Are you a Christian Nationalist?
My Personal Thoughts on this Topic
A few months ago a Facebook "friend" posted an interesting message to me asking if my account had been hacked. I am not savy enough to find this post - I have searched for it, but cannot find it.
I responded saying that No, I had not been hacked and that the opinions he was questioning were indeed mine. He replied by labeling me as a "Christian Nationalist." I follow the news almost daily. I started that habit back in the mid-80's when I pastored at the Univ of Alabama.
I was not aware of the term "Christian Nationalism" [CN here forward] that had been invoked on me, so I asked this "friend" for a definition. He sent me a definition that appears to come from Google AI. I replied to him that I did not agree with any of the premises of the definition he had sent, thus I am not happy to be called a Christian Nationalist.
Blog Articles by R.A. Baker
My Reasons for Writing the Patheos Series
1. I am not writing for or against CN.
2. As I started searching and reading articles on the topic it became clear to me that there was no standard definition of this label. I did not appreciate being labeled CN and I wanted to push back on that label.
3. Most opponents of CN link it with President Trump, white racism and a belief that adherents are pushing for a "Christian America" that would force Christian values on the populace.
While I would welcome greater Christian influence in the USA, I am not in favor of forcing Christian values on the general public. I have watched a steady erosion of the Judeo-Christian ethos in America. I do think this has been harmful to our nation. We are far more coarse, crude and violent than when I was a teenager. I have been accused as a MAGA supporter of wanting to go back to the Jim Crowe South. That is quite simply absurd. MAGA for me would be to go back to the days of Ronald Reagan. I do feel nostalgic about TV shows like Gomer Pyle, Mayberry RFD, I Love Lucy and even the MUCH later Seinfeld. These shows seem so Pollyannaish now...overly innocent and quaint. THAT was the world I grew up in. Now have rude, crude and sexually explicit comments and themes ALL over the place.
I am not a fan of twerking during the Super Bowl halftime show. I'm not a fan of hearing the F-bomb dropped so commonly. We have so many social ills now: gun violence, the whole transgender mess...the anti-Jewish activities on our Ivy League campuses, and NO, I am not a fan of Patriot Nation or any other "white nationalist" movement. These are ALL symptoms of our spiritual decay.
BUT, I am NOT a Christian Nationalist!
I made that very clear in my first article in the series: What Is Christian Nationalism? Is It Wrong To Be Patriotic?
I do NOT want Christianity to make and enforce American laws! While our nation was founded mostly by virtuous men, many of whom were Christian, they made it CLEAR in our Constitution that freedom of religion, free speech and other key "rights" are God-given to mankind. They are NOT granted by human government. A democratic Republic only works well when the population has a belief in spiritual principles and FREEDOMS.
That includes the freedom of some people to be agnostic or even to deny the belief in God. As long as that group does not attempt to "take over" the culture with their non-spiritual ideology - Live your life how you want - Just leave me alone.
We have endured the last 20-30 years of Leftists pushing their godless ideology on the rest of society. THAT is not promoting religious freedom, nor is it consistent with our Constitution. A Christian baker should be free to refuse his/her services to someone who is using their product to promote a gay/lesbian/trans or ANY other value system that they disagree with - THAT is freedom. When Leftists start grooming little children to be "tolerant" of LGBTQ+ values without the consent of the parents, we have crossed a bridge that is too FAR from our roots.
Our culture's pendulum swung FAR LEFT and now is swinging back the other way.
What I do believe (my theory) is that the moniker CN is being used as a political tool against President Trump and the MAGA movement. I have read three studies from leading social research organizations (Barna, Pew Research, and PRRI). All three studies reflect my gut feeling:
1. There is no clear definition for CN. Some researchers designed a grid and then placed respondents into a category depending on their responses to various questions.
That sounds reasonable. The problem is that respondents cannot offer comments/discussion, therefore there is no nuance. This is sociology, a "soft" science.
2. All three research reports show that, even without nuance, the American populace is all over the map when it comes to this topic. What does that mean? Well, it means that the definition is NOT clear.
3. There are deliberate efforts to include the racist element in these studies. Each of these studies mention "white" CN yet when you read the results in each study you see significant numbers in the black and Hispanic respondents in agreement with white Americans.
THUS, In my last article I mentioned that a quick review of academic journals and books indicate that CN is being used as a cudgel to beat Trump and MAGA supporters. Below I am giving examples of what is generally found in the academic journals.
My Facebook "friend" [one of a few who are trolling me] accused me of academic malpractice because I did a quick survey of journal articles and came to an opinion. I asked him to engage with me in private emails, but he refused. I guess he wanted to publicly ridicule me. Oh well.
Below are his comments as the Academic Police with my responses in black text/brackets.
This "friend" is a very intelligent man. He made sure to list his degrees on his Facebook post as he continued to troll me. Somehow it escaped him that my articles are not being submitting/published in an academic arena. Patheos is a pseudo-academic blog. His pedantic insistence on following the "academic rules" does not apply on a "popular" blog. An interesting mistake made by a man with a higher IQ than me (and I mean that - this is not sarcasm). I was clearly NOT using this quick survey of academic writings to argue against these scholars.
My point was very simple: scanning over the abstracts make it clear that CN was not a big academic issue until Trump came on the scene. Then suddenly CN is a hot topic and is being used as a cudgel.
Below I am going to cite four of the studies. It turns out that a "survey" of abstracts and introductions does give a fairly good idea of the thesis of the article/book. Most journals demand a clear abstract that states your thesis! Wow.
