What is “Christian Nationalism”? Why is it a bad thing and antithetical to a healthy democracy and society?

Christian Nationalism has been mainstreamed now; not too long ago it was on the fringe of both politics and the church. Trump’s nominees and other leading Republicans now brag that they are Christian Nationalists. Christian Nationalists are people who believe that the United States was founded for Christians, that Christians have a continued privileged position in this country, and that maintaining the blessing of God for this country is dependent on the US maintaining specific kinds of Christian identity and Christian laws. 

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In truth, of course, America was NOT founded as a Christian nation. The First Amendment guarantees against exactly that kind of theocracy, with the non-establishment clause — it is one of the most important and positive things that the founders of this country said and did. Additionally, from a Christian theological perspective, the idea that God favors one country over another goes directly against Jesus' teachings. There is no basis in Christian thought for it and it is blasphemous at its core.

Christian Nationalism has a deep and ugly history in this country, even if ugly, racist language is not always used directly or publicly by its leaders or followers. White Christian Nationalism supported White-on-Black chattel slavery and saw it as part of the “civilizing” mission for Christians. White Christian supremacy was also the backbone of the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan. Christian Nationalists opposed the Civil Rights Movement and supported Jim Crow. In total, Christian Nationalism is a white identity movement that emphasizes patriarchy, xenophobia, nativism, and White Christian supremacy.

-Salon.com