The Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, has released a resource meant to help congregations combat the threat of “White Christian Nationalism.”
The PCUSA General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations released the two-page resource last month titled “Confronting White Christian Nationalism,” which the theologically progressive denomination defines as “a political ideology that seeks to merge Christian identity with American civic life and national identity.”
According to the resource, Christian nationalists believe that “America is divinely chosen or specially blessed by God,” “U.S. laws and policies should reflect Christian beliefs, often from a conservative evangelical perspective,” “Christianity should have a privileged place in public life,” and “The Founding Fathers intended for the U.S. to be explicitly Christian in governance.”
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Read The Christian Post’s guide, Christian nationalism: What it is, what it isn’t and why it matters — a guide for people of faith
According to the document, Christian nationalism allegedly undermines Christianity in various ways, including by conflating “religious and political authority in an idolatrous way,” confusing “the kingdom of God with earthly nations and earthly power with spiritual calling” and distorting “the mission of the Church from love of neighbor to love of power.”
In a statement released by the Presbyterian News Service on Tuesday, the committee members said that the PCUSA “has had long-standing interfaith dialogue partners and it is incumbent upon us to stand with them when they are under assault, directly or indirectly, by Christian nationalism.”
“Recent events such as the second Trump Muslim ban and the antisemitic attacks in Washington and Boulder, Colorado, are examples that leave those communities with psychological and political tolls, and a cost that could include loss of power long struggled for,” they stated. “This new resource from GACEIR was conceived towards diminishing that damage … and helping us stand with those under attack.”
Read Christian nationalism: What it is, what it isn’t and why it matters
The topic of Christian nationalism has garnered much debate in modern politics, with it often being identified as the merging of Christian belief and American patriotism.
Some have argued that the term Christian nationalism is simply a smear against Christians who engage in advocacy for conservative causes. During a multi-panel event hosted by The Christian Post last August, panelists offered their thoughts on the concept.
Bunni Pounds, a longtime political consultant to members of Congress and one of the panelists, said Christian nationalism is almost always used in the media to refer to the advocacy of conservative Christians but not the advocacy of progressive Christians.
“We are always talking about [the] Evangelical right and us getting out the vote around our pro-family, pro-life values, but we’re not having conversations about the progressive Left using churches to activate Christian voters,” she said last year.
“So the Christian nationalism label gets labeled on Evangelical, Bible-believing Christians who are pro-life and pro-family, and none of the other Christians get labeled anything,” Pounds added. “And so that’s the issue, right? We’re not talking about them mobilizing voters, but we’re getting labeled for our voter mobilization effort.”
Last month, the theologically conservative Presbyterian Church in America voted at its 52nd General Assembly in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to form a committee to study the nature and influence of Christian nationalism within its denomination.
