Mission Yearbook: Amanda Tyler says it’s the duty of Christians to face Christian nationalism

Amanda Tyler says it’s the duty of Christians to face Christian nationalism. Before we can do that, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty said during a recent talk at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and to those listening online, we must understand what Christian nationalism is and what it threatens to do.

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Christian nationalism is “a fusion of national and religious identities and goals. It is a recurrent problem throughout history and around the world today,” Tyler said. “It is not uniquely an American problem,” she noted.

Tyler’s “Christians Against Christian Nationalism” talk was part of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church’s McClendon Scholar Program. Her presentation, and a question-and-answer session with the program’s executive director, Theo Brown, can be seen here.

The organization Christians Against Christian Nationalism, for which Tyler is the lead organizer, defines Christian nationalism as “a political ideology and cultural framework that seeks to merge American and Christian identities.”

“Christian nationalism suggests that to be a real American, one has to be a Christian — a Christian who espouses and holds certain fundamentalist beliefs that align with conservative political priorities,” she said. “In the U.S. context, we cannot think about Christian nationalism without thinking of racism and white supremacy.”

“The ‘Christian’ in ‘Christian nationalism’ is less about theology and more about an ethno-national identity. In the U.S., that is whiteness,” Tyler said. “Christian nationalism is not new. It is a new term for an old problem in the U.S. context.”

While we now “thankfully” think of the Ku Klux Klan as a fringe group, Tyler noted the KKK once marched and rode on horseback down Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation’s capital.

Calling the United States a “Christian nation” is “an exaggerated form of American exceptionalism,” Tyler said. John’s gospel says “God so loved the world, not just the United States, but that’s essentially what this mythology says, that the U.S. is the apple of God’s eye.” It also claims that God inspired the Constitution, or at least part of it, and that the framers were divinely inspired. Tyler looks to the Constitution itself to refute that idea. “The framers barred religious tests from the beginning,” she said.

Christian nationalism is also “a gross distortion of the teachings of Jesus, who was always on the side of the marginalized and oppressed,” Tyler said, adding that Jesus was executed by the empire. “This Jesus, the Jesus of the gospels, bears no resemblance to the white Jesus who is the mascot” of Christian nationalists, who use “the language and symbols of Christianity, and to the casual observer, it’s the same thing.”

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Tyler distinguished between patriotism and Christian nationalism.

Patriotism, she said, is love of country and is freely chosen. “There are lots of ways to be patriotic,” Tyler said. Nationalism is “allegiance to country that demands supremacy over all other allegiances, including Jesus.” A good litmus test is this: If our patriotism causes us to sacrifice religious convictions, it’s no longer patriotism. “It has drifted into the unhealthy and dangerous area of nationalism,” she said.

Polling by the Public Religion Research Institute shows 29% of Americans reject Christian nationalism and 37% are skeptics. One in 10 adheres to Christian nationalism, and 20% are sympathizers. Those who embrace it strongly agree with these statements:

• “The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.”
• “If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.”
• “U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.”
• “Being Christian is an important part of being fully American.”
• “God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”

While adherents and sympathizers amount to just 30% of the population, “the problem is they hold a disproportionate amount of political power right now,” Tyler said. “They are using their power to try to destroy democratic institutions.”

“It is incumbent for those of us who are Christians to speak out against Christian nationalism,” Tyler said. Here are some ways to do that.

• Sign the Christians Against Christian Nationalism statement.
• Get connected to groups working for religious liberty and pluralism.
• Take action to educate others — online, in your community and in your church.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story)
 

Let us join in prayer for:

Jacob Roberts, Trust Associate, Presbyterian Foundation  
James Ratcliff, Facilities Technician, Interim Unified Agency, Presbyterian Historical Society  

Let us pray:

Loving God, be present with your people who are working with passion and creativity for the mission of your church. Give them the grace to continue in their course in such a way that others will see your love at work. Amen.