Before answering this question, we have to define Christian Nationalism. Quite frankly, I don’t think it can be done because that phrase has such a broad range of meanings. To further complicate the question, there isn’t a monolithic definition of the word nationalism. There’s a negative form that we should not subscribe to and a positive one. If you’ll allow me to grossly over-simplify the distinctions, I would say that the negative kind of nationalism is one in which your own nation is seen as superior to all others. That nation becomes the source of primary identity and allegiance to the adherent. That is, of course, to be rejected.

On the other hand, if what we mean by nationalism is akin to patriotism and all we’re saying is that we love the nation God has placed us in, then I would say that it is a good thing. But what about “Christian Nationalism”? What are the issues with defining it?

On one side, Christian Nationalism is simply a weaponized term used by the political left to take a conglomerate of grievances that they have with evangelical Christians, hard-line conservatives, and Trump supporters, put all the worst representations of all three of those categories together, and create boogie man. They’ve taken everything that they hate, in every exaggerated version, and thrown it all into a stew and called the product Christian Nationalism.

In their creation here, a Christian Nationalist is a “privileged” white man, wearing a MAGA hat with a Bible in one hand, a don’t tread on me flag in the other, wearing a t-shirt that says “God, guns, and glory” while railing about how Mexicans and blacks are ruining our country and then showing up a pride parade with a sign that says, “God hates the gays.”

This caricature addresses little to nothing about what it really means for the nation to have a Christian heritage or to seek to conserve Christian values in our legal system, two things they tie to their caricature. I call it a caricature not because people like that don’t exist but because people like that are the Voltron version of every negative stereotype present among those who oppose the left. Christian Nationalism, as a term, is simply an easy target for their whipping boy.

For this reason, my personal opinion is that we abandon the term. I don’t think this is a lack of boldness or giving the other side a win. I acknowledge that there are times when a term is taken from the Biblical worldview, hijacked, and infused with false meaning when we need to take that term back.

However, I don’t think this is one of those cases because the phrase CN isn’t a particularly Biblical or even a historically Christian phrase. So I don’t use it because I don’t want unnecessary baggage.

With that question at hand, I want to reword it for clarity. Rather than “Should we be Christian Nationalists” let me ask this: Should we preserve and pursue Christian truth, virtues, and ethics in our government?

Should we seek what is sometimes referred to as a Christian Nation? My answer is a resounding yes. Therefore, as Christians, we should preserve and pursue Christian truth, virtues, and ethics in our government.

1. Nations are a good thing given by God (Acts 17:22-27, Genesis 12:2, Romans 9:1-5, Revelation 5:9-10).

Nations were God’s idea, not man’s. God established nations, has blessed nations, and has a purpose for nations - namely, that people are placed in the nations they find themselves during the time in history they find themselves, that those circumstances might cause them to seek God.

We see that the concept of nations shows up again in Revelation. It is to the glory of Christ that people of every nation worship Him. So we are members of whatever nation, by God’s appointment and for God’s glory.

There is a difference between love of country and idolatry of country. One thing that I need to warn against here is that there is a sin that we need to be aware of. The sin of idolatry.

There are Americans who put their American citizenship ahead of their heavenly citizenship, some of whom would be called nationalists by the first definition we gave. These fail to recognize that they are a Christian first and that they have more in common with, and more allegiance to, their Christian brother from China than their atheist neighbor in America. Those in this sin praise and rely on political figures and rarely mention the name of Christ. They speak more about policy than piety. This is a real problem, but be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. That’s always our temptation in matters like this.

There is a difference between loving the nation you are part of and worshiping that nation or national identity. I am an American. I love America, and there’s nothing wrong with saying that any more than saying I love Tennessee, my family, or I love my church. I am grateful for where God has put me. That doesn’t mean I’m some bigot or that I don’t care about the rest of the world; it just means I love the nation God put me in. And for anyone who might be a little uncomfortable with that, allow me to show just how much we’ve been brainwashed. Imagine you went on a mission trip to China and met the godliest Chinese pastor in the world: he puts himself in danger every day, leading some underground church. If this Chinese pastor said to you, “I’m so burdened for the Chinese people. I love these people. I love our rich heritage. I love the beautiful land that God has given us. I so badly want to see China know and love Jesus Christ.” Would you feel uncomfortable? Would you accuse him of being a bigot or a China worshiper? Of course not. You wouldn’t see anything wrong with that at all. But let an American Christian say that they love America, and oh, that’s different. My point here is that there is a godly way to love the nation that God has made you a part of. Love of country, in its proper place in your priorities, is a God-honoring thing.

2. America has a distinctly Christian heritage as a nation.

In many parts of the progressive world today, revisionist history seems to be the accepted M.O. Pulling quotes out of context and manipulating them to tell a false narrative of history is not even questioned by the masses when it’s exposed. They want you to believe that America was founded more upon secular enlightenment ideals than Christian ones when the evidence just screams otherwise. The history of America, and the abundance of documentation from primary sources we have access to, overwhelmingly proves that America is a nation founded upon and grounded in the Biblical worldview. If you really want to go deep on this, check out americanvision.org. They’ve got all the info you could ask for on this.

