Sat safely in the UK, we tend to assume that things happening Stateside don’t matter much to us. This indeed has been the view I’ve heard whenever I’ve raised subjects such as Christian Nationalism and Federal Vision. We are reassured that such issues are of little interest and have little impact this side of the Atlantic.
However, whether or not we like it, we have close ties into what happens in the US. This applies to both the Uk as a nation and its political and cultural relationship to America but also it applies to the Church and especially to Evangelicals. We look to the US for many of our thought leaders. Think about the books you read, the music you listen to, the blogs podcasts and Youtube videos that people in your church are watching. Consider where conference speakers come from that speak at the big events.
This means three things. First of all, it means that we may be hearing ideas directly from US thought leaders that are beginning to gain traction here, some welcome, some less welcome. Secondly, we need to be alert to how more extreme ideas have not come out of nowhere or from a vacuum but have been allowed to cultivate in the petri-dish of American Evangelicalism. We may not see exactly the same problems here but if we are not alert, then we may see similar problems growing here that the prevailing culture and theology give space for but are more adapted to our context. Thirdly, we need to be aware that when we read or hear American speakers, especially those who closely align to us, they are not speaking/writing into a vacuum but are engaging with the specific challenges that their culture faces. Even their reactions and over reactions have an impact on us.
And so, it is worth mentioning The Groypers here. This is an alliance on the far right in the US associated with political activist Nick Fuentes. The movement identifies as Christian Nationalist and would have much in common with a lot of what we have already discussed here about Christian Nationalism in that they are ethno-cultural nationalists. However, they go much further than other Christian Nationalists have done in two crucial areas. First, they are widely recognised as Kinist, with an emphasis on full on ethno-nationalism so that they would be seen as white nationalists or white supremacists. Secondly, Fuentes has promoted antisemitic tropes.
All of this has been fairly under the radar to those of us in the UK until a few weeks back when prominent Conservative commentator, Tucker Carlson hosted Fuentes on his show for an extended, sympathetic interview. This was picked up on in a column by Russell Moore that was reproduced in Evangelicals Now, here and by Charles Moore, writing in the Daily Telegraph here and again here.
And all of this matters because the response from those promoting Christian Nationalism here in the UK has been to take grievance with those articles and the people behind them. The response seems to be that it is a terrible smear to associate the strands of Christian Nationalism together. Now, those associated with Christian Nationalism might wish to distance themselves from the more extreme views of Fuentes and The Groyper army. However, it is reasonable to ask questions about what is going on and where there are significant overlaps in thinking. The question is whether or not these are two completely separate movements or whether there is the same root ideology which gives space for the things we recognise as ugly and unacceptable to flourish but where much of the core content is itself ugly and dangerous, it just happens to have gained greater acceptance. You will recognise from the way that I have framed the question that I’m leaning much more towards the second possibility.
I would keep encouraging UK Evangelicals to be actively engaging with and responding to Christian Nationalism. This means that we need to be alert to trends and things that may appear small here at the moment but are gaining currency Stateside.
Faithroots 