Christian Nationalism, A Threat to (Our) Democracy
A few days ago I listened to an NPR Podcast by Rachel Martin on the subject of ‘Christian Nationalism,’ a political movement that seeks to take control of the United States government by virtually any means possible. I was so moved by her words that I felt the need to write her an open letter which I have published below.
Ms. Rachel Martin, NPR Podcast Journalist
Dear Ms. Martin,
I listened to your NPR Podcast about White Christian Nationalism, and I am alarmed by it.
Thank you for addressing this subject. Not enough people are speaking out against the Christian Nationalist movement because, I presume, it is unpopular to attack someone’s religious beliefs, even if the religion is espousing anti-democratic ideas.
I did see “Jesus signs” in the crowd of rioters on TV who stormed our nation’s capitol on January sixth, so I know there were at least some Evangelical “Christian Soldiers” in the crowd. But I don’t know how many there were, and whether or not they made up a significant percentage of that crowd. We need to know if there are religious factions in our country who are actively working to overthrow our government. That would put them in the same category of other domestic terrorists.
Your podcast indicates they exist, and if you are right about sixty percent (3 out of 5) Evangelicals believe the election was stolen from Trump, then it means there are approximately forty two million adult Evangelicals comprising sixteen percent of the adult US population who believe the election was stolen. That’s forty-two million adults over the age of eighteen who believe the Big Lie! (Source: 2019 Pew Poll)
However, I am not at all surprised that there would be a correlation between Evangelicals and so-called conspiracy theory believers and right wing radicals for Trump. Why? Please let me explain.
Many in the mainstream media have repeated the mantra that there is “no proof” the election was “stolen” from Trump. ( I believe the election was open, honest and fair and Joe Biden got more than seven million more votes than Trump. Over sixty court cases following the 2020 election concluded Biden won fair and square.)
We can pound the table and shout a hundred times that there is no proof, and still no minds will be changed. Why? Because Evangelical Christians don’t need proof to believe the things they do. They don’t need proof because they have been conditioned all their lives to believe in things without evidence.
Please take a step back and consider what this means. We need to examine religion in this country and ask if it is rational to believe in the things they profess. Just as the election was not stolen, there is no proof for the existence of any religious concepts such as gods, angels, devils, heaven, hell or even that there was a man named Jesus who lived over two thousand years ago. Yes, that’s right. There are no historical documents (other than the bible) we can point to which show that Jesus ever lived. And I dare say the bible is not evidence.
As an aside: There is an excellent book written by Kathrine Stewart called, The Power Worshipers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. Ms Stewart has infiltrated and studied the religious nationalist political movement for over a decade, and I regard her as an expert on the subject. She maintains the people at the top are using the religious to gain political power, by telling them whatever they want to hear, and they now have become a force to be reckoned with.
It’s clear to me they have taken over the Republican Party and have already done enormous damage to our democracy by seeding unfounded doubt in our elections and by ruining our national reputation and standing on the world stage.
Thank you again for calling attention to this problem. We need to understand and identify it for what it is before we can begin to help restore the Republican Party to its original purpose by routing out those who would install an authoritarian government under Trump or some other Trump-like person who craves nothing but absolute power, similar to Hitler in Nazi Germany, Putin in Russia or President Xi in China.
If we love our country as it was originally founded, we must realize it is in serious danger from the Christian Nationalist who would obtain political power anyway they can get it. And I dare say they have a serious start by sowing the seeds of doubt in our free and fair elections.
