Christian Nationalism

Cal Thomas spoke against it on Thursday’s The World and Everything In It. On that same day’s The Briefing, Albert Mohler described Christian Nationalism, without naming it, and was solidly in favor of what he described. Earlier this week, Jon Stonestreet spoke about Christian Nationalism with caution, asking that we use caution, and that we define what we mean by it.

Douglas Wilson described and defended Christian Nationalism a couple of weeks ago, (even though he is a lightning rod to many, don’t let that throw you off), and Canon+ has a book by Stephen Wolfe in support. Andrew Torba has a bestselling book, which hasn’t yet been de-platformed from Amazon, which outlines our Christian Nationalist heritage.

These are all people of the Word, whom I respect. And they each land on different sides of this term. Likely their definitions are only slightly different, although they are worth figuring out. Maybe it is simply early in our public consciousness, and we all just need to define our terms.

Here is what I have gleaned from it all:

Our American culture is in decline, on display, and celebrated by those who are not Christians. God is not absent in the midst, but rather He is shaking up the foundations of this world, and using the unrest to separate the sheep from the goats.

As I study Presbyterian history, I have come to understand that the Presbyterian Rebellion had a role to play in the defining structure of the American system of government, as a Representative Republic with checks and balances – kind of like Christian Nationalism.

If I remember correctly, Cal Thomas said that all such attempts at Christian Nationalism have failed – but I think he would also say the American Experiment has succeeded for about 200 years, give or take. It is possible that he has let the Left define Christian Nationalism for him – although I don’t really believe that. I think that what he is rather denouncing is their use of the term pejoratively, and asking us to denounce the term as a result, and that we come up with a different term. (I might be reading too much into his point.)

My thought is from the Old Testament. The Lord blessed the nation of Israel when its leaders sought after Him. And He withdrew His blessing, and allowed evil to rule, as would be the natural result, when its leaders went after other gods. Hey! That’s happening now.

I see the common ground of everybody mentioned above saying that we, as Christians, need to vote in our representatives who are Christians, as they will not, indeed they cannot, consider evil to be good. And, that we have a duty to make such a vote, and have such involvement. And because Christ is Lord of lords, be they evil or be they His own, His will will be done through whatever leaders are in place, as in the Old Testament.

We don’t have a responsibility for the outcome – but we do have a responsibility for our daily obedience to Christ. Our faith is not relegated to the pews on Sunday morning, because if Christ is our Savior at all, He is also our Lord. If He is our Lord, then there is no place in our life where He does not reign. If He does not reign in our public life, then He does not reign in our private life.

That is how I consider Christian Nationalism. And I can see no objection in boiling it all down to that.