A Path Forward for Christian Nationalism
I'm going to give my thoughts on a path forward. No one asked, but that's never stopped me before.
I’m not a Christian Nationalist. But honestly, I’d like to be. Maybe we can all sort this out together and, if not, maybe my thoughts will do people on both sides some good.
It might seem odd that I’m not a Christian Nationalist, despite being a Christian, and despite being a Nationalist, and despite arguing in 2019 that Nationalism is indeed a Christian concept.
Similarly, when it came to Theonomy (God’s Law) back in 2014, I was fine with God, and I was fine with God’s Laws, but I also insisted that terms are often more complicated than the definitions of the words that represent them. Pedophilia would be another example of a term that’s more complicated than the simple definition of the word (it’s definitely more than the love of children).
THE GODLINESS OF NATIONALISM
But Nationalism, in and of itself, is the only model given us in Scripture for the organization of human civic government conducive to human flourishing.
As I wrote in 2019…
God created the nation-state through his Covenant with Israel. God established for Israel national sovereign borders (he established these in Genesis 15:18-21).
God gave his people the right to enforce their borders and boundaries with armaments and border walls repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. In fact, an entire book of the Bible – Nehemiah – is dedicated to God’s command to build a border wall around Jerusalem. The purpose of this border wall was to protect the interests of the people within Jerusalem and to protect it against foreign invasion.
I can’t help but have noticed Tim Keller’s participation in the Third Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town (2010), which quite emphatically called for an end to the Nation State in favor of global government. So put Keller in company with the Pope of Rome on that one, unsurprisingly. But that’s my point; all the wrong people love globalism and all the right people hate nationalism. This alone makes me want to sit on the Christian Nationalist side of the aisle.
Overlooked in the discussion on Christian Nationalism is the bridge-building it could provide between those of different eschatologies. When Gary North tried to merge the Post-Mil Reconstructionists with the Pre-Mil Charismatics in 1987, it led to the bastard child of Seven Mountain Dominionism, and I don’t think anybody wants that. But the strong Post-Mil predispositions of Christian Nationalists are perfect bedfellows with Historic Premillennialists like myself, who for eschatological reasons have a predispositional hatred of globalism on grounds of a coming antichrist.
In fact, I believe that an incredibly strong case - if not an impregnable one - can be made for why anything but Nationalism is, at its heart, Satanic. Of course, to demonstrate this we would need to shirk the Post-War Consensus of Karl Popper’s imagination, and place the blame of World War II on something other than the “strong gods” of Nationalist leaders who care about the welfare of their own citizens. And that’s done easily enough, if you ignore Douglas Wilson and Owen Strachan.
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The commitment to the Post-War Consensus, as Darryl Cooper pointed out in his now-infamous interview with Tucker Carlson, is on its last legs. Christian Nationalists - thanks to the previously mentioned Post-Millennial predisposition - much to its credit, thinks long-term with their children in mind. This is good, because by the time our children reach adulthood, and by the time the boomers are departed, all the taboos of questioning the Post-War Consensus will be dead along with them.
At the same time, the Populism popping up with Trump in America, Le Pen in France, Wilders in the Netherlands, Farage in the United Kingdom, Orban in Hungary, and many more, are set to sweep the entire West in coming years. And that’s not to mention what’s happening in South America, with Melei in Argentina and Bukele in El Salvador. The wind is at the backs of the National-Populists. What started with Brexit will continue throughout the rest of Europe, until the European Union is no more, and until the United States encompasses Greenland, treats Canada and Mexico like puppet states, and reestablishes a colonial version of the Monroe Doctrine.
All of the signs point to growing Nationalist tendencies, all the tea leaves show a return of the so-called strong gods, and the chicken livers are clearly spelling out the end of globalism short of unforeseen disaster, whether real or manufactured.