For the sake of time, here are five examples illustrating the fact that it was without question that from the first settlers all the way up until the 20th century, the Christian identity of America was taken as a given:

1. The Mayflower Compact (1620): Expresses the settlers’ intention to establish a society based on Christian principles for the “Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith.”
2. Colonial Charters and State Constitutions: Several colonial charters and early state constitutions explicitly reference Christianity or Christian principles. For example, the 1639 Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, often considered the first written constitution in America, stated that “the Word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union…there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God.”
3. The Influence of Christian Thought on the Founding Fathers: John Adams stated, “The general principles on which the Fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity.” The reference to “unalienable Rights” endowed by the Creator comes directly from Christian teachings.
4. Early Congressional Practices and Proclamations: Congress authorized the use of government funds to print Bibles for distribution and frequently called for national days of prayer and fasting. President George Washington, in his 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation, acknowledged the “duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God” and expressed gratitude for divine blessings.
5. In 1892, a supreme court ruling titled “Holy Trinity Church v. United States” ruled in favor of HTC, and in the court's opinion, it was stated that the ruling was arrived at because the “United States is a Christian Nation.”

These are just a few examples of the vast historical record that shows the people of the United States, for most of our history, have seen our nation as a Christian nation. This begs the question, “What is a Christian nation?” I’ve heard the objections before that a nation can’t be Christian because a nation can’t be born again, because you can’t force citizens to become Christians, or because all the citizens of the nation are not Christians, or even because some of the founders were deists.” These are silly arguments, in my opinion, because the ones who use them wouldn’t apply the same standard to “Christian” homes, or “Christian” schools, or “Christian” businesses, or “Christian” radio stations, etc. None of these other entities we can call “Christian” meet the aforementioned criteria, so why do we call them Christian? The same reason we could call a nation Christian: because it is founded upon, grounded in, and governed by Christian truth, virtues, and ethics.

That's not to say that everyone was a born-again Christian. We can look at all the evils in our country’s history and see that that’s certainly not the case. But we’re not talking about the quality of the people’s confession of faith. We’re talking about a grounding. The nation has always been grounded in Biblical truth, virtues, and ethics, even as imperfectly as the people have been at upholding those standards.

3. A nation led by Christian truth, virtues, and ethics produces flourishing for all its citizens, including unbelievers.

 Let’s just look at some logic here:

• Premise 1a. The Biblical worldview is the only true worldview.
• Premise 2a. The Biblical ethic is the only ethic that honors God.
• Premise 3a. Submission to the Biblical worldview and ethic are the foundation for human flourishing.
• Premise 1b. We want a government grounded in truth, not lies.
• Premise 2b. We want a government that honors God.
• Premise 3b. We want a government that leads to flourishing for all.
• Conclusion: We want a government grounded in the Biblical worldview and Biblical ethics.

In other words, if what we believe about the Biblical worldview is true, then seeking a government that honors God is what pleases Him and brings about the most human flourishing. But what about the separation of church and state and the Establishment Clause? Wouldn’t being a Christian nation violate our constitution? There is much to be said on this but for our purposes, I'll just say that the separation of church and state is about a separation of power and purpose, not a separation of truth, virtue, and ethics. It is a jurisdictional separation.

Let me explain this the way the great theologian Abraham Kuyper did. He talked about spheres of sovereignty. Here is the basic premise: God has given mankind certain institutions. Three primary ones are the family, the church, and the state.

This is important - All three are under His rule but not subject to one another. Each sphere of life has sovereignty over what has been entrusted to that sphere. They interact, they influence, they respect the sovereignty of the other, and they are all under the same rule of God for their own particular purposes.

For instance, the state has been given the power to punish evil and pursue the good of the people in its care. The state can punish criminals but cannot tell the church who can and can’t be eternally saved. The state can’t tell the family which children they can and cannot keep, how to raise them, or whether or not their children can have mutilating surgeries without the parents’ consent. The church cannot tell the state that someone under church discipline for sinning in a way that is not a crime needs to be put in jail. The family cannot tell the church how to perform the sacraments of Baptism and Communion, etc.

In this understanding, the unbeliever will not be punished by the State for being an unbeliever because that is outside the state’s jurisdiction. However, that does not mean that the State is somehow morally neutral and outside of the reign of Christ. Secularism is a myth. There is no such thing as morality apart from the Christian worldview. The nation that structures its laws according to Biblical truth, virtue, and ethics will flourish for the same reason that a man who eats nutritious food will flourish as opposed to someone who lives on Big Macs. He is living how he was designed to live, and his body reaps the benefits. If all power in government comes from God, then God has a standard for those receiving that power. If those receiving that power seek to meet that standard, they lead the way God intended, and the nation’s people (believers and unbelievers alike) will reap the benefits (Pr. 29:2). Therefore, as Christians, we should preserve and pursue Christian truth, virtues, and ethics in our government.

What does this mean practically? You could apply this in countless ways, but my encouragement is to start by simply getting rid of the false idea that the government can somehow be morally neutral and that believers need to stay out of politics. God has given you a time and place in history. Love that time and place appropriately and seek to make your nation a place that honors God for His glory and the benefit of your neighbor. When someone says, “You’re just trying to make America a Christian nation,” say, “If what you mean is that I am trying to make America a nation that acknowledges God and leads by Biblical virtues and ethics, then yes, I am, because I believe that is what is best for all of us.”