Here are a few examples of these studies to show how clear these abstracts and introductions are and why using them as a survey is a fair device. These all came from the first page of 20 results. Note: in these citations I am highlighting in blue what I would consider emotive language meant to manipulate. My "friend" is welcome to disagree with me on this point. This is MY opinion. And by the way, academics is FILLED with giving an opinion!
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"BETWEEN 2016 and 2024, over the course of less than a decade, American conservatism capitulated to - and took a part in fomenting - a far-right populist movement that led to the nomination of Donald J. Trump as the Republican Party's candidate for the US presidency, and then catapulted him into power, twice."
Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, Laura K. Field (2025)
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In the preface the author invokes "January 6...demonstrated for many Americans how white Christian nationalism threatens the nation..."
Christian America and the Kingdom of God: White Christian Nationalism from the Puritans Through January 6, 2021, Hughes, Richard T.., Littlefield, Christina. (2025)
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"I Want to Hide Behind My Male Christian Whiteness:" (2023)
A journal article discussing how to "Create Affirming Educational Spaces for LGBTQ+ Identities," by Joseph R. Jones
The title of this paper is evocative. I have a hunch that Mr. Jones is not a fan of Trump...just a wild guess.
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Speaking of white evangelical support for Trump, this scholar states:
"What has emerged is a focus on the significance of contemporary American Christian nationalism, a phenomenon that encompasses
a majority of White evangelical Christians."
Miller, Daniel D. "American Christian Nationalism and the Meaning of 'Religion.'" Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 34, no. 1/2 (2022): 64-85.
Miller prefaces support of Trump by giving historical context: Bill Clinton's sexual conduct as President through the GW Bush terms. His point is that white Christian support is not consistent since that voting block overwhelmingly voted for Trump after holding Clinton in contempt. This is an important and true observation.
It is interesting that this author fails to mention Obama in his historical context. This overlooks one of the main influences that led to the rise of Trump. There was a lot of angst among conservative Christians during the Obama Administration. The same angst was there with Biden as well.
Many of these academic papers/books conflate white nationalism (like what Patriot Front stands for) with "Christian Nationalism." This is another disingenuous tactic in my opinion. The three major research studies mentioned above ALL include the data that shows black and Hispanic Americans have significant percentages in the same CN opinions held by white Americans. This, of course, is part of our social dilemma: we cannot seem to get past race.
What is My Main Concern in This Discussion?
Apparently, it grieves many Christians that their spiritual brothers/sisters voted for, and support President Trump. It bothers them so much that they now speak of Christian MAGA supporters as non-Christian and a threat to democracy.
I have more than a couple of "friends" who have cut ties with me because I support Trump. One trolls me on Facebook commanding me (like a prophet) to "Repent."
Whenever I had Christian friends who made statements that sounded like they voted for and supported Obama, I never asked them straight up. Why not? Because I did not want to get into a discussion that would probably go negative. And I certainly did not question their faith, even though I saw MOST of Obama's beliefs and actions to be detrimental not only to the USA, but also detrimental to the Christian faith.
This is the big issue for me: Trump hating Christians who judge me and other MAGA Christians. I find that un-Christian. I hated his policies, but I never hated President Obama.
Just a few days ago my "friend" posted Trump's AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure. Wow.
Trump has said and done many...many things that make me sigh in disbelief. I just shake my head and ask God to help the man.
He has a glitch.
I wrote another series on Why a Christian SHOULD Vote for Donald Trump. One of the articles is titled "Trump is a Flawed AND a Visionary Leader." Trump is certainly flawed, but a quick survey of US Presidents reminds us that ALL Presidents have flaws, some greater than others. I fully understand why many of my Christian friends do not like, nor support Trump. I have no desire to debate with them on this point - they will not change their minds, nor will I.
My only sincere request is quite simple:
PLEASE Stop Judging Your Fellow Christians.
Stop referring to them in terms of harsh judgment - keep your judgments to yourself as Paul indicates in Romans 14. You might think your position is primary rather than a "matter of conscience." Fine. Keep it to yourself.
Given the history of Christianity, it is not an easy task to draw a line in the sand of politics and government:
- Constantine had the support of bishops
- Augustine's stance for fighting against the invading hordes
- nobody complained when Charles Martel beat back the "pagan" expansion in the battle of Tours
- Charlemagne mandated that bishops/priests answer to him (and they did)
- as I pointed out in an earlier post, Martin Luther urged the government to quell rioting
- John Calvin's Geneva was a repressive government (ask Michael Servetus)
- King Henry 8th was the head of the Church of England
- John Knox was directly involved in revenge murder and beatings of Catholics
- many Christians were against slavery...and FOR President Lincoln waging war against the Southern states
So those who want to call their fellow Christians "unsaved," or "supporters of Hitler"...perhaps you should think a bit more historically and be more nuanced with condemnations.
"But Al, you are openly supporting Trump and challenging YOUR fellow Christians. What's the difference?"
I am not calling other Christians to "repent" if/when they dislike and do not support Trump. I never said any Christian was rejecting Jesus because they openly supported Obama...or Biden. The judgmental jabs on social media sound like "the accuser of the brethren." Some of my social media "friends" sound alot like Trump when they attack him. That is the same lack of self-control they hate in Trump...yet they cannot resist doing the same.
Questions, Comments or Criticisms:
You can send an email to directly to me Al Baker, CH101.
CH101 retains the right to edit and post comments/questions unless you specifically ask that your comments NOT be posted. Comments that are personal or private are never posted...only questions about Church History, the Bible, etc.
