Confession: I'm a Former Christian Nationalist
What do you know about Christian Nationalism and why care?
Christian Fundamentalism’s adherents, whether we like it or not, are gaining more and more power every day in the United States thanks to the Religious Right’s promotion of Christian Nationalism, which is based on fundamentalist views of the Bible.
Christian Fundamentalism involves the notion that Christianity is the only religion that is “right” with God.
Its rules for interpreting the Scriptures are anchored in inerrancy. Inerrancy means without error. So for fundamentalists, that means the Bible must be perfect. Why? Because they believe God is the author of the Bible and God is perfect. Therefore, whatever He authored would be perfect, too.
Usually, to make the Bible appear perfect or without contradiction results in chopping up the Bible into different time periods called "dispensations" or "administrations" to show it has no contradictions. For instance, the God of the Old Testament told His people to kill unbelievers. The God of the New Testament tells people to love their enemies. This is a very simplistic example, but I hope you get the idea.
There’s much more to this topic, but those are two main features of Christian Nationalism: 1) that Christianity is the only right-with-God religion 2) that the Scriptures are without error (inerrant).
When I was a Christian Fundamentalist
I know this subject firsthand. I gave seventeen (17) years of my life to a fundamentalist Bible-based cult called The Way International, which is still in business today. I was a loyalist. I studied and promoted the twisted beliefs of Fundamentalist Christianity, albeit the version of it used by my leader, the founder of The Way, Victor Paul Wierwille. He used it as propaganda in service to his agenda of selling Bible classes, training leaders to do his bidding, and abusing his power. See my memoir, Undertow.
When I was a Christian nationalist, I viewed anyone who believed differently as a threat. I was afraid to question my beliefs in order to test whether they were good or not. Until I did. Finally, I began to assert myself and engage my mind after years of clinging to what I thought was “the truth.” So, I’m proof that Christian fundamentalists can change.
The Fundamentals
The Fundamentals, are pamphlets distributed in the 1920s, by a man named Lyman Stewart.
Lyman Stewart and his money
Many good books are available on the topic of fundamentalism, but a quick overview is in an article (link is below) that gives the background about The Fundamentals, a series of pamphlets distributed by a man named Lyman Stewart from Los Angeles in the early 1900s. Stewart took Christian Fundamentalism to a new level in the U.S.
The Fundamentals in large measure changed the course of Christianity in this country. As a result, it also changed the course of my own life and many others seeking Bible knowledge like me. From the article:
“Between 1908 and 1923, Lyman poured millions of dollars – mostly from his Union Oil holdings, but also from the Stewart Citrus Association orange groves in Ontario – into making Los Angeles a world center of the fundamentalist movement.”
Click the following link to that article, a most important and relevant-to-our times report: The Fundamentals.
Lyman set the stage for this version of Christianity to gain a stronger foothold in our culture. It now permeates our government. Certain members of “The Religious Right” assert that God tells them to run for office and, when they win the election, it's because God made it happen. Legislators try to pass laws that deny teaching evolution in schools (and other things like banning books), and the LGBTQ community is abhorred. The list goes on.
Since escaping from The Way, I have sought information from many scholars and investigative journalists who’ve put in the time and elbow grease to publish books that inform readers who care.
Keep reading for insights from the journalist: Michelle Goldberg.
From the back cover of Goldberg's book, Kingdom Coming, (2007), we read she is a contributing writer to Salon. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the New York Observer, the Guardian (London), Newsday, and elsewhere.
Kingdom Coming
Kingdom Coming by Michelle Goldberg is about the rise of Christian Nationalism in America, a system of belief that claims the United States is supposed to be Christian and run by Bible-believing and Bible-obeying Christians in government.
It says that Christians, the ones who take literally certain portions of Scripture, have the God-given right to rule the “non-believers.” This belief is called dominionism, which comes from their idea that God gave Adam dominion over all the earth. This is NOT what the United States of America stands for.
From Goldberg's book
From page 10: “To understand how the Christian nationalists have consolidated so much power, it is necessary to trace some recent history. The movement has several antecedents, most obviously the fundamentalist preachers (and Nazi sympathizers) Gerald B. Winrod and Gerald L.K. Smith. Depression-era demagogues who railed against communism, modernism, and big government (and, in Winrod’s case, Darwinism), both peddled a right-wing gospel conflating Christianity and patriotism.
Smith was the founder of a group called the Christian Nationalist Crusade, whose magazine, The Cross and the Flag, proclaimed, “Christian character is the basis of all real Americanism.” [There’s a note citing the source for this at the back of Goldberg’s book.]
Most of us have heard the phrase “Ignorance is bliss.” Maybe it is true regarding some things, but not when it comes to deciding who is going to be in charge of our government.
To be a good citizen, we need to be an informed citizen. To be enlightened, we need to understand the ignorance that has gained power. I know this ignorance upon which Christian Nationalism is based.
In Goldberg’s book, I think her table of contents tells a story. A story you might want to read.
Introduction: Taking the Land
Chapter 1: This is a Christian Nation
Chapter 2: Protocols of the Elders of San Francisco: The Political Uses of Homophobia
Chapter 3: Lord of the Laboratory: Intelligent Design and the War on the Enlightenment
Chapter 4: The Faith-Based Gravy Train
Chapter 5: AIDS Is Not the Enemy: Sin, Redemption, and the Abstinence Industry
Chapter 6: No Man, No Problem: The War on the Courts
Conclusion: Exiles in Jesusland
Afterword: Solidarity
Epilogue: After the Fall: The Future of Christian Nationalism
Praise for Kingdom Coming
“Michelle Goldberg ventured into the heartland of American fundamentalist extremism and returned to warn us … Every patriot who still cherishes the freedoms we inherited from the nation’s founders should read her book.” —Joe Conason, author of The Hunting of the President, Big Lies, and The Raw Deal
“A potent wakeup call … An impressive piece of lucid journalism … Carefully researched and riveting.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Other Recommended Reading
Fundamentalism by James Barr
The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American by Andrew L. Seidel
American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon by Stephen Prothero
Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn’t by Stephen Prothero
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart D. Ehrman
Thanks for reading!
Charlene
Find my memoir about 17 years in The Way International at major booksellers and indie bookstores. Libraries can order it upon request!
and many eBook vendors like Kobo.
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