Several posts ago I wrote of my great concern for the ever-expanding influence of persons identifying themselves as right wing evangelical Christian nationalists. In recent days a State Supreme Court ruling in Georgia and the on-going efforts of evangelical Christian nationalists in support of MAGA Trumpism have prompted a revision and expansion of the point of my earlier post. It follows:
On December 15th, 1791, the first ten amendments to The Constitution of The United States (also known as the Bill of Rights) became a singular and vital part of the law of this great democratic republic of America.
The very first of our Bill of Rights is the guarantee that our government shall not establish or show any preference for a particular religious expression, exercise, or theological perspective.
This clearly means that in spite of voices such as those of Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Tom Parker, The United States of America was not founded as a Christian nation.
Whatever is meant by that term, anyway?
Speaker Johnson and Justice Parker are among a growing number of highly placed government officials and decision makers representing those who identify as members of the Evangelical Christian Right who very much want to write the definition of what it means to be a Christian nation and enshrine their definition into law.
Who are right wing, evangelical, Christian nationalists who would define and enshrine The United States as a Christian nation?
These are persons who claim that America has strayed from its God inspired, Christian, religious roots. These are persons who would ban or burn all history books claiming otherwise. These are persons who would argue that this nation was never racist and a nation where indigenous people and those in slavery were not mistreated.
These are persons who claim that the founders of this country – at least in spirit – were all practicing Christians and who intended that America would be a Christian nation. These are persons who therefore claim that it is only right that a Christian theocracy finally become enshrined in law and practice.
What a nightmare.
Right wing, evangelical, Christian nationalists, gathering in such organizations as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the Faith and Freedom Foundation, claim a mandate to restore America to its alleged God inspired beginnings. Most would also identify as Republican in their political point of view.
Their nightmarish vision for a restored America has a name. It is the “Seven Mountain Mandate” to take back America and make it great again. It is however, not in any way, godly. It is a cruel self-righteousness.
Evangelical Christians of the Republican Right praying for a restored (essentially all white) America and waging culture wars in communities all across this country are a most fearsome group of believers.
Evangelical Christians advocating this point of view believe their dreamed for outcome justifies any means necessary. Those various means that started with Ralph Reed and the late Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority are now culminating in more and more Christian nationalists seeking and holding elected office.
Their goal and dream for this nation is not inclusion but the exclusion and demonization of all who do not share their dream. If this were not horrific enough their desire is that one day in a theocratic America all those defined as demons (like doctors performing an abortion to save the life of the mother or engaged in enabling a pregnancy by in vitro fertilization) would also be justly prosecuted as criminal.
Evangelical Christians seeking the realization of a theocratic state in America are more than dangerous.
This is in part the case because too many of us who affirm the Jesus of the Gospels, or those of us who identify ourselves as spiritual but not religious, or those of us who are congregants and observers of other faith traditions, or those of us who embrace no faith tradition at all, are not taking the growing influence and power of Evangelical Christian Nationalism and its advocates seriously enough. We are largely indifferent to or unaware of their strength, organization, and influence.
We must wake up or the true promise of this nation as Abraham Lincoln described as “of the people, by the people, and for the people” will be put to sleep amid the sounds of a terribly off-key group of hymn singers…permanently.