WASHINGTON (AP) – The Christian imagery and rhetoric on display during this month’s Capitol uprising is sparking renewed debate about the social effects of fusing Christian faith with an exceptional kind of nationalism.
The rioters who broke into the Capitol on Jan.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 in a fur cap and horns leading others in a prayer in the Senate Chamber. They also include multiple current or former members of the United States military or law enforcement, as well as a West Virginia state legislature.
The rise of what is often referred to as Christian nationalism has long led to the pushback of leaders in multiple denominations, with the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty forming the Christians Against Christian Nationalism coalition in 2019. But in the immediate aftermath of the rebellion, other Christian leaders spoke out. to denounce what they saw as the misuse of their faith to justify a violent attack on a seat of government.
Russell Moore, chairman of the public policy department of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that when he saw a sign saying ‘Jesus saves’ hanging near a gallows built by rioters,’ I was so enraged that I was not enraged in the memory. have been. . This is not only dangerous and unpatriotic, but blasphemous, because it presents a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is not the gospel, but is instead just the opposite. “
Dwight McKissic, a leading Black Southern Baptist minister who has publicly criticized the way the denomination’s leaders deal with racial justice, urged them in a tweet to also “denounce this blatant display of white Christian nationalism” by insurgents.
However, in order to address what both liberal and conservative clergy see as an obscuration of their faith, they must first meet the challenge of defining Christian nationalism for a wide audience. Christians Against Christian Nationalism describes it as an ideology that “demands that Christianity be privileged by the state and implies that one must be a Christian to be a good American.”
During a virtual panel the coalition held this week, a prominent leader underlined that love for the land and for God can coexist without turning anyone into a Christian nationalist.
It is “very important to understand that we do not condemn being patriotic,” said Pastor Elizabeth Eaton, who leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Christians “can still be active participants in the public square” while remaining true to their faith, she added.
Reverend Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, took a similar tone in an interview, citing the undermining effects of “a convergence of a nationalist identity and a Christian identity.”
“I definitely love our country, and as the son of immigrant parents, I am very grateful for the hope this country represents,” said Kim. “But as a Christian I am the highest loyalty to Christ.”
Still, some supporters of former President Donald Trump say that accusations of Christian nationalism are a way to attack them politically. Former Representative Allen West, now chairman of the Texas GOP, said on a Tuesday panel with several other religious conservatives, sponsored by the My Faith Votes group, that the term is used against those who “are not following a progressive, socialist ideological agenda. . “
Another wrinkle in efforts to keep Christians away from an overtly nationalistic projection of their faith is QAnon, the conspiracy theory whose believers were front and center at the January 6 rally in support of Trump’s baseless claims about widespread electoral fraud and the rel that followed.
In the video taken by a New York reporter during the siege, Jacob Chansley wearing a fur hat – known as the ‘QAnon Shaman’ for his affiliation with conspiracy theory and self-proclaimed spiritual tendencies – said a prayer in which he thanked God. for allowing the United States of America to be reborn. ”As Chansley spoke, other rioters were silent in apparent participation.
Robert Jones, CEO of the independent, nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, said QAnon is focusing on a “highly apocalyptic, good-versus-evil” series of false assumptions linking Trump’s party to godliness and Democrats to paganism.
“The fact that we saw QAnon, white supremacy and white Christianity all behave together in a violent assault on the Capitol means that white Christians in particular have a real soul search to do,” said Jones, author of two books on white. Christianity in America.
Christian author Jemar Tisby said via email that the elements of Christianity present at the riot indicate that “violent nationalists have developed ways to use such religious symbols in the service of their evil ends.”
“Christians who want to move away from Christian nationalism may find themselves leaving their church because the ideology is so deeply ingrained that no meaningful change is in the offing,” said Tisby, CEO of The Witness, a black Christian organization.
In the meantime, Moore said he has begun to speak with pastors about suppressing QAnon’s potential influence within congregations and plans to do more to achieve that goal.
“One of the obstacles to talking to these conspiracy theories is that a lot of pastors and leaders rightly recognize this stuff as idiot, so they assume it doesn’t need to be spoken to,” he said. “But we live in a crazy time.”
___
The Associated Press coverage of religion is supported by the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation US. The AP is solely responsible for this content.