Rev. Robert L. Montgomery
Christian nationalism continues to rear its ugly head. Consider the Heritage Foundation’s 1,000-page manifesto for the next conservative president, Project 2025, which was just presented at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). This clearly shows the desire to base our government policies and society on their interpretation of the Bible. This is a deliberate fracturing of our constitutional separation of government and religion. According to their plan, the Bible would be interpreted by a group of people who would establish themselves as the ultimate authority on Scripture and its meaning for our world. Many other religious groups, including many Christians like me, oppose this misuse of the Bible and our Constitution. What we are witnessing is nothing less than an attempt by some Christians to impose their particular beliefs on the nation.
We are already feeling the effects of some people who wish to impose their own Christian beliefs on the nation. One example is the Alabama Supreme Court’s recent ruling that frozen embryos used in in vitro fertilization (IVF) are the same as living children. The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court stated in his concurring opinion: “We believe that every human being, from conception, is created in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness. » This is the clear application of a person’s (or group’s) religious beliefs to a political decision governing Alabama. My church does not make such a statement of belief. The predictable result has been the elimination of the IVF option for couples in Alabama and panic in many other states where similar “fetal personhood” bills are being pushed by Republican lawmakers.
Of course, everyone is free to have their own personal belief about the beginning of life, but imposing this belief as state policy is wrong and clearly unconstitutional for America. Supreme Court Justice Alito, who wrote the 2022 Dobbs decision, based his ruling on the “sanctity” of life when he referred to a fetus as an “unborn human being,” replacing the term previous “potential life”. Alito’s personal religious beliefs thus erased the beliefs of all Americans who did not share his particular version of Christianity. Calling a fetus human is not biologically correct; there is no scientific basis for this. It is a personal and private religious belief. This is why I say that we are already seeing decisions in our politics that can be described as Christian nationalism.
The Bible, of course, is a religious or theological book intended to guide a life of faith in God and love for others, not a book intended to guide the organization of state power. This was made clear from the beginning, when Jesus Christ was tempted by being offered to rule the world. He rejected this temptation and then walked away when the people wanted to make him king. Jesus never gave his disciples rules for operating a state government. Instead, he gave them the Beatitudes as a guide to blessing in life.
Throughout history, government and religious leaders have tried to use each other. Government leaders like to pretend that God gives them authority and religious leaders like to exert their power and influence through governments. Unfortunately, Christianity succumbed to this universal temptation, first under the Roman Empire when it became the official religion, then later in European countries where state-sanctioned churches were established and religious leaders were heavily involved in state politics. Rather than contributing to the spread of Christianity, this constituted an obstacle to the spread of the gospel of hope and salvation. Fortunately, America’s founders deliberately rejected this model, as they were very familiar with its misuse by governments and churches to dominate thought and practice.
To put it very bluntly, Christian nationalism can be called a Christian heresy. This is the exact opposite of the message of the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ. This distorts both Christianity and proper governmental authority. Those who claim to have religious knowledge or insight into the origin of human life beyond or before the potential human life of the unborn child seek only their own power and control. We must maintain our freedom to believe as everyone chooses to believe, without being forced to conform to the doctrines imposed on us. This is what our founders wanted for this great country.
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The Rev. Robert L. Montgomery, Ph.D., lives in Black Mountain.