OPPOSITION TO NATIONALISM, OF ANY KIND
The opposition to Christian Nationalism is most pervasive as an attack on Nationalism itself. Although attacks toward Christian Nationalism come veiled in religious language, almost invariably when they come from “heavy hitters,” they are little more than an appeal for the status quo, which is nothing short of an appeal for globalism.
As you XNats are probably aware, the weak gods have replaced the strong gods, but they’re still gods. And those gods - our devilish overlords of banking, finance, and free trade of both crap-goods and migrants from overseas (but I repeat myself) - are just as tyrannical as leaders as Hitler and Mussolini, and at the end of the day, no fewer people die from it.
Questioning the Post-War Consensus, to them, is challenging the entire system of Mammon upon which they’ve built their empires of dirt. For them, their challenge of Christian Nationalism has nothing to do with the Christian part, and everything to do with the Nationalism part.
Although they temper their complaints as an appeal for the virtue of capitalism (which they associate with free trade and open borders), what they’re really promoting is Status Quo capitalism. And Status Quo capitalism is nothing but modern Feudalism, and we’re the serfs.
One reason for their 180-degree turn on Donald Trump, is that they thought they could ingratiate themselves to him. His cabinet appointment picks proved to them he is unmanageable, and so they’ve become enemies. For them, the status quo of the international order, which is the continuance of those who have exploited America’s resources and treated us as tax-cattle peasants serving as cogs in the machines of commerce, must be protected. Trump threatens all that, as does the notion of Nationalism, which says “damn the man,” there has to be a better way than letting the bankers govern the world by coercion.
So, as you’re aware, their defense of the Post-War Consensus has absolutely nothing to do with Holocaust denialism or Nazi apologetics, but insuring that waves in the sea of National Populism doesn’t wash away their sandcastles. And for most of them attacking you, it has absolutely nothing to do with theology. If it did, they’d make Biblical points, but they’re bereft of them.
CLARITY ON WHAT EXACTLY IS THE CHRISTIAN PART OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
Inviting Calvin Robinson to Trash World is a very good thing. In fact, I’m 100% for it, so far as things working out for good for those who love God and who are called according to his purposes. So far as inviting a near-Papist into the Reformed Protestant camp, I hate it with the fire of a thousand burning suns.
But is Trash World a Reformed Protestant event? Heck if I know, I wasn’t invited. It doesn’t appear to be, if for no other reason, Robinson is speaking. But perhaps he’ll be billed as an outsider. Either way, this is the perfect opportunity to work stuff out, and it needs worked out.
If the Christian in Christian Nationalism implies that everyone in the nation is a Christian, then inviting Robinson was a grave mistake, but only idiots would think that. I’m not even sure everyone in my Independent Fundamental Bible Church is a Christian, for that matter. So this is a dumb assumption for anyone to make; we can rule that out.
But does the Christian in Christian Nationalism imply that the laws you desire limit citizenship or public service to Christians? If so, are Catholics Christians? According to Douglas Wilson, they are (despite splitting hell open when they die). But because the rest of us (hopefully) aren’t Federal Visionists, we reject this on the grounds of our Confessions, which call the Pope an Antichrist. But if we define Christian, so far as Christian Nationalism is concerned, differently than we define Christian in terms of personal redemption, then the invitation of Calvin Robinson isn’t an issue. And it’s not too late to change the term from “Christian Nationalism” if you find it unhelpful, but it will be soon.
If this is the case (and I suspect it is), and the Christian in Christian Nationalism is different from the Christian of personal redemption, you XNats need to do a better job at advertising this, post haste. And there’s an excellent argument to be made; obviously, nations aren’t born-again. Nations don’t get baptized. Body-politics aren’t personally converted. Your message should be, “Nations aren’t people. So what it is to be ‘Christian’ in this context is not the same.”
But what about Mormons or others sub-Christian sects? I’d suggest making the historic creeds your litmus test and telling the Mormons to pound sand. Meanwhile, the Papists and Eastern Orthodox incense-burners and black-hoods can still hang out with us.
