A recent shift in which it's becoming more common for public figures to openly embrace the concept of Christian nationalism can be seen in Andrew Torba's new book.
Torba and Andrew Isker are a pastor from Minnesota. The book was listed as the 12th best seller in the non-fiction category on Amazon a week after it was released. It had a 4.5-star rating with 745 reviews.
Christianity should have a privileged position in American society, according to Christian nationalism.
Conservative figures have embraced it in recent years. Rep. Lauren Boebert said the church is supposed to direct the government.
"Christian nationalism is a collection of myths, traditions, symbols, narratives, and value systems that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic life," sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry write in their 2020 book. The book looks at how Christian nationalism affects Americans' views.
The ideology is not black and white but rather a spectrum with some Americans believing parts of it while rejecting others. Torba's book shows that his description of Christian nationalism differs from academic understandings.
His main theme is that American society and government should be led by Christians.
Gab was founded in 2016 and claims to be a free-speech social network that doesn't moderate content. It gained attention when the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh posted antisemitic rhetoric on the site. Conservatives went to the site when Donald Trump was not allowed to use it.
"Christian nationalism is a spiritual, political, and cultural movement comprised of Christians who are working to build a Christian society grounded in a biblical worldview," Torba and Isker wrote.
The ideas are in line with Christian nationalism. According to the book, Christian nationalists don't think the US has a special relationship with God, and instead emphasize the Christian mandate to convert all nations to the religion.
Modern American society is one of moral decay, where God has been rejected and agents of Satan have invaded, according to the book. Ours is a society in which there has been 50 years of legal infanticide and a yearly celebration of sodomy for an entire month, according to the book. Traditional gender roles are defended and rejected by the authors.
The book tells American Christians how to live, how to discuss their faith, and how to convert other people. The authors of the book argue that a parallel Christian society that can take over when our current society fails is inevitable.
"Our primary goal is to build a parallel Christian society, economy, and infrastructure which will fill the vacuum of the secular state when it falls." The idea of a parallel Christian economy has been discussed by Torba many times.
Some non-Christians might be included in the ideal Christian nation described in the book. "We are Christians and our worldview is in direct conflict and a threat to all other false worldviews," they said. It is time to act like it.
They write that leaders and influential figures must be Christian, just as Christian principles must guide every aspect of society.
The author and his co-author reject the idea of shared "Judeo-Christian" values, calling them a problem. The chapter begins with a message to journalists who will "CTRL+F" for "Jews" in order to find quotes to "take out of context" and is dedicated to ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro is not welcome in the Christian movement because he is not a Christian.
Jewish people will be converted to Christianity along with the rest of the world if the authors are to be believed.
They say Christians should pray for the Jewish people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
These ideas are not new according to scholars of Christian nationalism. The separation of church and state has always been accepted in the US.
According to the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Christian nationalist ideals are less common than in the past.
Tyler, the leader of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign, told Insider that the fact that they are openly embracing the label is troubling.
One of the authors of "Taking America Back for God" noted that there had been a shift in the book's title.
The "Christian nationalism doesn't exist" and "Christian nationalism is fringe" arguments are no longer valid.
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