Proponents of Christian nationalism suggest that those expressing concerns about the ideology are just the "godless left," but tens of thousands of Christians maintain the concept directly defies their faith.
The belief that the US and Christianity are linked and therefore the religion should have a privileged position in American society and government was the focus of a Christian group's campaign in 2019.
More than 27,000 Christians from different denominations signed a statement of principles rejecting Christian nationalism. One's religious affiliation, or lack of it, should be irrelevant to one's standing in the civic community, according to the principles.
"Many of our signers believe that pushing against Christian nationalism is essential not just for our democracy but also for the preservation of our faith," said the leader of the campaign.
The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and the New Zealand mosque shooting were cited as reasons for the effort. The suspects shared Christian nationalist ideas.
Proponents of the ideology say it doesn't violate core American and Christian values.
According to Tyler, there are many ways in which Christian nationalism defies Christianity, but the most overt involves two of Jesus's most fundamental teachings: love God above everything else and love your neighbor as yourself.
Tyler said that Christian nationalism causes us to confuse political authority with religious authority. It causes us to put our patriotism above our God patriotism.
Christians think the US has a special relationship with God. There was an overlap of patriotism, politics, and Christianity at the Capitol riot. There were flags carrying messages like "Make America Godly Again" and "Jesus is my Savior".
Tyler believes that Christian nationalism leads people to idolatry of the country.
One can be a patriotic person. patriotism ceases to be patriotism if we sacrifice our theological conviction for patriotism. She said that it would become nationalism.
The US should be declared a Christian nation, advocate for Christian values and return prayer to public schools according to Christian nationalists.
Tyler said that these ideals send the message that in order to be a true American you have to be a Christian.
She said that that causes harm to our neighbors who are not Christians and also causes us to violate our call to love our neighbor.
She said the Christian nationalist belief that God has a plan for the US is a global religion.
The separation of church and state is a characteristic of religious freedom in the US. Some on the right have suggested that separation has been taken too far. The church should be in charge of the government, according to Boebert.
The Republican party should be the party of Christian nationalism according to a GOP lawmaker who identified as a Christian nationalist.
Tyler saw a lot of instances of Christian nationalism at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.
She said that the fact that they're openly embracing the label is different and troubling, and that she's seeing this almost one-up game in some circles, who can be the bigger Christian nationalist.
Tyler said it's important for Christians to speak out against the ideology because people of faith see it as dangerous.
She said that we're at risk of becoming Christian nationalists. We need to explain why that is un-American and a departure from Christian values as well.
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