The Case for Christian Nationalism

Afterword

Previously:

The Case for Christian Nationalism

The Case for Christian Nationalism is not a Christian book. It is a book of traditionally secular, authoritarian- and ethno-nationalist political theory resting atop a strange, unscriptural hypothesis of prelapsarian man, validated through a loose “natural law” that serves as a faux-Christian justification for whatever the author finds most expedient, and wrapped in a cloak of Calvin’s Two-Kingdoms theology, all to launder abhorrent views to a Christian audience. In many ways, it has been successful in its task. The average Christian intellectual gatekeeper, someone who has dedicated their education and profession to the topic of theology, likely does not know the sometimes esoteric tenets of rightist authoritarianism that are littered throughout the book, and most missed them in their reviews. In addition, the growing polarization of Western society has made many conservative Christians more friendly, or at least more charitable, towards bombastic rhetoric around ethnicity. Christian intelligentsia seems much more comfortable in discourses on church history and doctrine than political theory masquerading as political theology. Within Reformed circles, many seem far more interested in challenging leftist excess outside of the church, something that will receive near universal praise from their colleagues, than to position themselves against Canon Press, who goes as far as to sell The Case for Christian Nationalism t-shirts, and, by proxy, Douglas Wilson, who wields notable influence within conservative Reformed thought-leadership.

Self-described Christian Nationalism is still in the formative, philosophical phase. Though Wolfe is the only author to provide a complete political theory, his is not the only definition of “Christian Nationalism” gaining traction. There are several overlapping camps who are friendly with each other, but who promote different visions. Stephen Wolfe promotes a more traditional, Nativist ethno-nationalism online, and is most prominently joined by William Wolfe who, in his fervent disgust for “multiculturalism”, regularly makes antagonistic comments about other ethnicities, including comparing a multicultural worship service to rape gangs.¹ Andrew Torba and Andrew Isker promote a Christian Nationalism that is more defined by open disdain for Jews than any other group. Beyond Torba’s history of antisemitic comments on social media, their book, Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide for Taking Dominion and Discipling Nations, is less than seventy sparsely-filled pages long but dedicates an entire chapter to denouncing Talmudic Judaism. Isker has also claimed that a policy of Christian Nationalism should be to “oppose demographic replacement of the majority ethnic group in America”.² A political and theological declaration, entitled The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel, was authored by anti-abortion activist James Silberman and pastor Dusty Deevers, and was edited by several consistently belligerent and absolutist online Christian Nationalism proponents, including William Wolfe and pastor Joel Webbon.³ It is a brief document that bills itself as a set of broad “governing principles” and affirmations, based upon very conservative Reformed Baptist theology, yet it contains no practical proposals for enacting those principles in the now overwhelmingly secular American system. Despite this, most of its authors and editors have expressed resentment that Christian Nationalism opponents have not given it the same level of attention as Stephen Wolfe’s nearly five-hundred page, detailed treatise. They also seemingly expect their statement to be judged solely on its stated “principles” and not by the individual policies its authors and editors have promoted.

Regardless of how it may appear, it would be a mistake to consider this movement and its various camps as unserious and not very dangerous. Nearly every authoritarian movement of the 20th century, while in its formative phase, was regarded as a small fringe that did not need to be taken seriously. Secondly, one can consider authoritarian Christian Nationalism to be fringe enough that it will never gain traction within the broader American system while being keenly aware that it is a growing movement within the conservative church; besides, should Christians not be far more concerned with the health of the church than that of the government? Young Christian men who have spent their formative years fighting the “meme war” have taken its worldviews and tactics and are applying them to “Christian” political discourse. There is little that I have seen from Christian Nationalists, in the way of authoritarian- and ethno-nationalist talking points, that I have not previously seen in vitriolic internet forums, like 4chan, The Donald, and Torba’s Gab. Wolfe, Torba, and Isker even use this lingo in their books: pure cope, mammies, doomers, etc. As long as theologians and pastors continue, by and large, to ignore this growing issue, more and more young Christian men who are often treated as dangerous extremists by mainstream media for publicly holding to conservative Christian social mores will come to the same conclusion as Christian Nationalism proponent Rett Copple, who wrote in response to the July 2023 French riots, “We are all France unless enough of us have settled in our hearts that it is time to be called ‘racist’.”⁴

Wolfe’s book speaks to a materially-obsessed American Christian church, specifically those who have spent their lives in the comfort of cultural Christianity and relative wealth, and who are deathly afraid of either of those going away. Wolfe is correct that there is a perniciousness to the post-war consensus, not that it, as he wrote, “permitted Roman Catholics and Jews to have equal standing” and “transformed the country demographically and morally”⁵, but that it gave American Christians an over-inflated sense of worldly belonging. Only in the material abundance of post-war America could the prosperity gospel be born and, though middle of the bell-curve theology has long rejected its false tenets on the surface, many individual Christians have let its key value proposition into their hearts: that dedicating oneself to God is to be guaranteed a comfortable and materially abundant life. Now that conservative American Christians, within a few generations, have become a distinct minority, this false promise has been laid bare, leaving many feeling helpless and threatened. Wolfe does what all authoritarian theorists before him have done; he attempts to capitalize upon his audience’s fear of losing social station to convince them that he and his ilk must be given top-down control of the nation, in order to wrest society from the other and restore the proper social order.

That is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The victory over death was won by the Son of God on the cross roughly two millennia ago. He does not require our assistance to bring about His eternal, physical Kingdom. One day, in real space and time, He will return to judge the living and the dead. There is a gamble those promoting Christian Nationalism are taking. If God truly wants His people to physically suppress His enemies and to use state violence to assert the supremacy of orthodox Protestant doctrine in the West, then those who obey would likely be received as extremely good and faithful servants. But if they are wrong in this assessment, and grievously take the name of God in vain, just like the prosperity gospel preaching, faith-healing televangelist, they risk being told, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). There is one thing I am certain of, that no man who abandons worldly gain, and who dedicates his life to peacefully preaching Christ crucified to a fallen world, will risk hearing those words.

1. Ben Marsh on Twitter: “Today's service had singing and prayer in three languages, sometimes simultaneously, prayer for the sick and for sin. Sermon from the Word. Ended with chapati, NC bbq, goat choma, fried plantains, beans and rice, peanut curry, peach cobbler, sweet tea. Multiculturalism [for the win]!”
William Wolfe: “Is this ‘multiculturalism for the win?’”
Linked in the tweet is the Wikipedia entry for the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal.
https://twitter.com/William_E_Wolfe/status/1642601619572379648

2. Andrew Isker on Twitter: “An unstated part of the Christian Nationalism debate: is the intentional demographic replacement of the core ethnic group in America a good thing or a bad thing. If you oppose demographic replacement of the majority ethnic group in America, many Christian leaders will accuse you of sinning! Not good!”
https://twitter.com/BonifaceOption/status/1653179541777465345

3. James Silberman and Dusty Deevers, “The Statement on Christian Nationalism & the Gospel,” CN & the Gospel, May 23, 2023, https://www.statementonchristiannationalism.com.

4. https://twitter.com/RettCopple/status/1674982912284868611

5. Stephen Wolfe on Twitter: “Postwar conservatism was, in a way, a replacement movement opposed to the old American political tradition of Anglo-Protestantism, by insisting on the exclusive and simplistic *universalism* of the Founding, which permitted Roman Catholics and Jews to have equal standing in a country that deemed them, in a social sense at least, outsiders. But this unleashed the very universalism that has transformed this country demographically and morally. It is why they have no answer to our current crisis. It is why we no longer have a country.”
https://twitter.com/PerfInjust/status/1671525126767091712