Tag Archives: christian nationalism

The One Where Michael Shows Some Empathy for Donald Trump

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It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Donald Trump.

In numerous social media posts, I’ve tried to tell it like it is with Trump. I’ve called out his misogyny and racism and pathological lying from the beginning. I’ve red-flagged the wave of Christian nationalism he’s riding on. I’ve spoken of his lies fueling “xenophobic and racist bigots” in their threat of violence. I’ve used humour to mock Trump’s sad triumphalist tendencies and the irreverence of his Christian supporters. I’ve questioned the legitimacy of the claim that Trump is a “person of faith.” As recently as two weeks ago, I laid this criticism on him: “Trump is overtly racist and misogynist and ableist. His policies benefit the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and the poor.”

No, it’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Donald Trump.

Or maybe it is a secret, because when I posted the following call to my Christian siblings on one social media platform recently, people mistook me for a MAGA Trump supporter:

Christians, please tell me we’re not mocking an 80-year old man for nearly stumbling getting into a truck. There’s much to critique, even to critique using humour, but this isn’t it.

Now, in case you missed it, in that post I’m referring to Trump’s stumble at the door of a garbage truck at a staged event in response to Joe Biden’s (apparent) reference to Trump’s supporters as “garbage.” Trump looked every bit of his 78 years as he tottered uneasily by the truck.

As dozens of comments piled up, with people apparently missing the “much to critique” sentence of my post, I added this to the mix:

The comments on this are wild! Assumptions about my political leanings, generalizations about Christians, none of which apply to me. And more mocking of Trump for his age and his appearance. Trump is a fascist, a rapist, a racist, and a pathological liar. Let’s focus on the content of his character and the things he says he’ll do as president.

But it seems this still wasn’t clear enough. People continued their confirmation bias, assuming me to be an evangelical Christian MAGA Trump supporter simply because I showed a sliver of empathy for a nearly 80-year old man. The comments on the post are now into the hundreds, with a high percentage of them along these lines.

That’s not what I’ve found most concerning in the comments, however.

It’s no secret also that I lean left in economic and social policy. For me this grows out of my deeply held Christian convictions, a Jesus-centred Anabaptism that grounds itself primarily in Jesus’ teaching and way of life as presented in the Gospels. Now, I know that most people who lean left politically are not Christian, so I don’t assume they share my Christian values. But I did kind of assume that people who advocate for economic and social justice would have some empathy to tap into, even related to Donald Trump.

Well, you know what they say about “Don’t assume.”

Yep, you guessed it. The now-hundreds of comments on my social media post, mostly by anti-Trump folks who seem to lean left, are mostly a blend of “eye for an eye” and “hate your enemy” and “show no mercy.” Some of them even literally quote “eye for an eye” as if it is a Christian saying (it’s not). In other words, most of these left-leaning folks can muster no empathy for Donald Trump; indeed, they’ve intentionally blocked off any empathy, some dehumanizing him to the point of calling him things like “evil incarnate.”

Now, I get it. Donald Trump is not any random 80-year old man (yes, commenters, I know he’s 78—I’m doing a thing called “rounding up”). He currently wields immense power. And this is exactly why his misogyny, racism, ableism, and economically and socially violent policies need to be resisted, even through mockery if need be.

And I get that Trump’s health is of national concern if he’s going to be president of the United States. If he can’t do the job, that’s a big deal for those who care about such things.

But none of this justifies mocking him for his age, for his appearance, for his physical ability. If we stoop to that, we’re on the road to becoming Trumpist ourselves.

But we’re still not to the thing I’ve found most concerning about the comments on my social media post.

No, what I’ve found most concerning is that some of the people mocking Trump in this way, even using dehumanizing language of Trump, describe themselves as Christians.

My siblings in Christ, this should not be. And trust me, I’ve been way more horrified at the ways Trump and some of his supporters have mocked people for their age, their appearance, or their physical ability.

It doesn’t matter who it is—this should not be. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done—this should not be.

As Christians we are called to love our neighbours as if their needs were our own needs. And Jesus expands “neighbours” to mean strangers who are not like us, even enemies who oppose us and the very things we value. We are to love our enemies, blessing them, praying for them. Resisting them in their evil and injustice, yes, but doing so in a way that overcomes evil with good. After all, our struggle is against evil spiritual forces like misogyny and racism and homophobia and militarism and economic disparity, not against flesh and blood humans.

