This article was originally published on Andrew Whitehead’s Substack, American Idolatry.
I guess this is a question we are being forced to ask in the current context.
In remarks to a “Americas Counter Cartel Conference,” US Secretary Pete Hegseth said,
Our nations are and always will be united by our heritage, our history and geography in this new world.
We share the same interests, and, because of this, we face an essential test – whether our nations will be and remain Western nations with distinct characteristics, Christian nations under God. . .
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that Secretary Hegseth or another representative in the current administration signaled their belief that the United States is a Christian nation.
The day before Hegseth outlined “Operation Epic Fury,” describing it at one point as “B-2s, B-52s, B-1s, Predator drones, fighters controlling the skies, picking targets, death and destruction from the sky all day long.”
Do Christian nations rain down death and destruction all day long? Which part of Jesus’ ministry signals this sort of behavior is in line with his goals for his followers?
Violence, and the glorification of it, is a central cultural element of the Christianity of Christian nationalism. In the context of the broader Christian tradition, however, other expressions of Christianity would consider it an idol. And an idol is whatever Christians place their hope and trust in rather than God.
Christian nationalism is comfortable with violence to achieve any desired end. Violence as an idol overlaps with the other idols of Christian nationalism I discuss in American Idolatry. Power is the ability to get others to do what you want them to do despite their resistance. Violence is intimately intertwined with a self-interested understanding of power. The threat or actual use of violence is a surefire way to encourage people to stop resisting in order to get what you want. [1]
When we idolize power and grow accustomed to what it brings, we abhor the possibility that it might one day slip away. We defend what power we have and pine for more.
So violence is also a natural outcome of fear, a second idol of Christian nationalism. Fear highlights feelings of being out of control, alone, attacked, and under threat. We fear when it seems our power is threatened. In those situations of high anxiety, we revert to a fight-or-flight response. We want to remain in control. When we fear that control and power are being wrested away, we will resort to whatever means necessary to keep them.
Nations and other groups often resort to dehumanizing or demonizing “others” to justify violence. Christian nationalism sanctifies and legitimates the use of violence—whether historically toward Native tribes in North America or enslaved persons from Africa, or more recently when Stephen Miller described anyone the United States has deemed part of a drug cartel as “savages”—when it serves any outcome viewed as “God’s plan.”
Christian nationalism views violence as not only justifiable in certain situations but also in many ways an ultimate good and the first choice.
Consider some of the examples from Kristin Du Mez’s influential book Jesus and John Wayne (an instant classic and it will always be timely). She follows the thread of militant masculinity in American Christianity, especially through the last century, showing that white Christian men looked for and repeatedly found a new threat to Christian America to confront and subdue through righteous violence.
Taking cues from popular fictionalized historical figures like William Wallace, Maximus Meridius, and various on-screen characters played by John Wayne, many have believed that the defense of our Christian nation requires the use of righteous violence, both collectively and individually, when necessary.
However, most American Christians who endorse various forms of violence—particularly in this present context—can do so because they believe it is in service of the greater good, which usually means Christian morality or nation-building as they define it.
Countries will proactively go to war on the basis of real or imagined fears of threats to their land, safety, or security (Iraq War, Russian invasion of Ukraine, current war with Iran). Whole regions will enact laws to separate and segregate groups of people and turn a blind eye when one group upholds those divisions through violence (Jim Crow and the lynching of African Americans). Governments will systematically steal land and separate families in order to force those living there to submit to their vision.
No matter the scale, Christian nationalism provides theological justification for violence toward enemies, making it a righteous act. At both the national and the individual level, this political theology makes space for “true” citizens to protect themselves and their country—however they see fit—from those they believe are threatening it.
Christian nationalism considers the use of multiple forms of violence to defend one’s body, family, community, or nation to be aligned with God’s will. The world is a dangerous place, and sometimes we need good guys with guns or the nation’s military to restore order.
But so many of “us” (Americans, Christians, political leaders) are largely shielded from any personal contact with interpersonal or collective violence. Violence is something so many can support from afar without ever having to reckon with its fruit. This serves to perpetuate a sense of innocence regarding America’s collective use of violence both at home and abroad.
White Christian nationalism teaches that the only way to protect Christianity is to protect the United States. And the only way to ensure that a nation of this world continues to exist is to exert the power of the sword.
I am convinced now more than ever that the idolization of violence alongside power and fear inherent to Christian nationalism serves only empire and results in unimaginable amounts of suffering.
The men and women claiming the United States is a “Christian nation” would do well to remember that Jesus was clear on the day of his death that his kingdom is not of this world and does not depend on violence for its defense or expansion (John 18:36). He refused to pick up the sword and rather chose to take up a cross—the violent instrument of his own death, not that of his enemies. “Jesus did not stand with state or religious authorities being violent against bodies and marginalized bodies. Jesus stands as one who knew the economic, political, and religious violence but also as one who formed people in the way of resistance, dignity, power, justice, and love,” writes Danté Stewart. Such a move defies the logic of Christian nationalism.
Christian nationalism seeks to privilege a very particular expression of Christianity in American civic life. The cultural baggage associated with this particular expression of Christianity idolizes and emphasizes violence, power, and control. So in this Christian nation, our leaders will continue to slaughter those they have labeled “our enemies,” all in the name of God.
Such is the fruit of the spirit of the Christianity of Christian nationalism.
[1] Portions of this column are drawn from Chapter 5 of American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church
Andrew L. Whitehead is professor of sociology at Indiana University Indianapolis and a Charles F. Kettering Foundation Research Fellow. (This article represents the personal views of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Americans United, Indiana University Indianapolis, or the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.)
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
