Rob Reiner's God & Country Will Only Make More Christian Nationalists

In February I wrote a post, entitled Which “Christian Nationalism” Do You Mean?, in which I laid out three disparate viewpoints that are being labeled “Christian Nationalism,” either by their proponents or their detractors. One of those three was Christian Federalism, a term coined by podcaster Josh Daws. His was a middle-ground approach between Christian America—a term created in the 1980s for the genre of Christian political belligerence that, post-2020, is the “Christian Nationalism” pejorative flung by liberal authors and filmmakers attempting to tie conservative evangelicalism to MAGA—and Christian Authoritarianism, a term I used for the self-described “Christian Nationalism” of (mostly) Reformed Christian reactionaries, like Stephen Wolfe and his book, The Case for Christian Nationalism. Daws’s Christian Federalism lived a very brief existence; less than six months after a very long thread describing his working within the system approach, he seemingly abandoned it to throw his hat in with Wolfe. He has not used the term on X since May 3.

The picture on the left is New York Times columnist, David French, and the one on the right is the cover of Stephen Wolfe’s book.

It is fitting that, in Daws’s meme, his 2016 politics are David French. The columnist is featured in a trailer for an anti-Christian Nationalism movie recently shared by its executive producer, atheist Rob Reiner, which has garnered significant push-back from not only Christian Authoritarians—including the proudly antisemitic “groyper” wing, who flooded Reiner’s post to comment on how he is Jewish—but also anti-Christian Nationalist conservatives, who see through its obvious political agenda. I recommend you watch it, because it encapsulates everything about the anti-Christian America approach that drives moderate conservative Christians towards Christian Authoritarianism.

It is not surprising that left-leaning Christian commentators, such as Kristen DuMez, Phil Vischer, and Skye Jethani appear in this trailer, nor that they are more than happy to continue defining Christian Nationalism as an assent to a short list of extremely broad and vague propositions (i.e., America is a Christian country)—though they will omit the fact that such questions often result in “White Christian Nationalism” being most popular among black Americans¹. Nor is it surprising that the trailer, through its lack of even a single strongly conservative Christian opponent to Christian Nationalism (of which there are many), telegraphs its definition of “the gospel” to be something inline with mainline denominational Christianity, which is regularly just as politically idolatrous as the worst of American evangelicalism, but from the other end of the spectrum.

What is notable about the trailer is that David French and Russel Moore, who advertise themselves as conservatives, but who have become the prime, “regime theologian” punching bags of Christian Authoritarians, would agree to be in a film that would only confirm that status. If those two are not, in fact, faux-conservatives dedicated to undermining the American evangelical church, the last thing they should do is agree to appear in a film produced by belligerent, far-left political activist and avowed atheist Rob Reiner. If they did not know he was involved, and they wish to maintain any credibility within the conservative theological and political worlds, they should publicly ask to be removed from the film. I would not hold your breath.

The anti-Christian America genre is a thinly veiled progressive political project, dedicated to tying conservative evangelicalism (and any Christian who would dare advocate for conservative social mores) to MAGA, by any means necessary. It is just as politically destructive as the Christian Authoritarian movement, which seemingly dedicates itself to living up to their polar opposite’s fever dream. The truth is that the vast majority of conservative evangelicals believe in something akin to Daws’s previous standpoint of Christian Federalism, the perfectly acceptable position that Christians are also allowed to participate in the democratic process and, like secularists, can leverage their numbers towards legislative change that matches their group’s social mores. They see right through films and books describing “Christian Nationalism” from the anti-Christian America perspective and, consequently, inch their way rightward. As long as this genre remains the only one with mainstream distribution, many will come to the reasonable conclusion that their praxis is under threat. From that position, they are far more likely to eventually sign on to some form of extrajudicial measures, or even worse, like Daws, they may begin advocating that Christians should not counter overt evil in their ranks, such as the racism and antisemitism of the groypers, because it will give the political left a win.

1. The Public Religion Research Institute’s 2023 study, A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture, found that black Christians are one percentage point, per-capita, more likely to be either “Adherents” or “Sympathizers” to their definition of Christian Nationalism. This did not stop the institute from using the term “White Christian Nationalism” in their promotional event.

https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/