If you are for religious freedom, you should be against Christian nationalism (the belief that the United States is a Christian nation and that the government should endorse Christianity and enforce its doctrines). I support religious freedom and oppose Christian nationalism because I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus.
Christians have for many years argued that faith has been excluded from the public square because secular elites have come to dominate institutions like public schools, universities, and government. The sometimes exclusion of religious perspectives from the public square is a legitimate concern, impacting both Christians and Americans of other faiths.
Many Christians, believing that faith has been marginalized in secular society, now see Christian nationalism as a way of reasserting Christian perspectives in the public square. Christians are a majority of the American population. Why shouldn’t Christians hold the preeminent decision-making roles and ensure that American laws and schools reflect that preeminence? Recently confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who wrote a book entitled “American Crusade,” is among a number of public figures who have made statements consistent with Christian nationalism.
Here’s the problem. The American founders, most of whom were Christians, could have very easily declared in the Constitution that the United States would be a Christian nation. They did not. Why not?
The founders understood that whenever governments endorse and enforce a particular religion, bad things happen to both the government and the faith. The founders knew and lived a European history in which governments persecuted Christians who did not belong to the state-endorsed church. The Puritans were persecuted in England and had to flee because they did not belong to the state-endorsed Anglican Church.
When opposing nations endorsed different versions of Christianity, say one endorsed Catholicism and the other some form of Protestantism, the conflict between them often escalated into a ‘holy war’ in which each side claimed God was on their side, making it easier to demonize and kill the heretics on the other side. And if the other side was not Christian, it was easy to get religious endorsement for conquest. Christian holy wars started after Emperor Constantine’s endorsement of Christianity in the fourth century and continue all the way to the present. Think of the Russian Orthodox patriarch’s blessing of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
The founders understood this history. That is why they adopted the first amendment, the foundation of the Bill of Rights, stating that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion’ (No to Christian nationalism), ‘or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’ (Yes to religious freedom),
Jesus did not align himself either with the power of the Roman Empire or the religious powers of the first century. Faith was central to a person’s life, too important to be a function of coercion or passive acceptance of someone else’s authority. Jesus called people to follow him. He did not try to seize political power to force people to follow him. Christian faith encourages compassionate and principled participation in society (and by extension, political life), but offers no support for religious coercion or domination of political life.
Christians are called to follow Jesus and reject coercive forms of religious and political power, to live lives of love and wisdom. We want religious freedom for ourselves. Christ’s golden rule (‘Do to others what you would have them do to you,’ Matthew 7:12) requires that we assure that our fellow citizens of all faiths or of no faith have that same freedom. All should be welcome to participate in the American public square. So I urge my fellow Christians to say Yes to religious freedom for all and No to Christian nationalism.
Jeff Hittenberger serves as Dean of the School of Education at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California. He previously served as Chief Academic Officer at the Orange County Department of Education. He lives in Lake Forest, California, and is the host of the Education for Love and Wisdom podcast.