petermarkley
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- 7 Sep 2024
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As a Christian, I am an iconoclast who is deeply critical of Christian Nationalism in all of its forms—especially including the MAGA movement. It is a form of sinful idolatry in the American Christian church.
When Christians get too comfortable and take their eye off of Christ, they end up in hypocrisy and bigotry. They are doing the opposite of everything Christ taught, which was to:
There’s a book called The Case for Christian Nationalism that tries to defend it. It starts out with a good premise that Volksgeist is a good thing, drawing an anology to having a mother. “We naturally love our country like we love our own mothers.” Very true, and nothing wrong with that—except when we do it at someone else’s expense. Or when it motivates us to commit or excuse literally any type of wrongdoing.
Any good thing is ugly if we don’t share, or if we try to take it from others. We teach this to preschoolers, yet the adults in my country are now en masse regressing back to needing this lesson. American right-wing politics for the last 8+ years have been one giant, country-sized toddler tantrum over a slight perceived loss of cultural stability or power—hence the slogan “Make America Great Again.”
They’re not really talking about actual greatness, otherwise they would heed the words of Patrick Henry:
It’s obviously tragic for the Volksgeist of minorities who get targeted by nationalism. But in a way, it’s also tragic for anyone like me who somewhere deep down cares about the Volksgeist they’re defending.
It feels like having a loved one pass, and instead of having a funeral your family ties the body in an upright position and establishes a passionate delusion that they are not only still alive, but that they’re a king and everyone else must bow to them. The grief and loss is interrupted and eclipsed by abject horror and disgust. It’s like a double loss: the first is losing the loved one, and the second is being unjustly robbed of the chance to properly grieve the first loss.
There’s a lot more that can be said on this, but that’s a good start
When Christians get too comfortable and take their eye off of Christ, they end up in hypocrisy and bigotry. They are doing the opposite of everything Christ taught, which was to:
- Love those who hate or disagree with us, and those who are different from us.
- Stand up for the rights of minorities and victims.
- Obey our governing authorities (regardless of whether they are Christian or pagan).
- Have inner peace even when injustice is committed against us (whether real or perceived).
- etc.
There’s a book called The Case for Christian Nationalism that tries to defend it. It starts out with a good premise that Volksgeist is a good thing, drawing an anology to having a mother. “We naturally love our country like we love our own mothers.” Very true, and nothing wrong with that—except when we do it at someone else’s expense. Or when it motivates us to commit or excuse literally any type of wrongdoing.
Any good thing is ugly if we don’t share, or if we try to take it from others. We teach this to preschoolers, yet the adults in my country are now en masse regressing back to needing this lesson. American right-wing politics for the last 8+ years have been one giant, country-sized toddler tantrum over a slight perceived loss of cultural stability or power—hence the slogan “Make America Great Again.”
They’re not really talking about actual greatness, otherwise they would heed the words of Patrick Henry:
No, instead by “greatness” they actually mean their Volksgeist. And they explicitly do not care about anyone else’s. It leads into all manner of racism and horrible things.
It’s obviously tragic for the Volksgeist of minorities who get targeted by nationalism. But in a way, it’s also tragic for anyone like me who somewhere deep down cares about the Volksgeist they’re defending.
It feels like having a loved one pass, and instead of having a funeral your family ties the body in an upright position and establishes a passionate delusion that they are not only still alive, but that they’re a king and everyone else must bow to them. The grief and loss is interrupted and eclipsed by abject horror and disgust. It’s like a double loss: the first is losing the loved one, and the second is being unjustly robbed of the chance to properly grieve the first loss.
There’s a lot more that can be said on this, but that’s a good start
I was wondering when it was finally gonna happen.
religion) Nationalism (
