I was scrolling social media looking for reactions to the New Christendom Conference held over the weekend and especially about the controversy around Antelope Hill Press selling Nazi propaganda at the event when I came across this post from Zachary Garris
“I had a great time at the New Christendom Press conference. I met many godly Christians. It’s unfortunate a third-party vendor, known for books positive toward Nazi ideology, was permitted to sell books and promote resources out of step with our Christian beliefs. This is being used to smear the good people at the conference. Hopefully this will be addressed by those responsible. I have no interest in Nazism or associating with it. I believe that also describes those I met. Lots of families and young men zealous for Christ.”
This is the real danger of Christian Nationalism. Zachary is not a major supporter of Christian Nationalism (at least I have not seen him frequently supporting the message or associated with the movement) but he is still a pastor with large social media following. He is referencing the conference that included as a vendor Antelope Hill Publishing who sold pro-Nazi material. Notice that Zachary praises the conference but regrets the inclusion of the vendor.
Yet, Zachary overlooks the fact that just this month one of the presenters at that conference said “America doesn’t have a race problem it has a problem race.” In this case referring to Jews, However this individual has said similar things about blacks and Indians. Another presenter believes interracial marriage is sinful and said this many times and these comments have been defended by many of the presenters. Every presenter I saw listed for the conference has used the line “NETTR” (no enemies to the right) which is code for working with white supremacist organizations. Now my question for Zachary and those with his opinions why is it unfortunate that a group was selling “The Essential Speeches of Hitler” but perfectly fine that the presenters have made racist remarks? Of course it is a problem because these individuals are cloaking their racism in the Bible and trying to give their beliefs credence under the guise of “being separate”.
What is dangerous about Christian Nationalism is that it hides the monster in the language of purity. It is the definition of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I have seen many other clergy especially in the SBC and PCA falling into this trap. I have written about individuals like Ken Ham at Answers in Genesis, Tom Ascol and the late Voddie Baucham who both praised the work of one of the presenters at this conference. They present Christian Nationalism as a harmless idea about “moving the nation toward God” but in reality they only want a nation that reflects themselves. They want people to believe that they are simply trying to create a space for Christians to live but would not allow black Christians to marry white Christians (let alone have power in their nation). Yet many Christians, including pastors, fall for this because they hear “We are making America Christian again” and do not stop to consider if there is any truth beyond that statement. And the reality is there is not. The only sense in which any country can be a Christian country is if every person in the country is following Jesus. This only happens if people freely choose Jesus in their daily lives. Christian Nationalism is trying to force a short-cut by making one narrow Christian denomination the law of the land. However, this short-cut is only a short-cut to destruction since it contradicts the very premise of people freely choosing Jesus in their daily lives.
Yes, the catch phrases of “bring America back to God” and “make America a Christian nation again” are catchy but they are not the full story. Pausing even for a second to think about the idea that “America was founded as a Christian nation” inherently means that person’s idea of “Christian Nation” includes racism, since race based slavery is enshrined in America’s founding document. And too many conservative Christian pastors are not thinking about this. The see conferences that go on and on about the conservative virtues that they endorse and so support the conference and the speaker. But they never take the time to question what is being said. They never take the time to realize that these Christian Nationalists are promoting a 19th century race based definition of nation. They never take the time to question the history of the movement with it’s roots in the Jim Crow South. They never stop to ask why all of these Christian Nationalist speakers defend slavery.
This has been playing itself out recently in a variety of ways. The administration has announced a desire to “turn America back to God” and these individuals cheered. But there is no plan to provide justice for widows, orphans, the poor, or immigrants which is what the Bible defines as necessary for a nation’s repentance. Pete Hegseth is proudly a Christian Nationalist and these pastors cheer because he brings in “pastors” to speak to the Pentagon. They overlook the fact the pastor brought in is racist Confederate loyalist who has said slavery was a good thing, and denies Jesus is fully God and has been accused of abuse. They love when people in government call the war in Iran a just war and say we are fighting for God. But they never question that claim by looking at the actions of the war to discover the conflict does not meet the criteria for a just war. They love that the Bible was read publicly but do not care that few people sat through it and even fewer heard the message (including some of those who read). It is all a show of devotion with no substance. It is masking Nationalism (and often white nationalism) with Christian language.
It is not unfortunate that a great conference was marred by a book vendor. The book vendor represents who these people are. They are people who abuse Christianity to promote themselves to power hoping that Christians will be happy that someone is giving their Church lip service. Or worse they are pagans who want a small God to fight for their nation and lift them into power, instead of the God of Jesus who calls us to go into every nation and raise others up to be one unified family. Anti-antisemitism and racism are not some regrettable oversight in Christian Nationalist circles, Antelope Hill brought those books because they knew those books would sell. Why did they know they would sell because they know what the conference is, seemingly better than some pastors do. We need to do better about discerning the truth of Christianity against those who seek to abuse it for their own ends.
Squinting in the Light 
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