Christian Nationalism Is a Replacement Religion

The New “American Church” That Jesus Never Asked For

I wish this conversation were easier. I really do. I wish Christian Nationalism were just another disagreement in the wide family of faith. But it is something else entirely, something that pretends to be Christianity while hollowing it out from the inside.

It is a replacement religion. 

A faith built around fear, power, and nostalgia. A faith that looks nothing like the carpenter who refused to pick up a sword. It wraps itself in scripture and the flag, then uses both to keep certain people in their place. And if we are honest, that is why it is growing so quickly. It gives people a sense of control in a world that feels less and less predictable.

Bless its little heart... but it is still a counterfeit.

Where Christianity Builds Community, Christian Nationalism Builds Walls

I have spent most of my life in church communities. The real ones. The messy ones. The kind where casseroles and tears are shared in the same room. And here is what I keep seeing. Christianity at its best opens doors. It lifts up the folks who were pushed to the margins. It invites people into a table where everybody gets fed.

Christian Nationalism is not interested in any of that. 
It creates insiders and outsiders. 
It polices identity. 
It treats power as a birthright and difference as a threat. 
It turns faith into a line drawn in the sand.

And the saddest part is this. Many people caught up in it are just scared. Scared of change. Scared of losing influence. Scared of a world where they are not automatically prioritized.

I get the fear. I really do. But fear does not get the last word. Love does.

A Bible They Treat Like a Megaphone Instead of a Mirror

Most of us have wrestled with scripture. We have cried over it, yelled at it, learned from it, and sometimes ignored it until we could face it again. Faith takes work. Real work.

Christian Nationalism skips the wrestling and goes straight to weaponizing. It plucks out verses that keep certain people down, then ignores the ones that topple the powerful. It uses the Bible like a megaphone to shout commands at others, never a mirror to examine its own motives.

If your faith requires you to ignore half the teachings of Jesus so you can feel superior, you have missed the point. 

Love is not selective. 
Love does not build cages. 
Love does not need an enemy to feel alive.

Authoritarianism Wearing Sunday Clothes

There is a reason Christian Nationalism is spreading in moments of political and economic stress. It offers certainty. Simple answers. Clear enemies. Quick solutions. Never mind that those solutions come at the cost of human dignity.

Authoritarianism loves to wear Sunday clothes. It loves to look respectable. It loves to whisper that obedience is the same thing as faithfulness. But Jesus was not crucified because he taught obedience. He was crucified because he threatened the powerful.

Real Christianity will always make empires uncomfortable. Christian Nationalism exists to make empires feel blessed.

We Can Choose a Better Faith Than This

Not because we need to win an argument. 
Not because we need to feel righteous. 
But because the world deserves a Christianity that looks like Jesus. 
A Christianity that heals instead of harms. 
A Christianity that believes transformation is possible for every person, not just the ones who vote the right way.

We need a future church that refuses to trade compassion for comfort. A church that asks harder questions about justice and repair. A church that looks at Christian Nationalism and calmly says, that dog will not hunt.

So What Now

We get clear. We get courageous. We get honest about the difference between religion built on fear and religion rooted in Love. 

We build communities where dignity is not negotiable, where repair is part of discipleship, and where we practice the kind of courage that refuses to sacrifice our neighbors for political gain.

Christian Nationalism is loud, but it is hollow. Real faith can fill the silence with compassion, justice, and hope. Real faith can outshine fear. Real faith can outlast any empire that tries to hijack it.

This is not about winning culture wars. This is about reclaiming the heart of a tradition that has saved countless lives and transformed countless communities. A tradition wide enough for every race, gender, orientation, and background. A tradition built on Love that refuses to stop expanding.