“1) Belief that a purpose and call of Christianity is to assert the values of one’s nation or of a particular political system; typically tied to a belief that those values exist because of or to further the ends of Christianity.” https://twitter.com/TheRhetorRick/status/1338447106177179650

2) “Patriotism that includes and makes use of Christian themes and tropes, usually without regard to the intended, original, or factual basis for those themes and tropes.”

3) “The idea that holding of a particular view of one’s nation, a national figure, a certain political idea, or a political figure is essential, fundamental, or vital to one’s profession, growth, or maturity in the Christian faith.”

These definitions may be held separately or in a combination.

I assert real world examples of these definitions can be seen over and over in the past four years (and sometimes beyond). For example:

1 = Grudem, Metaxes, Jeffress, etc. making their repeated case that voting and voting a certain way is what Christianity is about and is vital to our future.

2 = Half of the freaking Jerhico March brought these people out of the woodwork.

3 = JMac “any true Christian is voting for you”, the Toms, etc. The repeated slander thrown at us Never Trumpers that we don’t care about babies etc etc.

Hope this was helpful, @TheRhetorRick

I thank you for the challenge of putting something so obvious into a formal definition. Was helpful to stir my thinking, at least.

(P.S. This is a Twitter thread I wrote while brushing my teeth and getting ready for work, NOT a formal paper. I reserve the right to expand or rework a definition. But I stand by the core thoughts expressed, of it the precision of the wording.)

BTW, in my attempt to edit down definition one, I mistakenly took out “or vice versa”. A belief that the purpose and call of you nation is to assert the values of Christianity fits definition 1 too.

Like this: https://mobile.twitter.com/ReformedMallard/status/1338309278260715520