Negativity On What May Be Our Last Independence Day

With Donald Trump given the power of a king and promising violent retribution in the name of Christian Nationalism, is it unfair to criticize the links between Christian ideology and the rise of this dangerous American Counterrevolution?

On what may be our last Independence Day, the Stop Christian Nationalism podcast cracks open a beer and responds to the comment of a listener who feels that the podcast is unfairly negative about Christianity.

A listener to the podcast leaves a comment saying that the majority of Christians oppose Christian Nationalism, and so the podcast is being unfairly negative about Christianity in general:

“I like the topic of the podcast and I am aligned that Christian nationalism is a scary threat to America and the Christian faith.

I had a hard time with this podcast.

I felt it was unfairly negative about Christianity in general.

The majority of Christian’s [sic] like myself do not want anything to do with Christian nationalism and we do not want our religion combined with the secular government of the United States

We are also not racist and do not want to go back to another time in history.

I will check back. Please drop the negativity toward regular Christian’s [sic] in general.

Lots of good info that can really help Christian’s [sic] like myself to better understand Christian Nationalism and why we should avoid it.”

So first, THANK YOU for leaving a comment. Democracy thrives on disagreement and discussion. The alternative to Christian Nationalism is not any particular ideology, but an open space in which ideas can be discussed freely.

So, listeners, please leave more comments, and don’t think that you should limit yourself to supportive comments. There is more than one way to think about things. I don’t ask for agreement. I do ask that you think about what you say, so that others can learn and the discussion can move forward productively.

However, in response to this comment, we note that the most recent Pew Research survey on politics and religious identity in American finds that solid majorities of both Protestant and Catholic Christians in the USA support Donald Trump and his Christian Nationalist agenda.

Only a minority of American Christians oppose Christian Nationalism. Donald Trump's dangerous Christian Nationalism could not be where it is today without Christian support.

What's more, Kevin Roberts of the extremist Heritage Foundation and editor of Project 20205 have warned progressive Americans that a "second American Revolution" is underway in counterrevolution against the spirit of 1776 to bring Christian Nationalism into power. Roberts says that if progressive Americans resist Christian Nationalism, his revolution will not be bloodless.

This is no time to tiptoe around sacred cows.

In this context, we cannot responsibly refrain from examining the uncomfortable connections between mainstream Christian theology and violent Christian Nationalism. By this time next year, after all, Americans may no longer have the freedom to speak critically about Christianity.

We need to speak plainly about the corrosive role of Christianity in American politics while we still are at liberty to do so.