The following quotes, resources, or links have either shaped or reflect my views on the subject.
Christian Nationalism is the fake piety of displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms, while passing laws that grind the poor into dust, abandon the sick to their suffering, and turn away the hungry at the door. It clothes itsell in the name of lesus While spilling on His Gospel. It is not of Christ. It is anti Christ.
Christian nationalism is impoverished as it seeks a kingdom without a cross. It pursues a victory without mercy. It acclaims God’s love of power rather than the power of God’s love. We must remember that Jesus refused those who wanted to ‘make him king’ by force just as much as he refused to become king by calling upon ’12 legions of angels’. Jesus needs no army, arms, or armored cavalry to bring about the Kingdom Of God. As such, we should resist Christian nationalism as giving a Christian facade to nakedly political, ethnocentric and impious ventures.
~N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird
Christian Nationalism is just plain old nationalism in which Jesus is used to endorse something that bears absolutely no resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount or apostolic Christianity.
Christian Nationalism
appropriates symbols of Christianity, but it is a secular movement about power and bringing power to a specific group of people.
That is not what Christianity is about.
Jonathyn Rauch
Holy Post Podcast # 664
A Christian Nation Does Christian Things:
1. It feeds the poor.
2. It houses the homeless.
3. It freely educates the masses.
4. It heals the sick.
5. It provides livable wages.
6. It helps all people to work together for the greater good of all creatures on planet Earth.
Rachel Held Evans
@rachelheldevans
The early church would be utterly baffled by the idea that future Christians would shame someone for not swearing allegiance to the empire.
8/30/16, 21:02
Christian Nationalism is the fake piety of displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms, while passing laws that grind the poor into dust, abandon the sick to their suffering, and turn away the hungry at the door. It clothes itself in the name of Jesus while spitting on His Gospel. It is not of Christ. It is anti-Christ.
The devil’s best work was being able to convince Evangelicals that a vulgar, greedy, racist man who has 5 children with 3 wives, pays porn stars for sex, gropes women, incites violence, and never tells the truth, was sent here by god.
One of the most successful deceptions of our time was getting many Americans to fear
diversity more than racism,
equality more than misogyny,
democracy more than fascism,
immigrants more than authoritarians,
the poor more than corrupt billionaires,
and empathy more than cruelty.
Rev. Benjamin Cremer
An excerpt from this statement of the ELCA Bishops:
In this time of division and fear, we, as people grounded in our faith, insist on love. This commitment flows from our faith in Christ crucified and risen—the One whose love breaks down barriers, confronts hatred, and transforms hearts.
This love also compels us to speak clearly against Christian Nationalism, which our Churchwide Assembly named as a distortion of the Christian faith and an unhealthy form of patriotism. Christian Nationalism confuses the Gospel with political power, turns God into a mascot for the state, and privileges some people over others based on race, religion, or birthplace. This is not the way of Jesus. The kingdom of God is not a nation, not a culture, not a political ideology—it is God’s reign of love, justice, and mercy for all people.
ELCA Bishops Letter – Christian Nationalism
Civic Life & Faith. Article 38
Lutherans (of the ELCA variety) are crystal clear. Christian Nationalism is a “distortion of the Christian Faith.” It is an “unhealthy expression of patriotism.” It is not the way of Jesus. Don’t be confused by what you are hearing. At our churchwide assembly in Phoenix this summer, we adopted a social statement on Civic Life & Faith: