I t has been a year of fascist overreach and white Christian Nationalist lust for power. At the start of 2025, we were faced with the horrid reality of the start of the Trump regime. It would devolve into what can presently be described as an aspiring dictatorship. We watched as Bishop Mariann Budde, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Washington DC gave the sermon for Trump’s presidential inauguration. For the most part her sermon was a fairly standard homily for that sort of an occasion. But she decided to reserve the last few lines of her sermon for a powerful and heartfelt pastoral plea to Trump, that he have mercy on immigrants and transgender people as many marginalized communities are currently living in fear of the new administration. And as many of you probably know, the response from the evangelicals was overwhelmingly horrible toward Bishop Budde.
She was accused of witchcraft, having a “Jezebel spirit,” of not being a real pastor, and of course has been referred to as “nasty” by Trump himself. But perhaps the worst response that I have seen came from a Twitter user who referred to what he called “the sin of empathy.” And the idea that caring about other people, putting yourself in their shoes, having compassion for them is actually a sin has begun to become a common refrain amongst right-wing online spaces. The idolatry of white Christian Nationalism has attempted to fan the flame of dominion over Progressive Christianity.
We have watched as the regime has sent its equivalent of storm troopers or brown shirts – ICE – into democratic cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington DC. ICE have kidnapped American citizens from their own homes, carting them off to concentration camps without any form of due process. The idolatry of white Christian Nationalism has attempted to fan the flame of dominion over this nation.
We have watched as Pete Hegseth has outright murdered Venezuelan citizens, bombing their boats and then dropping more bombs on the survivors. We are committing war crimes. The regime has blockaded Venezuelan waters, all but declaring war in the name of oil and power. The idolatry of white Christian Nationalism has attempted to fan the flame of dominion over our neighbors.
I say that white Christian Nationalism has “attempted” to dominate the world because in order to succeed in this endeavor they would have to capture our minds. They would have to seize our individuality, our persons, the core of who we are as children of God. But white Christian Nationalists can only accomplish their goal if we give in to their treachery.
We are now well past the moment in time when it was appropriate to definitively and unequivocally state that anyone who has embraced a worldview that condemns empathy has walked away from Christianity. You cannot denounce compassion and remain a follower of Jesus Christ. If someone listens to a sermon that seeks mercy for the marginalized and walks away believing it to be evil, that person has declared Christ’s teachings and ministry to be evil. They have declared Christ to be evil. They are no longer Christian. They have excommunicated themselves by disowning Christ.
Throughout Christian history, especially beginning in the fourth century, there has been a conflict between two different Christianities: the Christianity of Power and the Christianity of Jesus. The Christianity of Power is the conviction that God favors the mighty and the victorious. That those in positions of power are to never be challenged because their authority has been god-ordained. The Christianity of Power asserts that it is the responsibility of Christians to take over nations, to force them into submission. It asserts that faith is something to be legislated onto people. It paints the Cross onto its shields and swords and uses them as good luck talismans for warfare. It subjugates people who have been forced into the margins of society, the people who do not look like those who have the most power and influence. Power and influence are god-ordained, after all, so anyone who does not possess that power must not be God’s chosen.
On the other hand, we have the Christianity of Jesus, or I suppose we could simply call it Christianity. Christianity teaches us in Mark 12 that you shall love the Lord your God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Another way of saying that is to empathize with one’s neighbor. Christianity teaches us in Luke 1 that when Mary, the mother of Jesus, was visited by her sister Elizabeth while she was pregnant with Christ, that Mary declared that the powerful will be made low and the lowly will be lifted up. Christianity teaches us in Matthew 5 that the meek, the mourners, the peacemakers, the persecuted, the poor in spirit are blessed. Christianity teaches us in Luke 4 that Jesus has come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (which most scholars believe to be a reference to the Year of Jubilee, where debts are to be forgiven), that Jesus has come to declare Good News to the poor, release of the captives, healing of the blind, and to set free those who are oppressed. It is clear that Christianity is not only different from the Christianity of Power, but directly opposed to it.
Another way of saying “The Christianity of Power” would be to call it Christian Nationalism. This is a term that you have likely seen or heard before. Christian Nationalism is the inevitable and oft-repeated consequence of marrying the church with the state. It completely transforms Christianity into its opposite. We have seen this metamorphosis play out throughout the centuries. When the British Empire invaded India it massacred thousands of the indigenous population, all in the name of God. During the Spanish Inquisition, the Church in concert with the Spanish government tortured over 150,000 people until a confession of orthodox faith was declared. United States senators and other lawmakers have cited the Bible as their source for defending the African Slave Trade. These same arguments would be made to defend segregation and lynching years later. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been made in part due to the close relationship between Putin and Patriarch Kirill, the Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. The entire idea of Russia expanding its territory across the globe is a consequence of the theology behind Russification – the teaching that God ordains a dominant totalitarian Russian state.
When Christian Nationalism replaces Christianity, the world suffers. It produces nothing but marginalization of the weak and the uplifting of the powerful elite. It is the responsibility of Christian leaders to denounce any movement that attempts to position Christianity as a dominating and controlling force over people. Christianity begins its terrible transformation into Christian Nationalism whenever it forgets that it worships a crucified God who was humiliated and abandoned outside of Jerusalem’s city walls.
It is for all of the above reasons why I believe it is an imperative that Christians must draw a line in the sand. We cannot allow Christian Nationalism, the Christianity of Power, to be confused with Christianity. We cannot allow Jesus’ name to become synonymous with the oppressor instead of the oppressed. Christian Nationalists are not Christians. They are literally our opposite. Christian Nationalists are what happens when the church starts building the crosses.
I know that this sort of discussion is distressing. I remember being a member of a denomination that would all-too-often make the No True Scotsman fallacy. It would regularly declare itself to be the sole representation of real Christianity. All other denominations were doing it wrong. And, it was for that reason that I left that denomination. I left the denomination in which I was baptized because of its inability to see other Christians as Christians. So hear me when I say that I would only state this if I believed it to be absolutely necessary.
People who have stepped away from Christianity and have instead pursued Christian Nationalism and Trumpism are in need of evangelism. They have forgotten the Gospel, having run directly into the arms of a different gospel of power. Christians who have held onto Jesus must live out our lives as an alternative to imperial power. The reality is that these followers of Trump are hurting themselves just as they are actively hurting marginalized people. Christian Nationalism victimizes everyone who is not part of the powerful elite, including the people who voted it in. Christians must represent a different way of life that seeks restorative justice and compassion. Perhaps through witnessing the co-suffering love of Christ in our Christian communities, Christian Nationalists can find their way back to Christ.
This is one of my hopes.
The divide between Progressive Christianity and right-wing evangelicalism has been emphasized this last week. Thanks to the beautiful and powerful words of Bishop Budde, the entire world is able to see the love of Christ demonstrated through good Christian theology and contrast it with the absolute hatred demonstrated by Christian Nationalism. It is clear by the angry scowls of Trump and JD Vance as they listened to a real Christian sermon, perhaps for the first time, that they are symbols of salvation for an entirely different religion than that of Christian discipleship. Donald Trump and the MAGA movement have demonstrated, for over eight years, that they are directly opposed to basic Christian theology. Christianity is humble. It is kind. It is compassionate. It is empathetic.
The fact that Christian Nationalists, as consistent oppressors throughout history, from Emperors Constantine and Theodosius to the present day, are the greatest threat to the very people that Jesus calls us to love means that they are the opponents of Christianity. And Christians are to love our enemies. So we love Christian Nationalists. We love MAGA supporters. We also acknowledge that we are of two different faiths that directly contradict each other. It is time for a parting of the ways.