What We Get Wrong About Christian Nationalism |
OpinionGuest Essay
OpinionGuest Essay
Credit...Steven Molina Contreras for The New York Times
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By Molly Worthen
Dr. Worthen, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is the author of “Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History From the Puritans to Donald Trump.”
American politics has begun to remind Gray Sutanto of home — not in a good way. He grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, and some American Christians’ comments on politics “sound a lot like Islamic nationalism to me,” Dr. Sutanto, who teaches theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, told me. “The only times I’ve had to defend democracy are in America, not Indonesia.” But, he added, secular journalists usually get this story wrong. “They confuse any desire to influence society by way of Christian values with ‘Christian nationalism,’ ” he said. “If that’s your definition, then everyone who is a Christian is a Christian nationalist.”
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past year talking to frustrated conservative Christians. They........