“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
I am basking in the USMNT win and advancement, and leave it to my brother to dive right in with the following question / comment: I’d like for you to explore how we went from a country founded on the specific separation of church and state to a country where one party is openly trying to force the entire country to be Christian and made it front and center of their platform.
What we CaNt StArT WiTh An EaSiEr ToPiC LiKe RaCiSm?
The short answer: The rise of Christian nationalism.
This ideology has a lot in common with the evangelical movement, but they are different. Christian Nationalist believe that the United States was founded as a Christian Nation and they should be working to “restore” or “take back” our nation through government action, if needed.
The rise of Christian Nationalism across the world seems to have taken off with the COVID pandemic, the rise of self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist Marjorie Taylor Green, and assorted alt-right wing talk show hosts like the Nick Fuentes. Pew Research has conducted some polling on the topic asking people to describe Christian Nationalists. Here are some examples:
“Fanatics distorting Christian values for self-serving opportunities to further their perceived righteousness.”
Born-again/evangelical Protestant, age 50-64
“Excessive pride in White Christian identity, often trying to impose their own religious beliefs on the rest of the nation and attempting to transform the U.S. into a Christian theocracy.”
Jewish, age 18-29
“Christian nationalism means to me applying the principles of Christianity into American society without being compelled to believe in Jesus as the savior of the world.”
Born-again/evangelical Protestant, age 18-29
If you want a close look into this, look no further than Mike Flynn and the Hallow. Frontline took an in-depth look ““Michael Flynn’s Holy War.” If you have an hour and want to learn more, the video is below. It is eye-opening.
Like most things that start on the fringe and get traction, you can observe Rep politicians and right wing media picking up phrases, laundering it for mass consumption. Look no further than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ re-election campaign and the release of “God Made a Fighter.”
What is bringing all this about?
Religion in America
Pew Research is the main place I go when I look for quality research on Religion in America. They have been studying it for years.
If recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades
Pew research: Modeling the Future of Religion in America
There is not much worse than a loss of status of a once majority group. They do not go quietly. They fight back, often violently.
At some point I feel, some in religion saw their efforts in churches to persuade people begin to fail they turned to legislating and lobbying.
They recast history as American being ‘founded as a Christian nation’ rather than a nation founded by some Christians who made a point of establishing a government that could protect us against factions.
The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion,…………
federalist No. 10
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire.
So, How did we get here?
- Loss of Status of Religion and religious leaders.
- Move to extremism assisted by the Internet.
- Political “Leaders” sending signals and flirting that Christian Nationalism is “okay.”
- Political organization.
Personally, I have always found that trying to live up to my own faith difficult and fraught with failure. I’d recommend more people worry about themselves and their walks and less with legislating. Being a good example is more persuasive than forcing people to do something, right?
I am not sure liberty, christian nationalism, and legislating can co-exist. But between you and me, often, the debate on “freedom” isn’t really about freedom rather it’s about who has the freedom to make the rules.
