GREENSBORO – The final talk in the Greensboro Summer Lectures Series was given by the Rev. Dr. Ed Sunday-Winters in the United Church of Christ in Greensboro, on August 15, and the subject was White Christian Nationalism. At the beginning he said he believes that church and state should remain separate and that White Christian Nationalism erodes the teachings of Christ and threatens our democracy.
Some of the characteristics of White Christian Nationalism are the concept that America is God’s chosen country and people and must be defended as such, that Fundamentalist Christianity should form the basis for all laws and dominate both domestic and foreign policy. Also, that there is a strict male/female gender division, that paternalism should take the form of rugged, militant, white masculinity, that religious authoritarianism should replace secular democracy. Another characteristic is a persistent denial of the dark side of our history should be maintained, in particular the enslavement of Africans and the genocide of Native Americans, that minorities and immigrants don’t belong here. The group also maintains that there should be no gun control and no legal abortion, that capitalism and militarism are identical with Christianity, that there should be harsher penalties for criminals, that any kind of LGBTQ rights should be rejected, that nationalism can give a personal and social identity to people that is not religious but whose ultimate goal is power, which serves the interests of its plutocratic funders and allied political leaders.
There is a spectrum of belief here, from those who lean in that direction, to those in the middle, to those who are true believers. Recent polls reveal significant differences among states across the country. But in the last 40 years White Christian Nationalism has increased in many ways through preachers in churches, radio broadcasts, television talk shows and now the internet, as well as in state legislatures and Congress. These past year have resulted in spreading fear and hatred, the demonization of others, divisiveness and political polarization, intolerance and racism, an unwillingness to compromise for the common good. Also included in the belief is the normalization of lying, and a distrust of the necessary functions of local, state and federal governments, all in complete contradiction to the best teachings of Christ.
The roots of White Christian Nationalism go back as far as the conversion of Constantine to Christianity in the 330s AD. This led to the merger of church and state, making Christianity the exclusive religion of the Roman Empire, with the consequent destruction of all other other religions. Then in the second half of the 1400s there were three papal decrees that declared that European nations had permission to conquer, possess, and profit from all the people and places that they “discover.” Soon the rise of the slave trade from 1500 onward in South, Central and North America rationalized and institutionalized racism. No Christian churches, Catholic or Protestant, opposed the slave trade until the Quakers and those influenced by the secular Enlightenment finally began working for its repeal in the late 18th Century. It took a tragic Civil War to abolish slavery in this country.
The early religious colonizers in New England in the 17th Century saw themselves as the chosen people in a promised land on the model of Israel in the Old Testament. Our own Constitution of 1789, however brilliant in many ways, and subsequent Supreme Court decisions, have repeatedly favored white male supremacy.
In the 20th Century, the majority of Americans attended the traditional churches (Catholic, Congregational, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc.), but participation has fallen off more recently. In the 1950s “Under God” was added to the pledge of allegiance and “In God We Trust” to all the currency. In the 1970s conservative churches became politically active and increasingly have taken over the Republican Party. There were a lot of religious symbols used by those who attacked the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. There are many excellent books that document this history in much more detail.
In the discussions that followed, Rev. Dr. Ed Sunday-Winter’s talk, there were interesting comments and questions from the audience, such as how to speak to people who have embraced White Christian Nationalism, where there will be a violent backlash from such people if the Democrats win in the November elections, how can we stand up to fear, and is Christian Fascism the same as White Christian Nationalism? The evening gave us all a lot to think about and explore further.
David K. Rodgers
