Opinion: So, just what would a Christian nation look like?

Confused, I stared at the bumper sticker: Lions, Not Sheep.

What are lions doing in Iowa? What’s wrong with sheep? Feeding our friendly sheep was one of my favorite childhood chores. Sheep are flock animals that stick together and care about each other.

Is society better with more lions?

A little research showed me that Lions, not Sheep is a company and a movement that echoes the values of Christian Nationalism. Sheep are weak. No macho man wants to be a sheep. Better to be an in-charge lion.

Last month the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition held a “cattle call” — or was it a “lion call”? — for potential Republican presidential candidates. Around 1,000 people attended this gathering. Potential candidates tailored their message to the Christian audience.

Sheep-flavored gentleness was not a vote-getter. Iowa evangelical Christians seemed to prefer lions. One attendant chatted warmly with Mike Pence but later told a reporter, “Right now, I think Pence is too nice a guy. He won’t be able to contend with the evil that the Democrats will rain down on him.”

Is Pence not enough of a lion? Is the best solution to society’s problems found in creating divisions — in creating enemies? Is it only Democrats who rain down evil? Is the solution found in roaring like lions and attacking those who think differently?

Donald Trump told those gathered, “I will stand proudly in defense of innocent life, just as I did for four very powerful, strong years because every child, born and unborn, is a sacred gift from God."

Lions are proud and strong, but do they see the bigger picture? If every child born and unborn is a sacred gift, then let’s make sure all children are fed. Let’s make sure immigrant children are not mistreated. Let’s make sure all children have access to good child care.

Faith-filled lions have mixed Christian rhetoric and American politics into a blurry mess. Evangelicals can have a voice, just like everyone else in a democracy, but their job is not to force this nation to be Christian. As they blur lines, they also dangerously alter the church into an unethical political entity that has forgotten its call to love.

Tony Campolo, a voice for faith-based social justice activism, recognized the danger of mixing church and government. Campolo said, "When government and church begin to mix, you got a problem. It's like mixing ice cream with horse manure: You will not ruin the horse manure, but it will ruin the ice cream. I think mixing the church and state is to, in fact, put the church in a compromising position."

Has the ice cream of Christianity become polluted by roaring lions? Was Campolo wrong about dangers to the government? Has the state been pushed toward authoritarianism to enable well-meaning angry lions to make this country great again?

We can all agree we want America to be Great. How does a great American look?

Does making America great mean sending it back to a time when it was a Christian nation, when it took land from Indigenous Peoples and destroyed their lives, when it imported and enslaved people?

Does Making America Great mean taping shut the mouths of historians, of Black people, of immigrants, of LGBTQ citizens, or of anyone who doesn’t fit into a desired white Christian box?

The United States can feel out of control. We want someone with the strength of a lion to fix it. Can we find ways to include both lion leaders that try to make things better and sheep that care about our flock and broader society?

I am going to make a bumper sticker that says- Lions and Sheep — Working Together. Will they sell?

Jane Yoder-Short lives in Kalona.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Opinion: Just what would a Christian nation look like?