In the simplest terms, Christian Nationalists believe:
The Constitution is a failed experiment.
The United States should be run as a totalitarian government, led by a Christian dictator.
The Christian dictator will strictly enforce his interpretation of biblical law.
You may have noticed that there is a movement that is trying to characterize conservative Americans as Christian Nationalists. In particular, they would like to label a Trump, Make America Great Again (MAGA) voter, who also happens to believe in Jesus, as a Christian Nationalist.
While political operatives manipulating the beliefs of Americans would like the average citizen to believe all MAGA voters are Christian Nationalists, the reality is that people who want a country based on the Christian Nationalist definition given above are few and far between. To create confusion, historical fact is mixed with fear mongering propaganda. For example, it is a fact that our American Constitution, which is the backbone of our legal system, was built on biblical principles. Yet confusion is created when political operatives imply that “only” Christian Nationalists believe the constitution was built on biblical principles. Confusion and fear are intensified when the media makes statements saying over 50% of Americans believe our laws should be rooted in biblical truth, and then sprinkles in terms like white supremacy with Christian Nationalism. The main stream media mischaracterizes Christian Nationalists to be a large swath of the population, purposely conflating a fringe, totalitarian movement with mainstream Trump supporters and conservatives, utilizing “evidence” such as the number of Trump supporters that challenged the election of Joe Biden or questioned COVID mandates. Questioning an election does not make someone a Christian Nationalist. Fusing the MAGA supporters who attended the January 6th, 2021, presidential inauguration with Christian Nationalists does not magically increase the number of actual Christian Nationalists in this country, but does generate fear and chaos, create distrust among neighbors, and divides the citizenry.
The reality is that while both MAGA supporters and Christian Nationalists tend to believe in Jesus, Christian Nationalists hold many views not popular with the vast majority of Americans, including MAGA voters. For one, Christian Nationalists are inclined to believe that Jewish people are largely responsible for the government overreach that infringed on the rights of everyday Americans during recent years. They make claims such as Jews own the vaccine industry and are therefore responsible for the tyranny we all suffered. They also commonly mischaracterize the history surrounding World Wars I and II, pointing to Jews as the villain in both wars. They make claims like “Jews were the primary architects of the Treaty of Versailles, and Germany almost won WWII until the Jews orchestrated uprisings.” Some are even willing to claim that the holocaust never happened, and even glorify Hitler as a dictator.
The way Christian Nationalists mischaracterize the history surrounding the world wars is similar to the way the Left has rewritten American history associated with segregation and slavery. In both cases, the skewed version of history is used to validate their misguided ideas and keep them marching towards their utopic ideals. In addition to rewriting history, both groups use the Bible as justification for their beliefs, meticulously selecting passages and interpreting them in unconventional ways to delight their followers and entice new ones. While progressive Christians, aka the woke left, are devout followers of the love is love, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) interpretation of the Bible, the Christian Nationalists are fundamentalists who believe society cannot function properly unless everyone is converted to Christianity.
Just as individuals on the left, such as racial minorities and the trans community, identify as victims and feel the need to fight back against their perceived oppression, Christian Nationalists also identify as victims. In general, they tend to be white, Christian, males mainly because over the past few years, it has been white, Christian, males that have faced the most discrimination in the workplace and in government benefits. As stated above, Christian Nationalists tend to blame Jews for the lack of societal morals, but also sometimes blame others such as the LGBTQ community. One way to describe the Christian Nationalist movement is to call it an overreaction to the religion of wokeism.
Both the woke left and Christian Nationalists use Marxist conflict theory to divide communities and keep the citizenry at odds. In recent years, we have seen Americans on the political left divided as the Democratic party has moved further and further to the left. In fact, it moved so far to the left in this last election cycle that some former Democrats now identify as Republicans because they cannot support ideas like providing puberty blockers to adolescents, defunding the police, and open borders. In the same way the trans and other movements have been used to divide the Democratic party, Christian Nationalist rhetoric is being used in an attempt to divide the Republican Party. While some Republicans definitely fall into the trap, the vast majority believe in individualism, private property, and the principles of our Constitution.
In summary, Christian Nationalism is a religious-based reaction to the craziness of the left-wing movements of the last decade. The major difference between MAGA voters who are Christians, and the Christian Nationalist movement, is that Christian Nationalists do not believe in the Constitution. They believe the document has failed and that America should be run as a totalitarian government led by a Christian dictator who will strictly enforce his interpretation of biblical law.
The best way to circumvent the extremism of the woke left and the Christian Nationalists is for people to educate themselves about the histories and agendas of these movements and have open discussions about the tyrannical future each one proposes. We need the large, patriotic middle of our population to be more actively tuned in to our local politics.