New op-ed at RNS

About the use of "Christian nationalist" in political speech

Religion News Service published an op-ed I wrote today. From the piece:

“Conservatives have long shown their skill at turning hot-button words to their advantage — just look at how they’ve made “woke” a negative tag. It’s concerning but not surprising that Christian nationalist has been reconfigured to assign themselves in-group status. 

Conservative politicians and media personalities have effectively appropriated and redefined the use of words before — look at how Donald Trump’s supporters happily “owned the libs” by adopting “deplorables,” or how their use of “woke” and “cancel culture” has sapped the potency from those terms, turning them into symbols of in-group status. Greene has even begun selling “Proud Christian Nationalist” T-shirts.

This strategy attempts to make warnings about Christian nationalism seem overheated. But Christian nationalism is rooted in developed, internally coherent theologies such as Seven Mountains Dominionism and Christian Reconstruction and present in the cultural mores of the Lost Cause mythology. Its mythic quality makes it evocative and does not require many details to provoke deep emotional responses — which is all the more reason to consider it closely.”

Read the whole piece over at RNS.

Religion News Service @RNS

"Alternatives to Christian nationalism must be offered from within Christian communities and interfaith coalitions in which Christians participate," writes @brchastain.

religionnews.comHow to answer when Christian nationalists embrace the label as a badge of honor(RNS) — Rather than being cowed by criticism, Christian nationalists are doubling down on their views.

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