American Idolatry:
How Christian Nationalism Betrays
the Gospel and Threatens the Church
DETAILS:
Publisher: Brazos Press
Publication Date: August 15, 2023
Format: Hardcover
Length: 192 pgs.
Read Date: August 27-September3, 2023
Both parts of my identity* have led me to the same conclusion: Christian nationalism betrays the gospel and is a threat to the Christian church in the United States. It is from this perspective that I write this book. I want to make clear to my fellow white American Christians how much Christian nationalism threatens our faith—not only our individual expressions of it but also our organizations and institutions. It threatens our capacity to love our brothers and sisters in Christ who are minorities. It threatens our capacity to love and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ from countries around the world. It threatens our capacity to love and serve fellow bearers of God’s image at home and abroad who don’t share our faith at all. And it threatens how our organizations function, causing them to reproduce inequality and further harm the marginalized.
I am convinced that Christian nationalism makes us bad Christians.
* Those parts are a follower of Christ and a social scientist.
What’s American Idolatry About?
Essentially, this is an attempt to demonstrate the subtitle: “How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church” (the above quotation does show he’s not talking about a threat to the throughout the world—or the future—but the contemporary church in the U.S., an important distinction).
It’s also a follow-up to the work he co-authored with Samuel Perry, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States—this is a less-technical book (from what I can tell), to appeal to people who don’t enjoy digging through social science analysis and graphs. It also seems to be a “so what now?” response to that book—the earlier volume presented the data, and this is Whitehead’s suggested reaction to that data. I haven’t actually read the previous book, but from what Whitehead says in these pages and what I’ve read about the previous book, that’s my impression.
This doesn’t mean that Whitehead assumes a thorough knowledge of or familiarity with Christian Nationalism (he frequently appends “white” to that term for reasons he makes clear) going into this book, he spends two chapters outlining the basics of Christian Nationalism and how that impacts the Church. The next three chapters focus on what he calls “the three most powerful” idols of Christian Nationalism—power, fear, and violence—followed by three chapters describing alternatives to these idols, ways that are more faithful to the calling to which you have been called.*
* These are not exhaustive chapters, for more along these lines—see What Are Christians For? Life Together at the End of the World by Jake Meador. Some of the ideas in these books will align, but they will diverge, too. Yet, I would predict neither author would object to being read together.
A Disclaimer of Sorts
We have to look straight into the mirror and not try to hide or diminish the imperfections we see. Only then can we begin to imagine something new. Part of this work is recognizing that the God we worship has no particular interest in the greatness of the United States. The survival of any one nation over another is not paramount. The kingdom of God needs no global superpower in order to flourish….recognizing that human flourishing in the kingdom of God and in the United States (or any other nation) are not synonymous does not mean that Christians should not invest in the flourishing of a nation and its people. We can work toward peace, justice, and care for all who live and work within the boundaries of our home country. We can collaborate with God and those around us to create a more loving and liberating country for all our neighbors.
Whitehead returns to the idea frequently, but stresses it in the first two chapters—he is not calling for Christians to be anti-American, or even apathetic about our country. He’s not calling for them to remove themselves from the political process. His concern is how we see the country, how we view and treat our fellow citizens, and how we’re involved in the political process.
The choice is not Christian Nationalism or godless anarchy, or Communism, or Sharia law—and so on. His vision is for Christians to work alongside those of other faiths (or absence thereof) for the civil betterment of us all. While I think Whitehead’s politics tend toward the Left, he’s not calling for all Christians to embrace that—conservative and Republican Christians can agree with his arguments on the issues this book centers on.
The Idols of Christian Nationalism
There are many “idols” of CN, claims Whitehead, but the three he focuses on are the biggest problems in his view are power, fear, and violence. The heart of the book is devoted to this section (it’s not the longest, but it’s the most important), here he demonstrates how the devotion to and use of these characterize the movement and put it at odds with Christianity.
In these chapters, Whitehead begins by defining what he sees as the CN’s use of/dependence on the various idols. Then he’ll show how throughout our history—but particularly in recent decades/years how both political figures and religious leaders have tapped into and exploited these ideas for their own benefit and the detriment of other groups in the U.S. He’ll then look at Christ’s and/or early-Christian teachings on the same ideas, contrasting them with CN’s use (this is particularly effective on the ideas of power and violence).
The shortcomings (to put it mildly) of CN are on full display here. Frankly, I think the definition work done in chapter 2 is enough to turn someone off of this ideology, but chapters 3-6 really put the nail in the coffin.
So, what did I think about American Idolatry?
Over years of academic study and personal faith journey, I have become convinced that white Christian nationalism in the United States is fundamentally opposed to the ethics and teachings of Jesus. Through idolizing power, fear, and violence, white Christian nationalism betrays the gospel, in which Jesus’s sacrifice liberates us from our enslavement to sin as well as the destruction it causes through systems of oppression It betrays the gospel that realigned the power structures of society.
As a whole, I don’t see people who aren’t at least suspicious of CN responding well to this book—I think most of those who are suspicious will become more so after this—and those who are already pretty against it will have new reasons and will be strengthened in it. I’m not sure that those who have leanings or sympathies toward it are going to respond well. I could be wrong, and hope I am. That I don’t think it would reach the CN-leaning is the biggest flaw with the book (but if I’m wrong about the effectiveness, that flaw wouldn’t be that big).
Based on what little he indicated about his own theological positions, I don’t think Whitehead and I would agree on much. I think we’d probably agree on less when it comes to politics. But when it comes to the impact that CN is having on churches, our gospel witness, and the public perception of the Christian Church in the US? Well, we’re pretty much on the same page—which I think fits some of Whitehead’s points. He’s not really that concerned with the areas where he and I would disagree, in fact, he’d probably defend that ability. Where he is focused is the negatives that CN brings to political discourse and the work of the church.
On those points, I think he scored big in American Idolatry—showing the flaws, errant presuppositions, and wrong emphasis—and non-Christian attitudes of CN. I’m less sure that he was convincing in the last three chapters about healthy alternatives, but I do think what he offers there is better than CN, and he’s convincing to that point. Maybe not as far as he wants to be, however.
Crisp and clear writing, the text moves with the assurance of someone well-versed in the subject and clear-eyed about what they want to say about it. I recommend the book and thinking about the issues it raises.
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