DALLAS -- Progressive faith leaders and lawmakers in Dallas are concerned about the rising acceptance of Christian nationalism in the political mainstream, and are warning the ideology will become intertwined with public policy unless it is called out.
Some right-wing elected officials and candidates across the country, including in Texas, have embraced the ideology, which holds that Christianity should be a cornerstone of American life and government.
“I think a lot of us who are Christians, particularly mainline Protestants and Methodists, are very concerned about Christian nationalism,” said Eric Folkerth, senior pastor at Kessler Park United Methodist Church. “We find it a dangerous movement, and I think that we feel Christians who are not Christian nationalists have a special duty to stand up and speak against it and say this is wrong. This is not our faith.”
Folkerth was one of several pastors, congregants and elected officials who attended events in North Texas hosted by Vote Common Good, a progressive evangelical group led by Minneapolis-based pastor and activist Doug Pagitt that is traveling across the country teaching people of faith how to identify and combat Christian nationalism. Their Dallas events included a rally at Wilshire Baptist Church on Monday and a training session at Kessler Park Tuesday.
Pagitt said he’s against “people trying to use the mechanisms of governmental power to give preference to Christian thought, Christian people and Christian laws.”
“I spent my life trying to get people to pay attention to the teachings of Jesus,” Pagitt said, “but we shouldn’t be asking the government to do our bidding for us.”
‘This very root evil’
Christian nationalism is a mix of patriotism and Christian identity forming an ideology that America is a Christian nation, its founding documents were divinely inspired, and its leaders are anointed by God. Adherents believe God calls them to seek political power to reinstate Christian principles to shape and guide policy. Exact beliefs can vary person-to-person and not all who are Christian nationalists would use that term to describe themselves.
Christian nationalism is also deeply entrenched in American history.
“It was at the heart of many of the atrocities that we faced in this nation, extending from chattel slavery, through Jim Crow, and even into this era of mass incarceration,” said the Rev. Michael Waters, founder and lead pastor of the Abundant Life African Methodist Episcopal Church who was a speaker at both events. ”There have always been these tentacles of Christian nationalism present.”
“I think what we’re seeing today is just the latest manifestation of this very root evil transpiring across society, and because of that, I think we are facing very unique challenges,” Waters added.
While Christian nationalistic ideas have existed in the United States for centuries, the term grew in popularity after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, where some rioters carried Christian flags, crosses and Bibles. A group of insurrectionists stopped to pray after breaking into the U.S. Senate chamber. Pagitt frequently referenced Jan. 6 at his Dallas events as a turning point.
Across the country, some prominent conservative politicians, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) have explicitly embraced Christian nationalism.
Rep. Mayra Flores, a Republican who flipped a historically Democratic South Texas U.S. House seat during a special election earlier this year, told MSNBC in an interview last month the government has no business getting involved in the church’s affairs, but “the church does have the right to get involved in the government.”
“I believe that the church knows the people better than the government,” she said. Asked whether she supports the United States becoming a Christian nationalist country, she responded, “Yeah, I do. I believe we should always put God first.”
Polling shows support for the ideology is divided by party and age.
A University of Maryland poll of 2,091 people earlier this year indicates most Republicans believe the U.S. Constitution would not allow for the United States to declare itself a Christian nation, but 61% support doing so anyway. Christian nationalism is more likely to be shunned by younger generations and embraced by older generations, according to the poll: more than half of silent generation and baby boomer respondents of either party supported declaring the U.S. a Christian nation, but only of 25% of millennials and 34% of generation z agreed.
Apart from the growing national prominence of Christian nationalism, the Rev. Waters said he’s also worried about the pervasiveness of the ideology among local elected officials.
“I would say that there are persons who are in charge of many of our school boards, as well as high ranking officials in government, who are Christian nationalists and who would like to see Texas become a theocracy,” he said. “I think we are quickly slouching toward that reality, unless people vote en masse in this midterm election.”
Like ‘dealing with a cult’
State Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) acknowledged religious upbringing is a crucial part of a person’s identity, and it’s difficult to expect that anyone wouldn’t derive a person philosophy and moral code from his or her faith. But there’s a line lawmakers must toe when mixing their deeply-held religious beliefs with policy decisions, he said.
“Whether you’re Jewish, or Muslim or Hindu or Catholic or Protestant, Baptist or Methodist or a secular humanist, we all have certain things we believe are right,” Johnson said. “It’s good that we draw upon religious traditions to inform policy, but when it translates directly, it’s a problem. And when it becomes a declaration of absolute correctness above all others, it’s really a problem.”
State Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat who is running for Congress, said she has an up-close view on how Christian nationalist ideology can shape policy. She said much of the anti-LGBT, anti-critical race theory and anti-abortion legislation passed in Texas and nationwide has been strongly influenced by Christian nationalist thinking.
Crockett, the daughter of a pastor, said she noticed Christian nationalism shaping Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2015, but when Crockett assumed her state house seat in January 2021, “it became suffocating,” she said.
“It became apparent that it is something that is gaining momentum and used to easily cloak a very sinister agenda,” she said. “It’s kind of like when you are dealing with a cult. There are those who really believe it and drink the Kool Aid, then there are those who are simply playing along to get along. Either way, they team up and it results in legislation that harms real peoples’ lives.”
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