Christian nationalism in any nation is what John the Revelator described as the bride of Babylon, 'the whore' in bed with the Beast (Rev. 17) ... It's an unholy alliance of would-be strongmen and whatever church cares to be bedded by them.
Christian nationalism is often comprised of political powers that seduce the church with a promise of moral reforms, harnessing a populist revulsion against hedonism (e.g., frequently distilled to legalized repression of the queer community) and some hated ethnic-religious other (e.g., Jews or Muslims) in order to harness and co-opt the Christian lobby as a political crony for its authoritarian and militarist goals.
Here's a sample from a classic speech:
The National Government will regard it as its first and supreme task to restore to the German people unity of mind and will. It will preserve and defend the foundations on which the strength of our nation rests. It will take under its firm protection Christianity as the basis of our morality, and the family as the nucleus of our nation and our state.
Adolf Hitler, 1933
The need for authoritarian politicians to develop a religious base is especially true when they turn to expansionist aggression. It is very difficult to send one's children off to die in battle for nationalism or freedom or oil unless one can further sell such a sacrifice to the parents as a sacred religious endeavor (cf. Brian Zahnd, Farewell to Mars). It seems to me that whether Evangelical or Orthodox believers, Eastern or Western, we have in common this Achilles' heel for Christian nationalism, even in weaker states, wherever the Cross is wrapped in their flag.
It's rancid and, in fact, not truly Christian at all. It's a death-dealing cult of civil religion with a thin veneer of Jesus-talk, with ethics of moralism that have nothing to do with love for neighbor, especially the most vulnerable.
The good news is found in a closer reading of Revelation indicates that, as in Ezekiel and Hosea, God's heart is to cleanse his adulterous spouse of every stain so that she becomes the spotless bride! This is doable, but apparently not until she experiences the grief of her lovers' fall (Rev. 18) and hears Christ's call to 'come out' of that Babylonian alliance. Until then, she's de facto disqualified herself as a representative and servant of the Prince of Peace.
It remains for me to ask how I am complicit and how I might opt out of that system without simply flying headlong into the opposite ditch. It's always easier to point at the despicable 'them' than to see our own blindspots because we forget that we can feed any ugly tendency by signing on OR by opposing them in the same self-righteous spirit. On that note, I pray this line from Lent Prayer of St. Ephrem, "Lord, help me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother."
Lord, have mercy.
Yes. The more the world falls, the more I need to love; not judge too. How Christ saves is His business not mine. Mine is to learn to love the way He loved by dying the way He died. Amen and Amen. Thankyou Brad.
Posted by: Nicola | July 29, 2022 at 05:34 AM
The issue here is specifically *CHRISTIAN* nationalism, rather than nationalism as such (though any -ISM has its dangers).
George P. Grant was certainly a defender of Canadian national identity, defined especially by his sense of the Canadian commitment to the commonweal over against radical self-will as a euphemism for 'freedom' on the US scene. His concern was how American politics (foreign and domestic) and culture threatened these unique commitments.
Christian nationalism, on the other hand, as I'm using it, refers to a confusion of allegiances that happens when the church enters an unholy alliance with the state (political power) or nation (a particular people group) for the purpose of using world systems to get its way... and ultimately abandons the Jesus Way in the compromise. This was obvious in the way churches are overcome as a political arm of authoritarian candidates and heads of state ... cf. 'Christian' MAGA as civil religion in the US or the Moscow Patriarch's alliance with Putin.
Posted by: Brad | March 11, 2022 at 06:57 AM
How would you distinguish this form of nationalism from the form associated with George Grant? Grant stated:
"It is easy to be against nationalism when one is a member of a nation which is the centre of a great empire. But think of the other side: may it be a good thing to be nationalist when one is defending a communal existence against that empire? The alternative to nationalism for small communities is not internationalism but a dominance of their existence by empires."
Posted by: George Dunn | March 10, 2022 at 06:57 PM