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WASHINGTON (AP) – The Christian imagery and rhetoric showcased during the Capitol uprising this month is sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of merging the Christian faith with an exclusionary race of nationalism.
Rioters who raped the Capitol on January 6, leading to federal charges against more than 130 people to date, included several people carrying signs with Christian messages, and a video showed a man with a fur hat and horns leading others in prayer inside the Senate Chamber. They also included several current or former members U.S. military or law enforcement, as well as a West Virginia state legislator.
The rise of what is often referred to as Christian nationalism has long prompted leaders of several faiths to oppose, with the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Freedom forming the Christians Against Christian Nationalism coalition in 2019. But in the aftermath of the insurgency, other Christian leaders have spoken. to denounce what they saw as an abuse of their faith to justify a violent attack on a seat of government.
Russell Moore, president of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that when he saw a “Jesus saves” sign posted near a gallows built by rioters, “I was so furious that I was not enraged with memory. . It is not only dangerous and unpatriotic, but also blasphemous, because it presents an image of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is not the Gospel and which is rather its exact opposite.
Dwight McKissic, a prominent Southern Black Baptist pastor who has publicly criticized the way denomination leaders deal with racial justice, urged them in a tweet to also “denounce this blatant demonstration of white Christian nationalism” by the insurgents.
To tamp down with what religious liberals and conservatives see as a misappropriation of their faith, they must first meet the challenge of defining Christian nationalism for a broad audience. Christians Against Christian Nationalism describes it as an ideology that “demands that Christianity be privileged by the state and implies that to be a good American one must be a Christian.”
During a virtual panel hosted by the coalition this week, a prominent leader pointed out that love for country and for God can coexist without making a person a Christian nationalist.
It is “very important to understand that we are not condemning being patriotic,” said Reverend Elizabeth Eaton, who heads the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Christians “can still be active participants in the public arena” while remaining true to their faith, she added.
Rev. Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, made a similar note in an interview, citing the corrosive effects of a “convergence of a nationalist identity and a Christian identity”.
“Certainly, I love our country, and as a son of immigrant parents, I am deeply grateful for the hope that this nation represents,” Kim said. “But as a Christian my highest allegiance is to Christ.”
Yet some supporters of former President Donald Trump claim that denunciations of Christian nationalism are a way to attack them politically. Former Rep. Allen West, now president of the Texas GOP, said on Tuesday during a panel with several other religious conservatives sponsored by the My Faith Votes group that the term is used against those who “don’t conform to an ideological agenda. progressive and socialist. . “
Another flaw in efforts to steer Christians away from an overtly nationalist projection of their faith is QAnon, the conspiracy theory that believers were at the forefront during the Jan. 6 rally to support Trump’s baseless claims. widespread electoral fraud and the subsequent riot.
In the video shot by a New York journalist during the siege, Jacob Chansley in the fur hat – known as the “Shaman QAnon” for his alignment with conspiracy theory as well as his self-described spiritual inclinations – delivered a prayer thanking God “for allowing the United States of America to be reborn.” As Chansley spoke, other rioters fell silent in apparent participation.
Robert Jones, CEO of the nonprofit Independent Public Religion Research Institute, said QAnon focuses on a “very apocalyptic, good versus evil” set of false assumptions that connect Trump’s party to godliness and Democrats in Health.
“The fact that we have seen QAnon, white supremacy and white Christianity all combined in a violent attack on the Capitol means that white Christians in particular have some real soul-searching to do,” said Jones, author of two books on the white Christianity in America.
Christian author Jemar Tisby said by email that elements of Christianity present at the riot signal that “violent nationalists have developed means of deploying such religious symbols in the service of their malicious ends.”
“Christians who want to break away from Christian nationalism may find themselves leaving their churches because ideology is so deeply ingrained that significant change is not on the horizon,” said Tisby, CEO of The Witness, a black Christian organization.
In the meantime, Moore said he has started speaking with pastors to stifle QAnon’s potential influence within congregations and that he plans to do more to provide resources to that end.
“One of the obstacles to talking about these conspiracy theories is that a lot of pastors and leaders rightly recognize this stuff as crazy, so they assume there is no need to talk about it,” he said. he declares. “But we live in crazy times.”
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The Associated Press religious coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment via The Conversation US. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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