Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy

I usually save my ‘high school housekeeping’ for the end of the post. ‘High school housekeeping’ explains why I think the book could work for a high school collection. But The False White Gospel is a bit unusual as a recommendation, so I’ll explain first.

I recently read that some of the folks objecting to library collections just wanted to have their point-of-view represented. I am quite wary of this argument as it applies to book challenges and bans—there is much evidence that books are being removed for racist, misogynistic or political reasons (see my Substack “Be a Cactus” for examples and discussions). However, I’m sure there are people (including parents) who would just like to know the library is considering its religion section and updating it so their teens can find current works there. That’s my reason for posting several books on religion in a row, which I will be doing over the next few weeks. A book that’s subtitled ‘Rejecting Christian Nationalism’ is not going to please the book banners, but it is something that will appeal to Christian students looking for guidance on putting their spirituality into practice. 

In the foreword to The False White Gospel, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. states that Wallis,

“without mincing his words … understands that white Christian nationalists have clothed their hatreds in the garments of their faith.” And this is at the heart of the book. It seeks to show, through scripture, that Christian nationalism is not Christianity at all, but simply racism with a side of misogyny. Eventually Wallis suggests that Christians reframe themselves as ‘Followers of Jesus’ in order to make a distinction between themselves and those nationalist who have overtaken the public imagination of what Christians represent. 

In his own introduction, Wallis suggests this is a “Bonhoeffer moment” for the American church: “They all knew who Dietrich Bonhoeffer was. A young pastor like themselves, he led the ‘confessing church’ movement in opposition to the rise of Nazism in Germany during the 1930s. These were a small minority of churches who dissented from the acquiescence and loyalty of most German churches to Hitler’s rise to power.”

While Wallis isn’t the first to recognize this moment in American history as mirroring the rise of Nazi Germany, he looks through the lens of the church and sees the church as being capable of an effective response to racism and misogyny. What’s refreshing is that he has been a part of that response for decades and has real examples of programs and political activism to back up his ideas. He makes suggestions of groups the reader can turn to to get started.

Much of Wallis’s argument stems from Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan, which illustrates that all people are our neighbors and deserve our attention and care. He discusses the white slaveholder religion of early America, and draws a line from it to white Christian nationalism. He also shows that continued racial separation in communities prevents us from seeing the work that needs to be done. “It is proximity that changes us.”

So, as the challenge is laid out, “white Christian nationalism is the single greatest threat to democracy in America and to the integrity of the Christian witness. … White Christian nationalism has now become the principal obstruction to achieving multiracial democracy. But it cannot just be defeated politically. It must be addressed at a deeper level, theologically and spiritually. We need a theology of democracy.” 

To achieve a theology of democracy, believers must first understand the new strategy of white supremacy: 

“To prevent our changing demography from changing our democracy. It is a commitment to white minority rule by any and all means necessary: covert and overt voter suppression, racial gerrymandering in reshaping representational political districts, restricted immigration, election denial with electoral corruption and manipulation, judicial bias all the way to the Supreme Court, and, when all else fails, the promotion of political violence, as January 6 revealed to us—with the threat of more of all of the above to come.”

To get started in battling Christian nationalists, believers should, “instead of wearing a bracelet that says “What Would Jesus Do?” or WWJD, it’s time to ask what did Jesus say, and what did he do. And to ask ourselves if we are willing to say and do that too.” Christian nationalist don’t do this because “a white ethnicity and patriarchal culture—with the power to keep control—is more important to many or even most white evangelicals than any gospel they allege to proclaim.” So they vote for authoritarian leaders, believing they are agents of God, sent to protect God’s chosen land and chosen people. 

This is fundamentally wrong both spiritually and politically: the Judeo-Christian Bible instructs that humankind is made in the image of God. Our Declaration of Independence declares that all men are equal.

“Will we dehumanize the ‘other,’ those who are not like us, or will we embrace the image of God (imago dei in Latin) in the equal humanity of all people, of all humankind? This is not just a theological question but a very practical one. Therefore, any strategy to make it harder for Black and brown, low-income people, and young people to vote is nothing less than an assault on the imago dei. That is why our spirituality is at stake here, far more than just politics.”

Wallis’s call for change centers on the gospel of Matthew, chapter 25 (Matthew 25: 44-45:  “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’”) This, he says, “is also the message at the core of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that so many miss, refuse to acknowledge, or reject outright.”

Several examples of ‘doing for the least of these’ fortify Wallis’s argument that it can be done. A few:

• A grassroots campaign called the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative is gaining the attention of Pope Francis at the Vatican. It is a movement, especially from the global South—in Africa, South America, and southern Asia—and is mostly led by women who are engaging local conflicts in the midst of national conflicts. They are moving beyond the narrow language of “pacifism” and “just war” to actually working hard to find answers to violence.
• Barrios Unidos, Spanish for “neighborhoods united,” recognized that exposure to education, arts, and technology had the power to transform the lives of young people whose circumstances deprived them of the opportunities many others take for granted. Barrios Unidos also offered former and current gang members the tools of conflict resolution that many came to embrace—practical behaviors and ways of proceeding they could bring to the street level.

Other movements that are working for change:

• A broad circle of churches and faith organizations whose church bodies together represent almost one hundred million members has the mission of calling upon our elected political leaders to make a circle of protection around the least of these. They often call themselves the Matthew 25 coalition (circleofprotection.us).

Hopeful ideas:

• After the mass shooting of children more than a decade ago at Sandy Hook, author Garry Wills wrote: “Few crimes are more harshly forbidden in the Old Testament than sacrifice to the god Moloch (for which see Leviticus 18:21, 20:1–5). The sacrifice referred to was of living children consumed in the fires of offering to Moloch. Ever since then, worship of Moloch has been the sign of a deeply degraded culture. … I suggest we instigate boycotts of the National Rifle Association and any company involved in gun manufacturing—in all our denominational and educational institutions.

Finally, Wallis identifies “ten commitments we all can make.” The book includes several questions for readers to ask themselves, “maybe even together in a small book group, Bible study, prayer fellowship, or a community group.” There is a sequence of steps for organizing. And something I love and don’t see often in non-academic/non-research books—an index, handy for students who are studying or writing reports. 

High school housekeeping

One more housekeeping detail: While this is not a particularly difficult book to read, teens younger than high school age may get lost in the weeds, so it’s probably not a good choice for under 14 years old.