalizing history, discounting free elections, intimidating the opposition, stacking the courts, and expanding executive power.

Nationalism also sounds like a good thing – something akin to patriotism. They are two different things. Patriotism is love of one’s country coupled with a desire to preserve her beauty, embellish her ideals, and correct her errors. Nationalism is the belief that one’s particular country is the greatest, best, and strongest – superior to all other countries and cultures. It is saturated with arrogance and prejudice. It is idolatrous. It worships a nation and its symbols, elevates its founding documents to the level of scripture, imagines its founders as flawless and its wars as just, rewrites its history to cover its sins, and narrowly defines citizenship.

For nationalism to work, an in-crowd must be defined. This presents a problem for American nationalists because the United States is a pluralistic culture. You can’t tell who an American is by looking at them. We come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, colors, religions, cultures, and ethnicities. That’s why nationalists have always felt the need to narrow the definition. For Hitler, it was the so-called Aryan race. For Trump, “true American” means white, reactionary, militaristic, anti-environmental, pro-big-business, paternalistic, anti-intellectual people and their allies. Immigrants, progressives, Muslims, pacifists, Africans, brown-skinned people, the poor and homeless, the highly educated and astute, need not apply. 

Christian nationalism is not Christian. It does not follow the teachings or example of Jesus. It ignores Jesus’ call to care for the alien, stranger, homeless, sick, incarcerated, mentally ill, and marginalized. It ignores the biblical mandate to carefully steward creation. Contrary to the Sermon in the Mount, it promotes militarism and violence. It knows nothing of loving one’s enemy. If it ever knew, it has forgotten how to wash feet. It is willing to enthusiastically support grossly immoral leaders. Christian nationalism is simply nationalism in the name of an invented god. 

Christian nationalism is self-righteous religiosity. It proports, for example to be pro-life and therefore justified in banning abortion, invitro-fertilization, and birth control; yet it does nothing to stop gun violence, relieve poverty, support childcare, help the refugee, protect the environment, or provide medical care for everyone. It is pro-fetus, not pro-life. Christian nationalism replaces Jesus and Paul with Moses and King David. Its contemporary heroes are grifters and con artists.

Whether the United States of America will gradually fade away or suddenly convulse into violent death throes remains to be seen, but her demise is clearly in sight. Her death will not be the fault of same-sex marriages, trans females, drag queens, lazy people on welfare, Latinx immigrants, some sort of deep state bureaucracy, or liberal elites. She is dying under a blanket of lies, greed, and thinly veiled misogyny and racism. 

^[1] Brenda Wineapple, Preface to Keeping the Faith (Random House, 2024)