Thinking through ‘Christian nationalism’

It’s hard for me to tell from my current location in Chicagoland, but I suspect that the ideas floating around, dubbed at times ‘Christian nationalism’, have also made their way to the fayre isles of my homeland, the United Kingdom. Certainly, at any rate, they have caused some waves in America. How do we think through the issue of ‘Christian nationalism’?

Part of the problem is the slipperiness of the term. After all, raised as I was in England, the idea of a ‘Christian nation’ hardly seems strange –though, even by then, we were acutely aware that England was in no real sense ‘Christian’ anymore, if it ever had been. But the Church of England was, and is still, the established church. It has legal standing; there are bishops who sit in the upper house of the Houses of Parliament. The laws upon which the countries of the United Kingdom base their legal existence are deeply rooted in Christian ideas. None of this can be denied by anyone who has given much thought to the matter. Why then the controversy over ‘Christian nationalism’?

Some of it no doubt is due to the little addition of the ‘-ism’ at the end of the word. It is one thing to be in favour of your own nation (sing the national anthem, support your national football team, fight for your nation’s integrity, etc.) but it’s another thing to be in favour of ‘nationalism,’ let alone be ‘nationalistic.’ Often the distinction is made between being patriotic (good) and nationalistic (bad).