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The label ‘Christian nationalist’ sounds scary and it’s designed to. Christians must not be tricked into silence.

One of the challenges Christians face in standing for biblical values in our society is the way we are portrayed.

Have you noticed that the secular culture can wage all sorts of culture wars — up to and including killing babies and castrating children — but it’s only labelled a ‘culture war’ when good people stand up and fight back against it?

What a silly rule. Don’t be manipulated by it.

Beware the Label ‘Christian Nationalist’

Another trick, which I believe we will see more of in the years ahead, is the label ‘Christian nationalist’. You may have heard this label making the rounds.

It sounds really scary. And it’s supposed to sound scary. The label ‘Christian nationalism’ deliberately conflates two definitions of the term.

The first is the idea that nations like Australia or America should become theocracies, where the Bible’s rules become the law of the land, religious belief is enforced under threat of punishment, and no other faiths are allowed.

Of course any sane person would reject that.

But the other idea that is being blended in with the ‘Christian nationalism’ tag is that Christianity is the proven, God-given foundation for public policy, and that Christians should feel free to promote Christian values in the public square.

So see, you’re a Christian nationalist if you want to violently overthrow Australia’s government — but you’re also a Christian nationalist if you want to see kids protected from gender ideology, or babies kept safe from abortion.

Who Is Playing This Trick and Why?

This is master manipulation. Those doing the manipulating are using the first definition to smear the second. They’re conflating the two together to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The strategy is to make Christians sound like the American Taliban or the Australian Ku Klux Klan — a major threat to freedom and national security! — all so that Christian values have no hearing in the public square at all.

What these people are really afraid of is having their demonic agenda exposed. They’re afraid that Christians have woken up to the games that are being played. They are afraid that we are finally gaining the confidence to push back against evil.

In America, they are especially upset that Roe v Wade has been overturned and that millions of babies will now live.

But by the logic underlying this smear, even the most left-leaning, progressive Christians are Christian nationalists — because look, they’re using Christianity to argue for big welfare nets, high tax, open borders, race-based policies, and so on.

Christian Nationalism Doesn’t Go Far Enough

If you define it the right way — that is, by the second definition — Christian nationalism is a really good thing. It’s certainly better than Christian Statism, where the church is used to push the State’s agenda unchallenged. It’s far better than Secular Globalism, which apparently wants all of us living in pods and eating bugs for the rest of our lives!

In fact, I think the case can be made that Christian nationalism doesn’t go far enough. What does Philippians 2 say? “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

If the whole world belongs to Jesus, if he is truly Lord of all, we should embrace “Christian Whole Worldism”. If all the galaxies belong to him too, how about “Christian Intergalacticism”?

The universe works when it functions the way God has intended — when the sun, moon, stars and planets follow the laws He has set out for them. This flows all the way down to humanity. Human societies work best when we function the way God intended — treating each other with dignity because we are made in His image, following His intentions for sexuality and marriage and everything else.

In the great commission, Jesus told us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Did this command have an expiry date? Shouldn’t we want to see our nations functioning the way God intends, and Christians living out their faith in public?

You may want to stay away from the label of “Christian nationalist”. If so, fair enough — but make sure you explain what you mean by the term, rejecting the first definition above.

On the other hand, you may want to embrace the label. That’s equally respectable. Again, make sure you define it with the second definition: that Christianity is the proven, God-given foundation for good public policy.

Whatever you do, don’t be manipulated by clever-sounding arguments (Colossians 2:4). Instead, be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16), and have the mind of Christ.

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Image by DJ Paine on Unsplash.