Read on Twitter
1/ Further thoughts on @DavidAFrench's important essay on #ChristianNationalism.
It's great to see a leading evangelical thinker publicly engaging the topic.
But....
It's great to see a leading evangelical thinker publicly engaging the topic.
But....
2/ It would be even better if @DavidAFrench would engage with work on #ChristianNationalism by scholars and journalists like:
@ndrewwhitehead @socofthesacred @praxishabitus @sarahposner @kathsstewart @AntheaButler @Nicholef and yours truly @GorskiPhilip
Also...
@ndrewwhitehead @socofthesacred @praxishabitus @sarahposner @kathsstewart @AntheaButler @Nicholef and yours truly @GorskiPhilip
Also...
3/ With the work of black theologians such as:
Willie Jennings, @JemarTisby @stewartdantec @esaumccaulley to name just a few.
If he did, then....
Willie Jennings, @JemarTisby @stewartdantec @esaumccaulley to name just a few.
If he did, then....
4/ He'd know that there are much better and more nuanced definitions of #ChristianNationalism than the one offered by @ThomasSKidd, who is a smart guy, but not a scholar of the subject.
Plus...
Plus...
5/ He'd know that the phenomenon is, in fact, much more widespread than he implies, not just amongst white evangelicals but also amongst non-evangelical white Protestants and white Catholics....See "Taking America Back for God" for the receipts.
So, why do I keep saying "white"?
So, why do I keep saying "white"?
6/ Because, as all this work shows, #ChristianNationalism in the US must be understood as *White* #ChristianNationalism. White Supremacism has left a deep and enduring impression on American Christianity that exerts effects even in the absence of racial prejudice.
How so?
How so?
7/ An example: Christian libertarianism.
As many scholars have shown, including @praxishabitus and I, conservative evangelicals were NOT economic conservatives 100 years ago. They were economic progressives!
What happened?
As many scholars have shown, including @praxishabitus and I, conservative evangelicals were NOT economic conservatives 100 years ago. They were economic progressives!
What happened?
8/ Basically, the New Deal and the Civil Rights Movement.
How could you push back against social and economic policies that might've helped Black folks? And without screaming the "n-word"? Replace it with the "m-word": MARKETS!
This was a completely conscious strategy, too.
How could you push back against social and economic policies that might've helped Black folks? And without screaming the "n-word"? Replace it with the "m-word": MARKETS!
This was a completely conscious strategy, too.
9/ To be clear: I am NOT suggesting that @DavidAFrench is some kind of racist. I know the very opposite to be the case. Unlike many of his co-religionists, he recognizes that systemic racism is not some fiction cooked up in the seminar room. It's real.
