If your head is not spinning yet, The Guy turns to critics of CN alarmism represented by Hillsdale College historian D.G. Hart. His intriguing January 9 Acton Institute assessment focuses on tenets said to define CN in two scholarly attack books, “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States,” timed before the 2020 election, and “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy,” which responds to the Capitol attack.
The books’ key CN tenets are that the U.S. should be declared a “Christian nation”; the federal government should advocate “Christian values” and religious symbols in public spaces, and allow public-school prayers; criticism of “separation of church and state,” and belief that “the success of the United States is part of God’s plan.”
On that last point, Hart wonders “how could anyone who believes in a sovereign God not believe some divine purpose is responsible for America’s place in the world?” As with many polls, he finds this typical of a discussion that’s “either misleading or imprecise.”
The historian applied the books’ criteria to himself and found he counts as a “nationalist” though on the “low end.” Yes, Hart is conservative in both religion and politics, but what does nationalism signify when he’s the author of “A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State”? Since some combination of faith and national identity “is part of the historical imagination of many Americans,” and always has been, he suggests we all calm down.
Newswriters will also want to consider another RNS anniversary piece by veteran Bob Smietana, which concluded a series funded by the Pulitzer Center. He proposes that CN be understood as a constellation of these six “loose networks of faith leaders and followers.”
* “God-and-country conservatives.” These largely unorganized folk, including your own friends and neighbors as reflected in the Pew survey, harbor nostalgia for a faithful nation that’s “more aspirational than historical.”
* “Religious right’s old guard,” of culture-war evangelicals such as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Southern Baptist seminary President Albert Mohler or David Barton, an ardent debunker of “separation of church and state.”
* “MAGA/QAnon.” These assorted activists include those who believe Democrats “stole” the 2020 election from Donald Trump, combined with adherents of the QAnon and other conspiracy theories.
* “The extremely online.” These Internet-based nationalists have been thrown off more mainstream social-media platforms and run other outlets. A typical performer here is Trump’s dinner guest Nick Fuentes.
* “Trump prophets.” Christian media personalities like Eric Metaxas combined with “self-proclaimed prophets” and “prosperity Gospel” preachers who believe God ordained Trump to win in 2020. Some come from the New Apostolic Reformation while others in that Charismatic movement explicitly reject CN. (Julia Duin has been covering this flock for years here at GetReligion.)
* Patriots and theocrats.” This refers especially to primarily secular groups like the Proud Boys, so prominent on January 6, who have increasingly added religious expressions to their advocacy of “patriotism and hypermasculinity.”
Finally, The Guy advises journalists to beware the Hasty Generalization Fallacy. Be careful out there.
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