Sometimes when concerns are raised about the rise of Christian Nationalism, the response you get is
“But what is the problem? After all, the UK crowns its monarch in a religious service, has an established church and faith that said monarch vowed to defend and historically has laws and customs that are rooted in Biblical and Gospel values.”
We are also told that surely we would prefer the Government to legislate against rather than in favour of things like abortion and euthanasia.
Actually, those kinds of arguments help us to highlight the issues with Christian Nationalism, or two in particular.
The first is to do with the difference between “descriptive” and “prescriptive”. With a descriptive look back at history, we can describe what a nation is like and what it has been like in the past. This enables us to simply say
“Here are ways in which Christianity in the broadest sense has influenced the laws and customs of a nation.”
I say “in the broadest sense” because, certainly in our context in the UK, being known as a Christian nation is much broader than either Gospel or Bible influence although both are present. The influence will include significant elements of the broad Christian tradition.
What I think we can also look back on is times in history both when a significant number and at times majority adhered to Christian religion and moves of God (revival/awakening) with evidence of many heart conversions.
This differs significantly from the prescriptive approach looking forward to the future. This involves articulating both that a nation ought to be Christian and what a Christian Nation should look like in terms of laws, customs etc. in some strands this involves a wholesale application of the laws and customs of ancient Israel onto modern states without a consideration about whether the two are the same thing. In my opinion, the problem is also that we are asked to prescribe things for the nation that Scripture does not offer specific instruction on.
The second big differential is between Christian nationhood and Christian Nationalism. With the former, the focus is on the influence of Christianity on a country both for the sake of the Gospel and as a means of seeing common grace at work. With the latter, what we see at times is a focus on the nation and on nationalism. It becomes more about how to protect this or that state’s identity and culture, especially when it gets wrapped up in questions about immigration, borders and territory. The risk then is that we are really just seeking to baptise and legitimize nationalism and it is uncertain as to whether the Christian bit really modifies and shapes the form of nationalism or if the nationalism is really shaping the form of Christianity.
So, it is important to stop and consider what we mean by Christian Nationalism when using the term. Some things are fairly benign but also not really to do with Christian Nationalism. Other things are much less benign. .
Faithroots 