Clarion

On Christian Nationalism & ‘the Bride of Babylon’ – Bradley Jersak

Feb 25, 2022 |

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.   

God Calls Violent Men by Bob Ekblad

Oct 13, 2006 |

Violent men make the headlines daily, and many people consider those not on our side as worthy of banishment or death.  God has called me and many here at Tierra Nueva to seek for, find, bind up, love, pray for and in various ways minister to violent men and...

The Contemplative Strangler: 2 Poems

Sep 20, 2006 |

'There is a contemplative in all of us,    almost strangled    but still alive,    who craves quiet    enjoyment of the now,    and longs to touch    the seamless    garment of silence   ...

Erasmus: Then and Now by Ron Dart

Sep 11, 2006 |

The name of Erasmus will never perish. -- John ColetErasmus has published volumes more full of wisdom than any which Europe has seen for ages. --Thomas MoreWhat would the Christian Church be like today if the guidance and wisdom of Erasmus in the early 16th century...

Isolation and Belonging by Heidi Greiner-Miller

Sep 7, 2006 |

A good two years ago, when God was walking me through a lot of my healing and restoring me back into his church, I always had a longing to be known and valued in a community. But I continually fought feelings of not being worthy or good enough. I had a ton of internal...

Shit: Excerpt from F. Buechner’s “Book of Bebb”

Sep 6, 2006 |

Bebb said, "That man knows his history, Antonio. It's his special subject, and he knows it inside and out. He reeled off a whole list of times and places where he said we'd met before. He told about the days they had children eight, ten years old and up working...