Confused about Christian nationalism? I was, too, and I'm a Christian journalist.https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-christian-nationalism-confusing-yes-as-a-christian-reporter.htmlHave you been perplexed by all the incessant talk of “Christian nationalism”?
Have you ever been snidely referred to as a “Christian nationalist” in the last few years, when you maybe didn’t even know what it meant?
If so, you’re not alone. Confusion around this fraught subject is understandable. I offer the following as a broad, big-picture read on this dizzying landscape.
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And that’s because, out of nowhere, these phrases suddenly became the universally agreed-upon alarmist pejoratives that media elites were using to deride politically engaged Christians and their beliefs. Almost overnight, the basic tenets of the Christian faith were branded as the extremist fringe. Consider how specious it is to be called a “bigot” for believing sane things, such as “there are only two sexes” and that males shouldn’t be allowed to compete in female sports. Thus, to many, charges of “Christian nationalist!” seemed like yet more obnoxious, dishonest wolf-crying.
Do you believe in defending the unborn and think open borders and unfettered immigration are unwise? Do you value the Judeo-Christian norms and ethics underpinning the West and think they are worth preserving? Well, as it turns out, you’re a scary “Christian nationalist.”
Do you dislike or object to that label? That's too bad. It doesn’t matter. The powers-that-be have decided that you are the new boogeyman to be feared and despised, an authoritarian threat to democracy akin to despicable “white nationalists.” In fact, if you work for a socially conservative Christian organization, you might wind up on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Map alongside neo-Nazis and be smeared in the press based on their malicious categorizations.
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Some self-identified Christian nationalist types also claim the mantle of the “New Christian Right,” and are notorious for rabblerousing and rage-baiting on social media. Some of these personalities tap into frustrations many have felt seeing Evangelical elites — derisively referred to as “Big Eva” — dilute the Gospel to cozy up to the New York Times cultural tastemaker class, which often adamantly opposes the Christian faith. Big Eva, some of them claim, rhetorically punches hard at right-wing sins while staying relatively muted on or even coddling left-wing sins. On that latter point, it gives me indigestion to admit that they might not be entirely wrong.
Even so, while these “New Right” Christian nationalists are loud and occasionally make a fair point or two, they are not demonstrating a holy, earnest zeal for God's righteousness in society. A visceral mean-spiritedness characterizes them, and their abusive antics are an affront to the character of Christ.
Though it depends on the individual, as some are are more over-the-top than others, among the foul ungodliness that this emerging camp of people (almost entirely men) incubates are a menacing chauvinism, framed as opposition to feminism; conspiracism and gratuitous hostility toward Jews, framed as objections to Zionism and the Israeli government; and a racist set of beliefs known as kinism, framed as a preference to marry someone of their own ethnicity. All of these spiritual pathologies are repackaged with just enough biblically rooted doctrines and presented as though they are espousing historically faithful Christianity. They also posit a radically different vision for church-state relations than what most Americans desire, while claiming to be true to the intent of the founding fathers.
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Bottom line, especially in geopolitically tumultuous times, whether the deception stems from the Left or the Right, the first allegiance of a Christian must always be to the lordship of Jesus. And unlike this crowd, you never see Him exhibiting gross contempt for women, countenancing hatred for Jews (He is a Jew), and connivingly promoting ethnic prejudice — because in Him, there is neither Jew nor Greek (Galatians 3:28).
Christian Nationalism" is Dem-MSM bogey-fiction parroted and re-parroted until it becomes a factoid
(sounds truthy but is not true).
