Note: From American Christian Nationalism (Eerdmans 2024). Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Citations have been omitted.
From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island, where they were greeted by the Statue of Liberty. In 1883, American poet Emma Lazarus wrote “The New Colossus” in order to raise funds for building the pedestal on which Lady Liberty now stands.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
A bronze plaque with these beautifully inspiring words was added to the pedestal in 1903. This statue, and these words, communicate some of the key values we ought to hold dear, as Americans. First, liberty is clearly on display here. It is the Statue of Liberty, after all. But we can also see other vital American values in this poem. There is an assumption of basic human equality, the conviction that all people have inherent dignity and worth simply because they are human. The poor, the tired, those seen as “wretched refuse” in their homelands, are welcomed here in these words. Finally, while it is not explicit, I believe the American value of service is present too. Welcoming immigrants to our nation requires that we serve them, meeting their immediate needs and equipping them to become more self-sufficient as they build a life here for themselves and their families, contributing to their own good as well as the common good. While we haven’t lived up to these values in all the ways that we could or should, we have a history of receiving people from around the world into our nation. My hope is that we can live out these and other American ideals more fully in the years to come.
Nationalism v. Patriotism
Many are attracted to Christian nationalism because it is seen as supporting vital American values. Yet all too often, this is an illusion. There is certainly genuine support for some American values among Christian nationalists. But there is also, sometimes, only a veneer of support for those values. Underneath, there is all too often a vision of America that is anti-American, a vision that contradicts the best values of our nation.
In order to see why, it is important to know that nationalism is not the same thing as patriotism. George Orwell observes that patriotism is a “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no desire to force on other people.” Nationalism, however, “is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation.” [George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic, n.p.] I think Orwell is right about the devotion involved in patriotism, though I don’t think a patriot must think their nation is the best in the world. The more important point is the way in which a patriotic love of one’s country differs from the nationalist’s goal for their nation: the nationalist wants power and prestige.
Many contemporary Christian nationalists, on the surface, don’t seem to fit Orwell’s observation. Many are isolationists, insofar as they claim they don’t want to force “our way of life” on citizens of other nations. Live and let live. They don’t want America to police the world, seeking to enforce our values in other nations. Instead, they see themselves as protecting a particular understanding of the American way of life from external influences and cultures that would, at least in their minds, undermine it. But if any other nation’s interests are in conflict with our own self-perceived American interests, all bets are off. In these situations, “America first” may entail American military might being unleashed against other nations in order to maintain our way of life, especially our relatively high standard of living and flow of consumer goods.
Orwell’s points about nationalism also come to the fore in a different way when we consider what American Christian nationalists want life to be like within our borders. They want to force a particular culture not only on all who would come here but on all who are already here. This could mean prison for many, and at least in principle, death for some who would dissent. In that sense, they want more power and prestige within our borders.
Christian nationalism actually contradicts several fundamental American values, values that patriotic Americans celebrate and seek to live out in their everyday lives: liberty, equality and service.…
Liberty
Christian nationalism curtails liberty. As Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry explain in Taking America Back for God:
Because the embrace of Christian nationalism fuses national and religious symbols and identities, it is able to legitimate its desires for the country in the will of the Christian God, bringing the transcendent to bear on everyday realities. This serves to inhibit any chance at compromise. There is no room for disagreement. There is no possibility of alternative viewpoints. Such a stance leads to a devaluation of the democratic process where ideally everyone agrees to play by the same rules…. Half-truths, shady practices and authoritarian measures, if in service to realizing a more “Christian” nation, are deemed necessary to ensure the “right” group stays in power. [Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, p. 161]
This kind of ends-justify-the-means mentality is wrong on many fronts. Christians should be deeply concerned about any kind of political engagement, especially when done in Christ’s name, that employs such immoral practices that violate the kingdom value of integrity in word and deed (Matthew 5:37; James 2:12-26, 3:9-12).
My concern here is how this mentality undermines our liberty by its justification of authoritarian practices. Liberty and other basic rights should be secured through a commitment to character and the common good. Resorting to deception, coercive state oppression and protecting the interests of those in power – as long as they are the right people who say they believe the right things – at the expense of the liberty of others is unacceptable. It conflicts with liberty, one of the highest ideals of our nation….
