Ahrens: Christian nationalism isn't Christianity. It's spewing hate in 'the name of Jesus'

Tim Ahrens is the senior minister at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Downtown Columbus.

A growing number of people have lost track of Christian faith and values and replaced them with a devastatingly corrupt and disturbed idea: Christian nationalism.

Let’s look more closely.

In the name of patriotism, a frightening movement of Christian nationalists has gained strength and now big money is behind them. Michael Flynn, Franklin Graham, Tony Perkins and others have taken their show on the road with right-wing politicians claiming their view of Christian faith combined with their views of American politics are the right and only view.

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Let’s be clear. Patriotism is the love of country.

Patriotism is good because all of God’s creation is good and patriotism helps us appreciate our particular place in it.

Our affection and loyalty to a specific part of God’s creation helps us do the good work of cultivating and improving the part we happen to live in. As people of faith, we can and should love the United States — which also means working to improve our country by holding it up for critique and fighting for justice when it errs.

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Nationalism is not patriotism.

Nationalism is very different. Nationalism is an argument about how to define our country. In an article in the evangelical magazine, Christianity Today, Paul Miller defines nationalism as grounded in the belief that humanity "is divisible into mutually distinct, internally coherent cultural groups which are defined by shared traits like language, religion, ethnicity, or culture.”

Nationalists believe that these groups should each have their own governments; that governments should promote and protect their nation’s cultural identity and that sovereign national groups provide meaning and purpose for human beings.

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Christian nationalism assert that America is and must always remain a “Christian nation.” This is not merely their observation about American history. They present this as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future.

Scholars like Samuel Huntington have argued that America is defined by its “Anglo Protestant” past and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural inheritance.

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Christian nationalists falsely teach that there is no separation of church and state — and that conservative Christians should seize complete power by any means necessary.

Let’s be clear, Christian nationalism is not Christianity.

Recently, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said, "If you look at the complex of white Christian nationalism as an ideology and you lay it alongside Jesus of Nazareth, we are not even talking about the same thing."

Christianity is grounded in Christian scriptures where Jesus teaches love, peace, unity and truth. Christian nationalism preaches hatred, violence, separation, and disinformation.

Christian nationalism is the single biggest threat to both democracy and the Christian faith.

With hundreds of far-right political candidates using Christ's name to deny election results, demonize their opponents, and spread dangerous conspiracy theories, all with the blessing of pastors and televangelists, the name of Jesus is disparaged and mockery is made of true Christians.

Here is a truly pressing concern.

Christian nationalists don’t call themselves this. They call themselves “true Christians.” They are not. They are nationalists who wrap themselves in pseudo-Christian language.

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Like wolves in sheep skins, they hide behind their true purpose, which is bigotry, racism, separation of people and our nation — all in the name of Jesus.  

Jesus would never approve of this. He would call them what they are — false prophets and blasphemers of our faith. More clearly, as in Matthew 23:17, Jesus would call them “Blind fools!”

Let’s join with Jesus and call Christian nationalists what they are — destroyers of a great faith and a great nation. And that has nothing to do with either democracy or Jesus Christ.

Tim Ahrens is the senior minister at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Downtown Columbus.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Tim Ahrens: Democracy, Christianity threatened by Christian nationalism