Opinion | We need to admit it: Christian Nationalism is happening in America

The late George Carlin is one of my favorite comedians of all time. One of his best routines, in my opinion, was the one where he pointed out how certain words and phrases just shouldn’t go together because they don’t make sense, like jumbo shrimp. So which is it? Is it jumbo, or is it shrimp? Because it can’t be both, right?

Two other words that don’t make much sense when attached are the words "Christian Nationalism."

I think it’s safe to say I haven’t been to church much in recent years, because it’s true. So there you have it. But even for a non-regular church attendee like myself who identifies as Christian, and who is the furthest thing from a Biblical scholar as furthest things get, I somehow get the feeling that the deity upon whom Christianity is based might take some offense at the term "Christian Nationalism."

Not to say this would be the first time in recorded history when God, the Creator, Jesus, or whatever you choose to call the one you worship got a little peeved at the humans. But that’s a whole other discussion taking us down a whole other road, and there’s only so much space.

And who knows? Maybe I’m wrong, right? Maybe it’s A-OK to conflate a religion that is supposedly based on loving others as yourself and promoting the idea that we are all — all of us — made in the image of God with a questionable philosophy that full-on endorses white nationalism, white superiority, and anything else that says the rest of us fall just a few dark shades short of perfection. But I don’t think so.

Dictionary.com defines Christian Nationalism in the following way: "The belief, theory, or doctrine that white people are inherently superior to people from all other racial and ethnic groups, and that in order to preserve their white, European and Christian cultural identities, they need or deserve a segregated geographical area, preferential treatment, and special legal protections."

Christian Nationalism is also the belief that America was founded on Christian principles, and should be a Christian nation. It first emerged in the early 20th century, but gained momentum in the late 1970s when conservative evangelicals rallied against progressive politics. Now it's part of a larger cultural and political divide in America, one that breeds hostility towards those who don't fit their narrow definition of who should be a "true American."

So you may have noticed that Christian Nationalism in all its twisted glory has been embraced by the modern day Republican Party. I suppose I could say that it has only been embraced by the MAGA branch of the Republican Party, but since Liz Cheney still seems to be the only Republican openly denouncing what her party has become, I think it’s also safe to say that this is who the Republicans are now. Because in this instance, silence equals conformity. There are no sidelines.

Here in Michigan, we are more than familiar with far-right-leaning folk, and organizations such as the Michigan Militia, and that group of quite interesting guys and gals who stormed the Michigan State Capitol on April 30, 2020, with guns and rifles drawn several years back, in what now looks like a dress rehearsal for the Jan. 6 insurrection. Or those guys who planned to kidnap and then possibly murder Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after putting her on "trial" around the same time. Oh, and we also have MAGA cheerleaders Ted Nugent and Kid Rock, bless their hearts.

In Ottawa County, according to a January 2023 story in The Holland Sentinel, the Ottawa County board has effectively been taken over by eight members of a far-right Christian Nationalist group known as Ottawa Impact. Followers of this group, and those who elected the Christian Nationalist majority, apparently believe that it was a "divine plan" that was responsible for the August primary election that secured the officials' victories.

And according to a story in Politico — because this story has drawn national attention — the Ottawa Impact crew has “signed a Contract with Ottawa promising to ‘respect the values and faith of the people of Ottawa County’ and to ‘secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and future generations." They’d pledged to "recognize our nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage and celebrate America as an exceptional nation blessed by God.”

Meanwhile, in Texas, a Texas Youth Summit last fall was geared toward hardcore Christian Nationalist recruitment of young people, to permanently indoctrinate them and warp their young minds as thoroughly as possible. According to The Texas Observer, "It’s all part of a nationwide effort by multiple well-funded groups, many of which originated or are based in Texas, to mobilize young people, mainly Christian youth, to engage in right-wing politics."

And nationwide, we now have the indie smash movie hit phenomenon, "The Sound of Freedom," released on July 4, which, amazingly (or maybe not, considering the signs of the times) is rivaling the latest "Mission Impossible" installment in box office receipts. The title doesn’t give it away, nor does the surface plot about a hero-type who daringly puts his life on the line to rescue kids from child traffickers. That’s just your average action-adventure flick.

However.

When you consider the fact that Donald Trump hosted a private showing of this particular flick at his private club in New Jersey attended by a Who’s Who list of Looney Tune suspects, that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also hosted a showing, that the movie’s lead actor, Jim Caviezel, is a QAnon believer and promoter, that QAnon and the full cast of rightwing Republican election deniers and Jan. 6 insurrection supporters are touting this flick as an absolute must-see? Yeah, well then you do have to kinda wonder what just snuck under the radar. Because it’s not exactly a stretch to surmise that, gee, maybe this crew of brought-to-you-by-QAnon movie lovers (in a feature depicting a scarier, browner world outside our borders), and the Christian Nationalist types run in the same circles and share similar ideas and beliefs — and possibly plans and strategies for a brighter, whiter America.

Those who are leading these groups are staunch defenders of the Jan. 6 insurrection; they endorse hate speech and believe in the promotion of a white supremacist Christianity (if there is such a thing) and constitutional originalism. And they believe just as strongly in the use of violence to get what they want.

We can’t hope and pray this away. Even the Bible says faith without works is dead. But the first thing we need to do is to finally acknowledge that yes, this is really happening. In America.

Right now.

Keith A. Owens is a local writer and co-founder of Detroit Stories Quarterly and the We Are Speaking Substack newsletter and podcast. Contact the Free Press opinion page: letters@freepress.com. Become a subscriber at Freep.com. 

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: Christian Nationalism is happening in America