Confused about Christian nationalism? I was, too, and I'm a Christian journalist.

Have you been perplexed by all the incessant talk of “Christian nationalism”? 

Have you ever been snidely referred to as a “Christian nationalist” in the last few years, when you maybe didn’t even know what it meant?

If so, you’re not alone. Confusion around this fraught subject is understandable. I offer the following as a broad, big-picture read on this dizzying landscape. 

When “Christian nationalist” and “Christian nationalism” started emerging in media discourse with increasing frequency a few years ago, I, too, was disoriented. I’ve noticed that the reaction among many normie Christians being called “Christian nationalists” has been an annoyed dismissal, often accompanied by a roll of the eyes.

And that’s because, out of nowhere, these phrases suddenly became the universally agreed-upon alarmist pejoratives that media elites were using to deride politically engaged Christians and their beliefs. Almost overnight, the basic tenets of the Christian faith were branded as the extremist fringe. Consider how specious it is to be called a “bigot” for believing sane things, such as “there are only two sexes” and that males shouldn’t be allowed to compete in female sports. Thus, to many, charges of “Christian nationalist!” seemed like yet more obnoxious, dishonest wolf-crying.

Do you believe in defending the unborn and think open borders and unfettered immigration are unwise? Do you value the Judeo-Christian norms and ethics underpinning the West and think they are worth preserving? Well, as it turns out, you’re a scary “Christian nationalist.” 

Do you dislike or object to that label? That's too bad. It doesn’t matter. The powers-that-be have decided that you are the new boogeyman to be feared and despised, an authoritarian threat to democracy akin to despicable “white nationalists.” In fact, if you work for a socially conservative Christian organization, you might wind up on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Map alongside neo-Nazis and be smeared in the press based on their malicious categorizations.

Further contributing to the confusion here is the meaning of nationalism. Many first think about nationalism in contradistinction to what it isn’t — globalism. If globalism means the erasure of sovereign nation-states with an eventual goal of a one-world government, heavy deference to the United Nations and other international bodies that citizens cannot hold accountable with their votes, and the dystopian techno-futurism of figures such as Yuval Noah Harari, nationalism seems much more palatable.

In the U.S., a nationalist policy agenda might include prioritizing domestic issues over international affairs, skepticism of interventionism based on outdated foreign policy paradigms, and renegotiating trade deals to reshore good-paying manufacturing jobs. In other words, they are eminently mainstream views worth debating. 

As the months tick by, I’ve seen some Christian thought leaders, conservative-leaning clergy, and podcasters tacitly accept the “Christian nationalist” moniker because standard Christian beliefs paired with distaste for globalism do not seem so bad. 

But therein lies an enormous problem, because crucial distinctions are being lost in the fog. And again, while I'm speaking from a birds-eye view here, nefarious, insidious evils are brewing and advancing amid this swirling, understandable confusion. While I can't possibly capture every nuance in this essay, what we might call “actual Christian nationalism” is an entirely different animal altogether, and it continues to morph and modulate online.  

Some self-identified Christian nationalist types also claim the mantle of the “New Christian Right,” and are notorious for rabblerousing and rage-baiting on social media. Some of these personalities tap into frustrations many have felt seeing Evangelical elites — derisively referred to as “Big Eva” — dilute the Gospel to cozy up to the New York Times cultural tastemaker class, which often adamantly opposes the Christian faith. Big Eva, some of them claim, rhetorically punches hard at right-wing sins while staying relatively muted on or even coddling left-wing sins. On that latter point, it gives me indigestion to admit that they might not be entirely wrong. 

Even so, while these “New Right” Christian nationalists are loud and occasionally make a fair point or two, they are not demonstrating a holy, earnest zeal for God's righteousness in society. A visceral mean-spiritedness characterizes them, and their abusive antics are an affront to the character of Christ. 

Though it depends on the individual, as some are are more over-the-top than others, among the foul ungodliness that this emerging camp of people (almost entirely men) incubates are a menacing chauvinism, framed as opposition to feminism; conspiracism and gratuitous hostility toward Jews, framed as objections to Zionism and the Israeli government; and a racist set of beliefs known as kinism, framed as a preference to marry someone of their own ethnicity. All of these spiritual pathologies are repackaged with just enough biblically rooted doctrines and presented as though they are espousing historically faithful Christianity. They also posit a radically different vision for church-state relations than what most Americans desire, while claiming to be true to the intent of the founding fathers. 

And that’s what makes “actual Christian nationalism” (if we’re going to call it that, hang with me) so poisonous. The worst deceptions often contain wisps of truth mixed into them. 

Complicating matters even more, in the last few decades, Evangelical believers from many denominations have had to learn how to detect spirit-of-the-age distortions from theological liberals — false doctrines such as universalism, critical theory replacing biblical ethics, progressive academics supplanting the sufficiency of Scripture, and Pride flags draping the doors and altars of churches. Many Christians have been led to believe that these distortions constitute the greater, most pressing threat to the Gospel.  

Although those errors are grave indeed, these same believers have been much less inclined to discern the distortions emerging from the right, having believed that anyone who held those wacky views was cult-like and on the margins, perhaps like the repulsive Westboro nutjobs in Wichita, Kansas, known for waving hateful placards at military funerals. 

The proliferation of the alt-media podcast world and the emergence of a bitterly fractious social media landscape have completely changed the equation. “New Right” Christian nationalist figures have started telecasts spewing incendiary nonsense, their most uncouth content gains inordinate algorithmic traction, and many of them relentlessly cultivate grievances among disaffected, hurting young men. The accountability mechanisms that might have been employed in a previous era are no longer effective. It's a veritable free-for-all. With their brazen ugliness, they are demeaning their sisters in Christ, doing incalculable damage to the Gospel, and grieving the heart of God. 

Bottom line, especially in geopolitically tumultuous times, whether the deception stems from the Left or the Right, the first allegiance of a Christian must always be to the lordship of Jesus. And unlike this crowd, you never see Him exhibiting gross contempt for women, countenancing hatred for Jews (He is a Jew), and connivingly promoting ethnic prejudice — because in Him, there is neither Jew nor Greek (Galatians 3:28). 

And even if you’ve struggled to see the whole picture of what’s going on here, like I have, or prefer to ignore it because the online world can be a sewer of insanity (I get that, too), it is vital to stay alert. Christians do not have to accept dishonest labeling and smears from disengenous secular leftists with ill motives. But it’s equally important to watch out for false, corrupting influences, no matter where they hail from on the political spectrum. And what I've described here is that in spades. 

The “New Right” and “Christian nationalist” perversions of the Gospel are every bit as grievous as progressive revisionism, arguably much worse because of how they co-opt God and claim to be theologically orthodox. They are not.  

Don’t let your confusion intimidate and overtake you. Pray and test the spirits of every ideological wind against Scripture and, above all else, hold fast to Jesus.