Nationalism is not the same as patriotism. Their definitions are very close and they denote the same thing: support for one's country and its interests, but the connotation is very different. Patriotism implies a love for one's country, serving it in the military or through volunteerism, running for office or supporting candidates that will make the country better. Nationalism has some overlap, but being a nationalist rather than a patriot connotes a desire to advance a nation's interests no matter the cost and at the expense of other nations, even extending to offensive military action. A patriot believes their country is a great place to live, and is proud of being a citizen; a nationalist believes in the inherent superiority of their country and will justify any action that it takes.
Even if one were to equate patriotism and nationalism as synonymous, adding the qualifier "Christian" or "White" does not simply mean that a Christian Nationalist is no more than a nationalist who is also a Christian or White, it has a specific meaning which is different than simply combining the definitions of the two words. A Christian Nationalist is one who believes that the nation should exclude from public life, or at least from a role in governing, those who are not Christian and remake the nation under an exclusively Christian regime. White Nationalists can be viewed as a subset of Christian Nationalists who want to narrow the franchise, not only to Christians, but only to White Christians.
The problem that Christian Nationalists don't seem to grasp is that if Christianity and The Bible are to be viewed as the governing documents of the United States, what form of Christianity? What interpretation of The Bible? Despite the alliance of convenience forged to oppose abortion, evangelicals barely consider Catholics as Christians. Many Christians think nothing of accusing their fellow Christians of not being true Christians, or even worshipping Satan if they disagree on what they consider key doctrinal points. So who would be part of the governing overclass in the kind of nation the Christian nationalists envision? You can wager your next paycheck that it would end up being a small, but vocal and committed minority.
Our nation was founded with many counter-majoritarian feature built in. For a while it seemed like we were moving in a more democratic direction, but gerrymandering and ideological judges are cementing into place supermajorities of a party, the Republicans, that does not represent a majority of the people. Even when the majority of voters overwhelmingly vote in Republicans, like in my home state of Nebraska, elected office-holders attempt to institute laws that reflect what only a minority of their voters support, let alone what a majority of the whole state is in favor of. A Christian nationalist government wouldn't be that different. In fact it would have a built-in advantage over simply partisan politics, since a clear majority of the electorate still identify as Christian, even if they are not active in a church.
When a politician brays about governing according to "Christian values" he doesn't need to get very specific in order to get even the "ashes and palms" Catholics or the occasional church goer to nod their heads in agreement. What Christian, even a nominal one, could possibly object to things being run in a Christian manner? (Which they equate with good, moral, ethical) And that's how they get people to vote for them. That's how laws get passed that little by little erode the rights of non-Christians, or even Christians who don't toe the line of the Christians in power. And there's no doubt that the ones in power won't be your friendly neighborhood pastor who preaches the Sermon on the Mount and runs a soup kitchen. It won't be the inclusive congregation who live the command to love one another and welcome LGBTQ people and immigrants. No, the ones in power will be the minority who subscribe to the fire and brimstone preachers. The ones who have no problem executing gay people, or, if they're a good mood, merely declaring them non-citizens and making them wear pink triangles; the ones who, even now, are working hard to ban books; any past trampling of rights which you thought was ancient history is now up for grabs.
For the hardcore Christian Nationalists Christianity is not a religion of peace and love, but an identity that must be fought for. It is inseparably linked with militant nationalism and tribalism. Isolationism and abandonment when our allies need us, interventionism and preemptive wars of disproportionate response when we see something we want or some Podunk country insults us. If "love thy neighbor" is observed at all, it is within the circle of other White Christians and those non-whites who "know their place" and don't get uppity.
They're not going away any time soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment