Christian Nationalism: A Reflection

I remember visiting Cambridge American Cemetery just outside of Cambridge, England the first time when I was stationed in England at RAF Croughton (1994-1997) and again a decade later when I participated in Memorial Day observances at the cemetery which wasn’t terribly far from where I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall (2005-2008) where I was the Wing (Senior) Chaplain of the 100th Air Refueling Wing (United States Air Forces in Europe). Seeing all of those grave markers (3,811 buried and 5,127 names engraved on the Walls of the Missing) was overwhelming. I paused and thought about all of those young lives that had been cut short fighting against the Axis powers during World War Two.

So many lives had been cut short as they responded to the call to rid the world of fascism and the evil designs of Adolph Hitler and his leadership who were intent on eradicating anyone who didn’t measure up to his “Aryan superiority standards.” The Nazi cause was defeated by the combined efforts of allied military forces and the civilian resistance on the ground behind enemy lines. As Europe was being rebuilt, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed with the intent purpose of defending each of the member nations if such a world war were ever to begin again.

One of the often overlooked parts of what happened in Germany with the rise of fascism and the Nazi ideology/party/government was the role that the “German Christian (Nationalist) Movement” played in supporting the Thousand Year Reich. On April 3-5, 1933, in Berlin the “German Christians” had their first national convention. Its slogan was “The State of Adolph Hitler appeals to the Church and the Church has to hear his call.” Among the members of the honorary committee were high-ranking government officials and Nazi party members, including Hermann Göring. The convention was closed by passing a resolution which stated: God has created me a German. Germanism is a gift of God. God wants me to fight for my Germany. Military service is in no sense a violation of Christian conscience, but is obedience to God. The believer possess the right of revolution against a State that furthers the powers of darkness. He also has this right in the face of a Church board that does not unreservedly acknowledge the exaltation of the nation. For a German the church is the fellowship of believers who are obligated to fight for a Christian Germany. The goal of the “Faith Movement of ‘German Christians'” is an evangelical German Reich Church. (Presbyterian Creeds: A Guide to the Book of Confessions by Jack Rogers, p. 182)

A minority group of theologians, church leaders, and pastors chose to step forward and denounce this Reich Church and they gathered to respond to this corruption in the church. Out of this movement came the Theological Declaration of Barmen. On May 29-31, 1934, representatives from eighteen German provincial churches–Lutheran, Reformed, and United (Lutheran and Reformed)–met in the industrial city of Barmen as the First Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church. They were protesting interference in the life of the churches by the Nazi government and the errors of the Nazi-inspired “German Christian” movement. They clarified their faith on the basis of the ancient and Reformed confessions and reconfessed it in a new declaration of faith in the face of the concrete errors of the times. (Rogers, p. 175)

So, here we are ninety years after the Theological Declaration of Barmen was written. I see a movement within the church that marries American exceptionalism with a foul corruption of what the church of Jesus is supposed to be. When pastors spout “American Christian Nationalist” ideology and hate from the pulpit and churches align themselves unapologetically with racists, hate/fear mongers, Neo-Nazis and groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, a response is needed.

A response that seeks to live out the call of Jesus in Matthew 25:35-40: I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

In Zechariah 7:9-10, the prophet called the people to right treatment of others: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. And in Micah 6:8 the prophet called the people to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Finally, in the words of Jesus from Luke 10:27: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

And so I come back full-circle to the Cambridge American Cemetery and the graves of those who fought and died to prevent Hitler and his ideologies from prevailing. I shudder to think of what they might say in response to christian nationalist church members and leaders along with politicians and a presidential and vice-presidential candidate are espousing and supporting. Now is the time to speak. It is not a time to keep quiet.

I am going to leave you with a song that was written and sung by Alana Levandoski and was inspired by a call to action that was written by a small group of students from the Living School, founded by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM. Divine Obedience is her response to the rising tide of hate that is spewed from podiums and pulpits around this land.