Is America heading inevitably toward breaking apart?

By Janet Mefferd, Op-ed contributor Saturday, May 25, 2024

Is the United States destined for balkanization?

Gab founder Andrew Torba — a prominent advocate of "Woke Right" Christian nationalism — recently made that case, writing that "as the world around us becomes increasingly divided and fragmented, Christians must take proactive steps to prepare for the inevitable balkanization of our society."

"Inevitable?" Why does he believe that it is "absolutely" a done deal that America will break apart into "smaller, ethnically or culturally homogeneous regions?" For Torba, it's bound to happen because of mass immigration and feckless elected representatives, whom he charges with serving the interests of "the Zionists" instead of "the people." After laying out his own ethnic prejudice against Jews, he proceeds to try to kill all hope of a future American melting pot, writing, "Individualism works only in homogeneous societies; it cannot work in a multicultural one."

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This is absurd. Not only does the history of the United States show that individualism can work and has worked in our multicultural society, but it also shows that future balkanization is far from "inevitable."

America has been able to maintain both its identity and its ideals across more than two centuries by adhering to a principle summed up in our Great Seal motto: E pluribus unum, or: "From many, one." Americans always have rejected a balkanization into ethnic tribalism in favor of a philosophical homogeneity that expects all immigrants to assimilate. As Americans, we want immigrants to adopt our republic's values, culture and English language, and millions have done so.

As historian Philip Gleason wrote in the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups: "To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be any particular national, linguistic, religious or ethnic background, All he had to do was to commit himself to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality and republicanism."

This American dream is still a reality. Although the complex realities of mass illegal immigration fueled by radical Leftist politics and the progressives' encouragement of racial animosity do pose huge problems for this nation, everyday experience often tells a different tale about what is still possible in the United States.

Very recently, as I have been considering these issues, I've had conversations with multiple people from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds — all friendly, proud American citizens who love this country for the freedom and opportunity it has afforded them.

One was with a Jewish man I met in a post office line. We had a great discussion about the terrible college riots aimed at Israel and what the future might hold for our great constitutional republic. Days later, I was in the cab of an Eastern European immigrant, now an American citizen, who waxed poetic — in detail that most American-born citizens couldn't articulate — about the particular genius of the U.S. Constitution.

I considered, too, my own childhood, recalling wonderful times with friends from a variety of ethnic backgrounds: Japanese, Egyptian, Filipino, Indian, and Polish. But we never thought anything of our ethnic differences, because we all just saw each other — rightly — as Americans. Contra Torba, we all enjoyed the same privileges of individual liberty, not because we were all Mayflower descendants, but because we were all united fundamentally by our common American principles and values.

Yet the race-based resentment so common among the Christian nationalists of the "Woke Right" seems to be getting worse. Just recently, Torba reposted on X this rant from another man of the same mindset: "Whites are the only ethnic group that does not vote down racial lines. And we're being replaced because of it." This is the kind of rhetoric that actually accelerates the possibility of balkanization.

Torba reposts this deliberate divisiveness in the wake of arguing that balkanization is inevitable, that the "Zionists" are the enemy, and that "we must work to create alternative institutions and systems that are grounded in our Christian worldview." Is this the future that American Christians really seek – a fractured America where Christians are cordoned off on purpose from the millions of other people who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ?

In truth, Torba's anti-"Zionist" and race-based ideology is poisonous both to the continued success of the multicultural American melting pot and, much more importantly, to the Christian worldview.

Faithful Christians understand that our glorious future with our Lord Jesus Christ will not be balkanized. Heaven will be realized as the Body of Christ, both Jew and Gentile, a great multitude of brothers and sisters "from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Rev. 7:9-10). Our highest joy will come about eternally not because of our ethnicity, but because of our common faith in Jesus Christ.

Even worse, the balkanization of America is not "inevitable" so much as it is the desired outcome for both the Woke Left and the "Woke Right" Christian nationalists. Torba admits this in his book, Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide for Taking Dominion And Discipling Nations when he writes: "Our primary goal is to build a parallel Christian society, economy and infrastructure which will fill the vacuum of the secular state when it falls."

This is not just a capitulation to some unstoppable fracturing of our nation. This is what Torba, and many others on the “Woke Right,” actively seek. And make no mistake: a balkanized America would be a weaker America, more ripe for the totalitarianism that both sides wish to impose on us. For that reason alone, preserving and working for America's renewed national unity on the bedrock principles of individual freedom and inalienable rights granted by our Creator could not be more important.

No doubt, we face huge challenges from allowing millions of illegal immigrants through the porous border that the Left has created. However, the Christian response to the subversion of the rule of law in our nation is not just to give up, balkanize and surrender America to the Left. Our response has to be to fight back and try to save this republic, by God’s grace. As so many grateful immigrants have reminded us: If America falls, where else is there to go? Unfortunately, fighting to preserve the nation we love is not on the "Woke Right" Christian nationalist agenda. Even within the last few days, many who back this movement have started to accuse normal, patriotic Christians of what they call "Constitution worship." They must not prevail.

The truth is that we've always been a nation of immigrants who successfully came together as Americans and helping new immigrants to understand and embrace the values and culture that made our country great — irrespective of how they arrived here — is more important today than ever. In fact, many immigrants who have fled here from totalitarian states may be just the kind of Americans this country needs and may be especially open to the good news of Jesus Christ. We can respond this way while simultaneously fighting back against and throwing out government officials who won’t follow the rule of law.

If we are to maintain the melting-pot pattern that made America great, we cannot allow “Woke Right" Christian nationalists such as Torba to derail us with a political gospel of hopelessness and hostility — especially one that is outrageously misplaced underneath a banner of Christianity. Balkanization is a choice, and it is not inevitable.