But then, this brings up an entirely different issue; does Christian Nationalism involve enforcement of the First Table? This is a huge, towering decision point. I see no way you can enforce the First Table laws (the first four commandments, or five if you count differently), and not enforce the Second Commandment (if Protestants are doing the counting), which would rule the Papists and Eastern mystics out-of-order. Meanwhile, you would also need to sliver off the soft-shell Seventh Day Adventists and the Seventh Day Church of God on account of their Sabbath violations, despite neither being technically heretical (I said soft-shell Seventh Day Adventists, not the weird ones). Sure, that’s not a ton of people, but it’s enough to cause a nasty and unnecessary debate if you don’t deal with this now.
If Christian Nationalists do envision enforcement of the First Table commands, I wish them well, but I’ll be over here, fishing or something. I just can’t do that to poor Obadiah Holmes, whose Baptist blood spilled in Boston for religious liberty. I also can’t overlook the historic attempts at establishing an official state religion that led to lots and lots of dead people (mostly Protestants). But mostly, I can’t overlook what I feel to be the Scriptural reasons to reject this, centrally in the Text from Matthew 22. But, good luck and everything; please don’t get us killed.
If Christian Nationalists indeed do want to enforce the First Table, complete with the establishment of a state religion, I’d suggest you guys dig in hard to the volumes of material available to you from the Westminster divines on the subject of Theocracy (that’s what you’d be establishing), before 1788 when the WCF was revised to accommodate the Americans. Don’t waste your time trying to reinvent the wheel; just declare the revision a mistake, put it in reverse, and go back and undo it. That’s your best bet.
And with God as my witness, you had better avoid the craziness of Theonomy 1.0, the Rushdoony-North-Bahnsen variety, that insists on following the Judicial Code to “the exhaustive detail,” because the Westminster divines aren’t going to back you up on that one, and neither will I. Camp out at Theonomy 2.0, which is the correct position, that there are moral principles within the Judicial Code that should still inform our law-making.
MY OPINION OF THE IDEAL CHRISTIAN IN CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM, IN ONE PARAGRAPH
My two cents - which you can take with a grain of salt because I don’t get a vote - is that Christian Nationalism should provide a place of honor and ceremonial respect to the Lord Jesus Christ in nearly every level of government, from the presidency to the judiciary to dog-catcher, while retaining the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because - after all - one day Russell Moore might play Rasputin to President David Hogg, and we don’t want those lady-boys locking us up in the Gulag because rainbow flags don’t fly from our steeples. Meanwhile, the ideal Christian Nation should establish a full-throttle implementation of Second Table laws, including prohibitions against public displays of sodomy (public decency laws would suffice), provable acts of sodomy even in private (the same way bestiality laws are enforced), and criminal penalties for adultery (the state is already a party to marriage, and has every divine right to punish the act). Meanwhile, abortion and euthanasia prohibitions would be enforced under the sixth commandment, and on-and-on it could go, using God’s Moral Law as our guide.
MY OPINION OF IDEAL NATIONALISM IN CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
The Nationalism in Christian Nationalism should be the same definition of Nationalism, as if there was no adjective in front of it at all. God designed the Nation-State as the best nurturer of men’s civic needs, the best mechanism in the civic realm for the flourishing of man, and the best protection in the civic realm of the rights of men. All actions taken by government should prioritize the welfare of its citizens most highly, above all other consideration juxtaposed against the citizens of other nations. Immigration laws should prioritize the health of native citizens above those of the health of citizens from other nations. Immigration should only occur if there is a proven benefit for the citizens of our nation. The cohesiveness of society, and maintaining a high-trust society, must remain of utmost concern; and a high-trust society requires only the migration of those willing to adopt our customs, language, religion, and traditions. It is understood that this requirement will prioritize necessary migration from Europe, or elsewhere in the world we share a similar worldview. Migrants (from wherever we allow them to come) must be able to demonstrate a commitment to the aforementioned cohesive traits, as well as demonstrate their advantage to us as a nation for them joining us. And even then, they must come in such limited numbers there is no threat that they influence our culture, but that our culture integrate them instead.
