Andrew Seidel: "I was at home. I was watching and I noticed on the screen attackers had finally reached the Senate and were on the floor of the Senate. And as I was watching, I saw one of the assaulters carry a Christian flag. And it really became obvious to me, having written books about this threat, having talked about this threat for years, that it had been realized". (0:02:41-0:03:12)
Establishing bona fides
Christian nationalism
"I'm a Christian nationalist, I have nothing to be ashamed of, because that's what most Americans are. We're proud of our faith." Quote from Marjorie Taylor Greene, U.S. Representative, Georgia (R) at CPAC in 2022[2]
MTGs claim is not supported. Most Americans are not CN
Lauren Boebert's opposition to separation of church and state
Founders
Formation of US government was not based on Christianity, but one of secularism. First Amendment protects freedom of religion and freedom from religion
Antecedents
Opposition to desegregating religious schools
Use of abortion as a wedge issue to raise money
Trump
Evangelical support for Trump, "ordained by god"
Abandonment of Christian principles for political power
Trump as an archetype of the televangelist
Racism
Christian media
Information silo
Conservative, Republican agenda
"Discipling" Americans as Christian nationalists
Extremism, cultivation of outrage, fear
Fundraising
Fear and anger; highest donations
40 years of fear and anger have led to Christians being afraid of the external world
Paradox and persecution
CN claim country is both a Christian nation and yet under attack by the government and secular society
Persecution narrative (Martydom of St. Sebastian)
Faith validated by suffering (Martyrdom of John the Evangelist)
Excitement of persecution (The Last Judgment)
Christians lied to about persecution for political purposes
No evidence they have lost freedoms
Despite lack of evidence, Trump persisted in the rhetoric
Trump played up tribalism, sword and the shield, us against them, politics of resentment
Political violence
Unite the right
Armed violent movement
Opposed to core Christian values
Rise of warrior Christ
Not spiritual per Bible, but physical violence
CN play up violence of book of revelation
"righteous use of force"
violence used by CN to protect church
Historical examples: Protestants drive Mormons from Missouri; mountain meadows massacre; first crusade; st. Bartholomew’s day massacre;
Christian terrorism
KKK. Cross as symbol of terror
Religious racism. "God ordains injustice"
Christian support for Trump
Fanaticism supported by prophecy (Cyrus the Great)
media failed to call it out
Trump as the new messiah in dialogue with god
Election denial
facts don’t matter, secret source of knowledge
CN leads directly to religious defense of stolen election
Jericho March
Stop the steal
Became a Christian tenet
January 6 attack
CN believe god called them to storm the Capitol
Jan 5, Rally to Revival (Jericho March)
Christians marching around the Capitol like Israel marching around Jericho
Walls of Jericho come tumbling down
Symbolic message to government by CN-March around Capitol to bring the government down and reinstate Trump as their god-ordained leader
Well organized, not spontaneous
People went to churches, got on buses, drove across the country, and were taken to the Capitol
TurningPoint sent 80 buses to the Capitol
Alex Jones advertised it as "Fight for Trump!"
Charlie Kirk tweeted mass invitation
Primed to believe it was a religious war between good and evil
Brian Gibson: "we’re going to take our nation back"
Parallels between CN and Nazi movement
American religious historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez studied 20th century Germany in grad school, with a focus on the German Christian movement
How could Christians participate in the Third Reich as Christians so that it was compatible with Nazism?
Pastor Rob Schenck noted that Hitler was declared a "gift and miracle from god".
Schenck later learned that when he was being trained as a minister, he was told to always consult the theological dictionary of the New Testament when he prepared a sermon.
He wasn’t told that the editing author, G. Kittel, was Hitler’s theologian who gave him the justification for genocide
Reza Aslan: "One doesn’t derive one’s values from scripture, one inserts one’s values into scripture."
Religious elements of Jan 6
Prayers before the attacks
Charlie Sykes: people were there to defend god, faith, and defend democracy while also overturning it
Crowd carried crosses, Bible verses on signs, pictures of Jesus, Christian flags
Historian Jemar Tisby: "They are praying in the name of Jesus Christ. They were using religion as a way to justify overturning democracy."
Russell Moore: "Christian nationalism uses Christianity as a means to an end. That end being a form of authoritarianism."
Hall, Mark David (February 22, 2024). "God & Country: A Review". Ad Fontes: A Journal of Protestant Letters. The Daveanant Institute. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
Silver, Stephen. (February 29, 2024). "In New Documentary 'God and Country', Rob Reiner Shines a Light on Christian Nationalism". Washington Jewish Week. 60 (9): 24. ISSN0746-9373.
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