“What keeps me up at night is that we are losing democracy,” says one interviewee in the recently released trailer for “God and Country.” upcoming documentary which aims to denounce the evils of Christian nationalism.
The important thing to understand here is that she is not actually concerned about democracy. She worries about Our Democracy™.
Christian nationalism is not only a danger to our country, it is a danger to Christianity itself. Our film will be released in theaters in February. Watch the trailer here.pic.twitter.com/LJmu1nILNy
– Rob Reiner (@robreiner) December 7, 2023
Democracy is simply a way of making decisions. Our Democracy™ is a rival religion. The central tenet of his creed is the sanctity of individual autonomy, and he preaches an eternal jihad against any institution, ideology, person, or God that could inhibit a person’s ability to live their own “truth.”
Sometimes, like recently abortion referendums, real democracy serves the goals of Our Democracy™. Other times, like when California voted for ban gay marriage and stop support illegal immigrantsit opposes these goals and must be ignored.
The Christian commentators presented in “God and Country” accuse the deplorables of making power an idol. This is, of course, an ever-present temptation, and this statement could be taken as a rebuke, whatever the ulterior motives behind it. But these noble critics never bother to consider that they could have made Our Democracy™ their own golden calf. (RELATED: Donald Trump’s HUGE Problem With Southern Baptist Leaders Won’t Go Away)
They might ask themselves: “How much harm must result from the lawful and orderly operation of the American political system before I stop defending it?” »
Christianity is not incompatible with democracy. A lot of Christian thinkers have defended some form of democratic governance as the least bad option available. But democracy is not sacred either.
According to Writing, government is ordained by God and has only one true task: to maintain order by punishing wrongdoers. God gives him the power to do it. The Roman Empire, under which Christianity began, was not very successful, persecuting innocent Christians while tolerating rape and infanticide. And yet, both Rock and Paul taught their disciples that they owed their allegiance to Rome. (RELATED: Men Who Think About the Roman Empire Are Basically Nazis, Reporter Claims)
Even today, hundreds of millions of Christians live under undemocratic regimes and are no less Christian for that. A believer can also be a citizen or subject, dictator or prime minister, legislative assistant to a senator, or attaché to a junta colonel. In any case, its task is even: “to seek the well-being of the city. »
So I recently came across an obscure debate about Christianity and the State. I’ve thought about it and want to hear opinions.
First, let’s ask the question.
The clearest text dictating the relationship between Christians and the state is Romans 13: pic.twitter.com/fPxNQQMKhh
— Lyman Stone 石來民 🦬🦬🦬 (@lymanstoneky) November 8, 2023
Christians are not encouraged to overthrow their governments, but neither are they religiously obligated to work to establish or preserve democracy, much less Our Democracy™.
In fact, our early examples suggest that Christians should instead strive to create (or at least envision as an ideal) something that might well be described as Christian nationalism. Eastern Orthodox priest and author, Father Stephen De Young argues that “St. Paul saw the end of his mission to the Gentiles as the conversion of the emperor” and the Christianization of society, including in the political sphere. When, 250 years later, Emperor Constantine replaced public pagan sacrifices with the Eucharist and began building churches at state expense, Paul’s efforts bore fruit.
“(When) all are converted, there must necessarily be a Christian state,” observes a bishop in Dorothy Sayers’ work. 1951 piece about Constantine.
“It’s true,” the emperor replied jokingly. “In that happy day there will be no poor heathen to bear the burden and blame of his office.”
Two questions arise: “Should Christians participate in politics? and “Should they do it as Christians?” The answer to both is obviously yes.
SO, what would be a Christian political order look like? A quick sketch should suffice.
A fully Christian state would offer some form of preferential treatment to Christianity in the public square. This would not mean forced conversions, as the Church did. never toleratedNor would it necessarily mean banning other religions or persecuting their followers. (Clearly, the wide variety of sects within Christianity itself constitutes a major obstacle to the establishment of such a regime).
This would, however, mean the legal application of certain aspects of “Christian morality”. The total self-determination at the heart of Our Democracy™ is in direct opposition to Christianity, which teaches that human beings were created with a particular nature. Divine commandments are not arbitrary: they express a natural law rooted in the type of beings that we are and accessible through reason.
His argument implies that Christian morality is arbitrary (“X is bad because God said so”).
It’s not. It is based on natural law. This is rooted in the child of the beings God created us to be. Transgressing it harms us. pic.twitter.com/LmzfSHKbb8
– Grayson Quay (@hemingquay) December 3, 2023
Not all sins would be illegal. Enforcing a ban on masturbation, for example, would amount to creating a totalitarian surveillance apparatus that would do far more harm than good. But a Christian state would absolutely recognize the type of union which tends to produce children as the only true marriage and would prohibit transhumanist horrors such as gestational surrogacy.
The state would be obligated to protect the poor from the predations of the rich, but beyond that it is difficult to be precise. Trade deals, taxes, the minimum wage, and other policy issues would be decided prudently based on the course of action that best serves the common good. (RELATED: CASS: The birth of multi-ethnic, working-class conservatism)
Would people still have the right to vote? Maybe. There is nothing in the Christian tradition that requires or even promotes democracy. The regime might conclude that letting people vote for representatives or decide on particular issues is the best way to ensure their well-being. But the essentials would not be put to the vote.
In some ways, this form of government is not so different from Our Democracy™. In each case, the core beliefs of the state religion – whether Christianity or advanced liberalism – take precedence over the will of the electorate. Every ideology, whether it calls itself a religion or not, makes claims about the nature of humanity and morality, and these claims are inevitably religious.
Neutrality is a myth. If you look closely, the trailer itself reveals this.
“Christianity at its best is committed to love, truth and justice. If we do this right, what a country we will be,” says William Barber, a black Protestant pastor and seminary professor, as archival footage of civil rights marches plays in the background.
Barber is, by definition, a Christian nationalist. He is running something called the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. He delivered a speech at the 2016 Democratic Convention. He held a rally for gun control in Nashville following the recent mass shooting. He wears clothes during all of this.
The Moral Monday march begins from McKendree United Methodist Church in downtown Nashville, which was filled with clergy, lawmakers and advocates heading to the Capitol to rally for reform guns this afternoon, including Bishop William J. Barber and @brotherjones_. pic.twitter.com/NkHDVCrJb2
– Rachel Iacovone (@racheliacovone) April 17, 2023
Barber is typical of the Black Church in that he firmly believes in using political power to impose his vision of Christian morality (which represents a syncretic fusion of Christianity’s concern for the oppressed with the relativism of Our Democracy™ ). Eric Adams, Democratic mayor of New York openly admits that he does not believe in the separation of church and state. The highest-ranking preacher-politician in America is Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, who called to vote “a kind of prayer.” (RELATED: Raphael Warnock insists ‘voter suppression’ continues despite record turnout – and his own victory)
The message of the film (or at least its trailer) turns out to be not that Christian nationalism is bad, but that it’s bad when you do it and good when you do it. If Christian nationalism means abortion restrictions and parental rights, then that is literal Nazism and must be crushed by any means necessary. But if this involves the confiscation of weapons, the opening of borders and alms to favored minorities, then it is only good and healthy piety.
In his Tweeter Accompanying the trailer, producer Rob Reiner (who is an atheist) states that “Christian nationalism is not only a danger to our country, it is a danger to Christianity itself.” In other words, true Barber-Warnock Christianity must be saved from the pseudo-Christianity of Trump supporters. You are a real Christian if you obey the regime and a false Christian if you defy him.
It is time for Christians to stop believing this lie.
Grayson Quay is a staff writer at the Daily Caller.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