RESPONDING TO CRITICISM OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
If Christian Nationalism would adopt the above two paragraphs as a general synopsis of what they’re aiming for, it would go a long way in building a robust defense against the inane attacks they now receive. But make no mistake about it; there will still be attacks. For how each group of critics should be responded to, I’ll be brief.
LEFTISTS
Defeat them.
GLOBALISTS
Defeat them.
MULTICULTURALISTS
Defeat them.
ESTABLISHMENTARIANS
Defeat them.
I hope you’re sensing a pattern. Not everyone can be reasoned with. Most just need to be defeated, and that’s going to take some of your famous post-millennial optimism. Good luck with that. Run them over like a freight train; they fight like girls.
But there are indeed some within Reformed Protestantism that have to be dealt with. And to name names, they would be those with whom you once walked.
Douglas Wilson and James White both command a significant number of men who - if the world was normal - would be with you. But the world is not normal, and things are always more complicated than at first they once appeared. Jealousies, envies, pettiness, bitterness, anger, and even politics have all played a role in their opposition to you.
In fact, the bulk of their opposition places them in the Establishmentarians category above. Your primary sin has been to disregard what they feel to be their rightful place over you in the evangelical ecosystem. You were supposed to show deference, and perhaps even gravel, but instead you laughed and made memes. I’m sure you comprehend that laughing in the face of men whose badge is seriousness, angers them more than if you had ridiculed their mother. Their entire schtick requires Reformed evangelicals to buy into the mythology of their seriousness, and you came right out and declared the emperor naked.
They man the gate, and you boys came in through the windows. Of course, the gate has been long removed, like Samson having removed the gates of Gaza; it’s not even there any more, but they’re old and blind like Blinkin, the blind butler from Robinhood Men in Tights. They can’t even see that the gate is gone, but they’re still defending it.
But I will stop short of merely saying defeat them, in the same way I say to defeat the others. The others, if they are not defeated, will reproduce and you’ll have to fight their children. You best get the ugly deed out of the way now. But these men - the Moscow and Phoenix Coalition - they’re not reproducing. Like the WWII generation, they are passing away, so let them.
Save your ammo. When they go, the crises they manufacture will be gone with them.
YOU HAVE STAYING POWER, IF YOU DON’T PULL A MCDURMON
Of all the various trends I’ve chronicled over the years, Christian Nationalism has those most potential to stick around (but this is not a certainty). First, this is because it is not new; it is old. And secondly, because the winds of culture are at your back, not against you.
But if it is to stick, and God is to bless it, you can’t run off chasing butterflies like Joel McDurmon did in 2014. You have to maintain focus, and keep your resolve. You have to prove to us, and prove to yourselves, that this is not a bandwagon or a fad. You have to prove this is a return to the Old Paths. But make no mistake about it, brothers, you cast the plumb line for it now; if you’re off an inch, in a year’s time or two, you’ll be off a mile. And right now, I think you might be off an inch.
Now is the time…right now…to lay a good foundation. Now is the time to plan the path forward. Now is the time to sharpen one another’s iron until your blade glows a hot reflection in the fire, and it’s sharp as broken glass. There is no time to waste. Wind is at your sails. Our King is coming. This world is changing. And as Luther wrote…
Das Wort sie sollen lassen stahn
und kein' Dank dazu haben;
er ist bei uns wohl auf dem Plan
mit seinem Geist und Gaben.
Nehmen sie den Leib,
Gut, Ehr, Kind und Weib:
lass fahren dahin,
sie haben's kein' Gewinn,
das Reich muss uns doch bleiben.
Or in English:
God's Word forever shall abide,
No thanks to foes, who fear it;
For God Himself fights by our side
With weapons of the Spirit.
Were they to take our house,
Goods, honor, child, or spouse,
Though life be wrenched away,
They cannot win the day.
The Kingdom's ours forever!
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