Christian, Nationalist, and Revolutionary

When we call Jesus a revolutionary, we tend to think of him as a socially liberal revolutionary, espousing freedom, equality, and justice for all. However, Christian Nationalists are beginning to think of themselves as revolutionaries; and their vision of a Christian revolution is very different from this picture.

In The Federalist, senior editor John Daniel Davidson—although he does not use the word “Christian”—champions the idea of Christian Nationalists as “radicals, restorationists, and counterrevolutionaries.” He wants to use our government, not to help the poor and marginalized, but rather to convert the country into a nationalist, theocratic state.

Davidson embraces using the power of the government to enforce the principles of the right wing, bending corporations to their will, starving universities that spread “poisonous ideologies,” getting rid of no-fault divorce, and subsidizing families with children. “Wielding government power,” he writes, “will mean a dramatic expansion of the criminal code.” Abortion is murder and should be treated as such, parents who take their children to drag shows “should be arrested and charged with child abuse,” doctors who engage in gender-affirming interventions “should be thrown in prison and have their medical licenses revoked,” “teachers who expose their students to sexually explicit material should not just be fired but be criminally prosecuted.”

“The necessary task is nothing less than radical and revolutionary,” he writes. And for those worrying that the assumption of such power might be dangerous, “we should attend to it with care after we have won the war.” ( Heather Cox Richardson).

I’m certain that liberal Friends will be appalled by Davidson’s vision of a nationalist America. I pray that Jesus, alive in God’s bosom, will ask the Father to send forth the Holy Spirit and inspire us to oppose this desecration of his revolutionary message, this perversion of the Kingdom of God.

~ Richard Russell