And yes, this even means humans like Donald J. Trump.

© Michael W. Pahl

What is Christian nationalism? And why is it a problem?

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There’s a lot of discussion about Christian nationalism these days, and a lot of people are unsure what to make of it, or even what Christian nationalism (CN) is. Some thoughts on what it is and why it’s a problem…

Let’s start with “nationalism.” Encyclopaedia Britannica gets it nicely: “Nationalism is an ideology that emphasizes loyalty, devotion, or allegiance to a nation or nation-state and holds that such obligations outweigh other individual or group interests.” Nationalism is not just patriotism; it’s an elevation of the nation-state to a place of high allegiance, often with a sense of the nation’s superiority over others.

“Christian” nationalism adds the expectation that the nation reflect specific values deemed to be Christian, in its constitution, laws, policies, and so on. Typically it means that these things should be based on biblical laws or teachings, especially the Ten Commandments.

Christian nationalism thus holds the expectation that Christianity be privileged in some way by the state, perhaps even adopted as the state religion. In more extreme forms, CN includes ideas like requiring high-ranking government officials to be Christian or expecting immigrants to adopt Christianity.

If this is hard to imagine, just replace “Christian” with “Islamic” or “Jewish,” and imagine Islamic or Jewish nationalism as the guiding ideology for a nation-state.

So much for what it is. What’s wrong with it? Well, there are several problems with nationalism generally and Christian nationalism in particular. Here are a few…

First, nationalism’s elevation of the nation-state and the sense of the nation’s superiority can lead to interventionist, even expansionist, policies, resulting in increased violence world-wide and (ironically) less security at home.

Now, nationalism is an inherently isolationist ideology. It sees “globalism”—nation-states working together in a way that is perceived to erase national identities—as a threat. However, nationalism can become expansionist. The nation can seek to impose its values on other nations through cultural, economic, military, or other means. This is when nationalism becomes imperialism. Think 400 years of colonization by western European nation-states. Or Russian expansionism now in Ukraine. Or most US foreign policy since WWII.

Second, when this nationalism conflates the nation-state with a particular person, you get cult-like authoritarian regimes, even under the guise of “democracy.” Think Nazi Germany, or Putin’s Russia, or MAGA America. Combine with the previous, and you get war. Even world wars.

Third, an obvious problem with Christian nationalism is this: which Christianity? Inevitably it is a conservative version, mirroring nationalism’s expectation of allegiance and its sense of superiority. Literalist in its reading of Scripture and fundamentalist in its outlook.

And white. And patriarchal. This also needs to be said: Christian nationalism is a white, patriarchalist movement. It’s an attempt to re-create a lost society, a golden era of 1950s white, “family values” suburbia. Think “Leave it to Beaver,” but with more overt Christianity.

But this is only one slice of Christianity, and a relatively recent one at that. Christianity originated on the margins; anything like Christian nationalism was unthinkable for its first 300 years. The “kingdom” Jesus envisioned is “not of this world”: it’s not a political entity, a nation-state.

And the Christianity that grew from Jesus wasn’t white, and it wasn’t patriarchal. Following Jesus’ way, early Christianity was intercultural and egalitarian, sometimes even radically so.

Finally, Christian nationalism seeks to impose religious values on others who do not share those values, even requiring them to live contrary to their own religious (or non-religious) values. Which, of course, is a problem if the nation is striving to be a democracy.

Note: the problem is not having different values, or seeking to persuade others to share one’s values, or even seeking to establish laws for the common good on the basis of one’s values. All this is fundamental to democracy.

The problem is not even that sometimes we have to agree to things deemed to be for the common good which go against our personal values. Again, democracy. Or just, “living together.”

No, the problem is the imposition of one’s values on others, requiring them through a use of power to abide by or even adopt those values themselves, and especially without striving through dialogue, debate, and compromise to determine a “common good.” This is not democracy.

This is also not many Christians’ understanding of Christianity. Jesus didn’t impose. He didn’t coerce. He didn’t use power to make people follow his way. The opposite, in fact.

Jesus gave up his power, he gave up his privilege, in order to serve others, to meet their deepest needs, to love them. This is Philippians 2. This is the Gospels. This is the gospel.

And this is authentic, historic Christianity.

© Michael W. Pahl