Equality
Equality in this context is not about equality of talents and abilities, which clearly does not exist. Rather, it is about something deeper. The kind of equality in view here lies beneath the many differences and inequalities that humans possess. The American ideal of equality is an ideal that affirms the basic dignity and inherent worth of every single human being. You may be smarter, more capable or a member of different race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, but all your interests count the same as everybody else’s. We have the same intrinsic worth as human beings, and our fundamental rights should be respected simply because we are human. Equality is central to this. It includes a fair and consistent application of all the laws of our land. This quintessentially American value “is all about respect, honor, fairness, availability and hope extended to all.”… [Tom Morris, The Everyday Patriot: How to Be a Great American Now, p. 76]
In the Christian nationalist vision of America, non-Christians may benefit from the laws enacted by their Christian leaders, but they are denied equal status under those laws. Wolfe allows non- Christians to have “justice, peace, and safety, but they are not entitled to political equality.” [Stephen Wolfe, The Case for Christian Nationalism, p. 346] They may not consent, and may even engage in dissent, when Christians create laws privileging what they see as good for Christians. But Wolfe maintains that the dissent of non-Christians can justly be disregarded.
There are also serious problems with Christian nationalism related to racial and gender equality…. Torba and Isker state that “Christianity is not limited to any race, ethnicity, or culture…. Therefore, Christian Nationalism cannot be limited to any race, ethnicity or culture.” [Andrew Torba and Andrew Isker, Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide for Taking Dominion and Discipling Nations, p. 10] Later, they add that “We don’t care about your race, ethnic background or your past sins because neither does Jesus. We only care that you wholeheartedly repent and follow him.” [Andrew Torba and Andrew Isker, Christian Nationalism, p. 46] This sounds good, on the surface.
Later, however, they worry about Christians being “demographically replaced.” [Andrew Torba and Andrew Isker, Christian Nationalism, p. 25] Even if they are focused only on religion here, and not ethnicity or race as they claim, this is still a violation of the value of equality. Would they limit immigration only to those who are professing Christians? Moreover, the stated rejections of any racial or ethnic bias are undermined by the words of these individuals on social media. Torba has claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that “God created different ethnic groups. To preserve them is to preserve God’s creation and is therefore an inherent good.” [Andrew Torba (@BasedTorba), Twitter (X)] This kind of thinking undergirds all sorts of racially unjust ideas. If Torba’s assertion is correct, interethnic marriage would be wrong, as it fails to “preserve” God’s creation of different ethnic groups. Torba has also reposted the following on Gab, the social media platform he owns and runs: “Few societies have been sicker than the current year west and a large part of that sickness is due to jewish media + technology being used to psychologically and spiritually castrate its citizens.” [“Andrew Torba: Five Things to Know,” Anti-Defamation League, website] In light of these posts, charges of prejudice are clearly warranted.
Stephen Wolfe’s activity on X also reveals racial and religious biases. He tweeted in April of 2023 that “White evangelicals are the lone bulwark against moral insanity in America.” [Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust), Twitter (X)] This ignores the large numbers of Americans of different races, ethnicities, Christian traditions, other religions or no religion at all who work hard at building a better America, serving others and securing liberty and justice for all….
Service
Christian nationalism all too often prioritizes power, prestige and prosperity over service. Rather than uniting us in working together to help one another, it divides us. It seeks power, not to serve those who are in need but to serve oneself, asking, “Who is enough ‘like me’ that I feel like serving them?” But this is a diminished kind of service that falls short of the ideal we ought to strive for, both in our nation and around the world.
What other kinds of service can we, as Americans, offer the world? Morris makes an excellent suggestion along these lines:
The everyday patriot in our land is committed as a matter of principle to the good of the entire international community…. The Declaration of Independence, we should remember, says that all men, in the inclusive sense of “human beings,” are created equal, not just those who happen to live in our borders. This great claim applies to everyone in Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Somalia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and any other little part of the earth where, far too often, great numbers of little children have grown up without the most basic freedom and opportunity to become what they are capable of being. The values of our land can be a beacon in the night for all who aspire to the best that’s possible in this life. [Tom Morris, The Everyday Patriot, pp. 94-95]
While we have many problems of our own, and we cannot solve all of the world’s problems, there is no reason to choose between service within our borders or outside of them. Service can be a both-and value, not an either-or one.
We can work to increase the well-being of little children here and abroad. We have enough wealth and resources to do both. America has done great good for little children and their families around the world. As one example, the United States has contributed over $110 billion to fight AIDS. Not only have more than twenty-five million lives been saved by this investment, but many more have received services related to the prevention of and treatment for HIV. This is one example of America at its best. We see a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and we invest time, money and energy in response to the crisis, saving millions of lives. We enable mothers and fathers to continue to live, allowing them to care for and love their children. This gives those children and their children a better chance to grow up, to flourish and to make their own contributions to the good of their communities and the world. This is but one way that “the values of our land can be a beacon in the night for all who aspire to the best that’s possible in this life.” America at its best has been, and can be, that beacon.
Michael Austin, Foundation Professor of Philosophy, Eastern Kentucky University
