There is a difference between a patriot and a nationalist. I am all for the former and would never qualify myself as the latter. A patriot is someone who loves his/her country and supports its well-being. It’s willing to serve, vote and work to make it a better place. It carries much memory of good times in the past and works to preserve the country for the next generation. A nationalist, on the other hand, is an extremist. They will argue their way is the only way and not stop fighting until they achieve that way or die. 

When you mix Christianity and nationalism you get a hyper-disciple who only sees the good in our Christian heritage and conveniently ignores the bad/ugly parts. It sees the 1950’s as idyllic and forgets that sweet culture wasn’t so sweet if you didn’t have white skin. It sees Thomas Jefferson as the hero who wrote the Declaration of Independence and forgets that he was a Deist. (Jefferson cut out the portions of his Bible he disagreed with.) To take it to the extreme, Hitler was a German nationalist and Hamas is a Muslim nationalist party. Nationalism takes one view to the nth degree, to the detriment of every other culture and viewpoint. The flag for Christian nationalism would be something like the eagle with the cross in one claw and the flag in the other. If Carville thinks Johnson is a Christian nationalist, I understand why he’s so worried. 

Let me be clear, I think Carville is wrong. I’m not a politician or a political advisor. I’m not arguing for a minute that Mike Johnson is the savior of America. The only Savior we have is Jesus. But I do think he’s a good guy. He’s also a believer. And that’s not something to be scared of. He’s no different than the Christian doctor, lawyer, judge or accountant. Every field needs Christians in it. Why? Because Christians at our core are about justice, mercy, love and grace. We seek to make society better for everyone, not just those who agree with us. And here’s where the problem lies. Carville doesn’t call Johnson a nationalist because of any extreme statement he’s made. He assumes this because Johnson is a Christian. And why would Carville assume this? Because of the loud voice of so many Christians who are nationalists.

Let me say it and then we’ll unpack it. Nationalism has no place in the Church. We find this at the beginning. The disciples wanted Jesus to be pro-Israel and He refused. He would not take up arms against Rome. The leading religious authorities thought Israel was the center of the universe and Jesus said they were dead men walking; they were empty on the inside even though they appeared alive on the outside. They had no special ‘red phone’ relationship with God like they thought. The Kingdom of God is the only Kingdom that builds nationalists and it is a blend of every tongue, tribe and people on earth. The only special nature that Israel enjoyed was they were the people God chose to demonstrate to the world who He is and why He came. 

Today the Church enjoys this same status. We are here to demonstrate to the world who God is and why Jesus is coming again. For us to do that effectively, we must set aside any hyper nationalistic view that says the US has a special connection to God. We are no more connected to God than any nation on any other continent in the world. For a time, we had a high number of Christians who lived here. We utilized some of that influence to reach a lost world, but wasted most of it on ourselves. Today we have large, empty church buildings and millions of disillusioned people because we taught a doctrine of nationalism. We emphasized our needs and wants over the needs of every other culture, and it bit us in the behind. That doesn’t mean the end of Christianity. It does mean a return to our roots if we want to reach our generation.