Make America Godly Again
On the particularity of "godly"...
Some pictures are worth a thousand words.
This photo is from a friend and colleague in east Tennessee. He sends me these from time to time and we joke that there will never be a shortage of visual evidence of “Christian nationalism in the wild.”
He half-jokingly suggests we could make a coffee table book on the subject—the material culture of Christian nationalism. I can imagine a whole chapter devoted to Hobby Lobby…
In order to understand Christian nationalism we must recognize all the unspoken assumptions that come with statements like, "Make America Godly Again." That’s where this picture really is worth a thousand words.
I refer to these unspoken assumptions as "cultural baggage." It isn't just about increasing the numbers of folks who embrace Christianity, or even the number of laws and ordinances that qualify as "godly."
Because, of course, it is a CERTAIN KIND of Christian, a PARTICULAR SET of laws and ordinances that this refers to.
And that, friends, is the particular expression of Christianity being referenced in the term Christian nationalism. When we survey folks across the US, those who are more likely to agree with this statement are more likely to:
-believe refugees from the Middle East pose a terrorist threat
-oppose abortion no matter the situation, even in the event of rape
-believe immigrants threatened American culture, increased crime, and were mostly dangerous criminals
-be not at all comfortable if their daughter married someone who is Black
-believe Muslims, Jews, and Atheists hold morally inferior values, want to limit freedoms of people like them, and endanger their physical safety
-believe women should care for children and the home, and leave the corporate and political worlds to men
-believe top Democrats are involved in elite child sex trafficking rings
-embrace political violence in order to "take back the country"
-fear any sort of federal gun control legislation
-believe people should be made to show respect for American traditions
Other expressions of Christianity bring with them various cultural assumptions. Some expressions of Christianity could argue that making America “godly” entails expanding access to health care, eliminating poverty, or housing the homeless. There is plenty within the Christian tradition to support such aims.
Engagement with civil society along these lines is certainly an example of religion “in” politics. It is not, however, an example of Christian nationalism.
The empirical findings mentioned above—and all the social scientific work around defining Christian nationalism—demonstrate the Christianity of Christian nationalism is of a particular type, and it embraces a strict moral hierarchy, authoritarianism, populism and conspiratorial thinking, and strong ethno-racial boundaries around American identity.
That's the "Christian" of Christian nationalism.
That's what is being referred to when the signs say, "Make America Godly Again."
Well, I guess some pictures are worth about 450 words. :-)