The Gospel According to Pence
Christian Nationalism Part 1
Tim O’Brien Illustration
Last night, in concluding his speech at the RNC, Vice President Mike Pence drew an encouraging word from Hebrews 12:1–2 but took the liberty of making a few modifications. *Words he removed from the passage are bracketed below, while the words he added are in bold.*
“…Let us run [with perseverance] the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on [Jesus] Old Glory and all she represents…Let’s fix our eyes on this land of heroes and let their courage inspire…And, let’s fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith and our freedom.”
This is problematic on several levels, but what I mainly want to point out is the unapologetic blending of identities — the assumption that your identity as an American is not only compatible with your identity as a Christian, but that your hope in JESUS is interchangeable with your hope in the flag and military heroes of your nation. This, my friends, is Christian Nationalism. It distorts both “America” and “Christianity.”
Let me start with Christianity (and save America for another post).
. . .
This blended “middle way” was wholly rejected by the church of the first few centuries, with the question of loyalty as the basis upon which many suffered persecution.
For instance, the first empire-wide persecution was born out of the clash between national (Roman) identity and Christian identity. What precipitated this persecution (under Emperor Decius in the year 249) was a decree requiring all people of the empire to sacrifice to the gods. From the perspective of the empire, anyone who could not present a certificate to prove they had done so was sowing seeds of disunity and committing treason against the state. No anti-Roman sentiment could be allowed to spread; unity was paramount! But for the Christians, any such pledge of loyalty to the nation went against their loyalty to Jesus and his alternative “kingdom.” So, many paid the price of imprisonment, torture, or execution.
To be clear, Christians were not singled out for who they worshiped or what they believed — the Roman religious empire was very tolerant! They were singled out for their treason against the empire; for replacing “Caesar is Lord” with “Jesus is Lord.”
For the early Christians, there could be no marriage of the two. They knew full well, from the mouth of Jesus, that you cannot serve two masters. Thus, they would not sing the anthem, say the pledge, venerate the flag. They belonged to an alternative “kingdom.”
. . .
I have to tell you, I don’t think we are at risk of this kind of CLASH and resulting persecution in America today (for being anti-American), but the OPPOSITE. It seems to me that we are much more at risk of blending our identities to the point that American = Christian, and visa versa. Not TREASON to the nation, but something far worse: treason to God and our fellow man.
The “middle way” where we get to “have our cake and eat it too” is an invention of a self-interested and hypocritical Christianity, one trusting in the power of the state, not in Jesus. One fighting to preserve its privilege, comforts, and place of status in “empire,” instead of the protection of those most vulnerable.
Some so-called Christians can’t even be asked to wear a mask or move their church services to an online format during an international pandemic, because it feels to them like an infringement on their “religious liberties.”
But, any supposed “rights” you may cite which endanger human life, are NOT based on the Christian religion or promised to you by the Christian God. Your desperate grasping at these “rights” reveals your fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus’ gospel.
. . .
Where America has “converted” the behavior and loyalty of Christians, rather than the reverse, Christianity has already died.
For those of us shaking off the dust of a dead faith, joining God in his work on the other side of white evangelicalism and Christian Nationalism, there IS still hope and encouragement to be found in those verses that Pence manipulated — ESPECIALLY in the parts that he EXCLUDED:
-putting aside sin,
-running with patience,
-and fixing our eyes on Jesus,
who endured and triumphed over oppression,
and is working to do so still.
“What we must do is this: we must put aside each heavy weight, and the sin which gets in the way so easily. We must run the race that lies in front of us, and we must run it patiently. We must look ahead, to Jesus. He is the one who carved out the path for faith (not Old Glory), and he’s the one who brought it to completion (not our national heroes). He knew that there was joy spread out and waiting for him. That’s why he endured the cross, making light of its shame, and has now taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne. He put up with enormous opposition from sinners. Weigh up in your minds just how severe it was; then you won’t find yourselves getting weary and worn out.”
Hebrews 12:1–3 (The Kingdom New Testament)
P.S. Try reading the Bible with America not in place of Israel, but Rome — you might see things drastically differently. Again, “social location” makes all the difference in interpreting scripture…and reading our current times!
If you’re interested in learning more about the life of the early church, I would recommend The Patient Ferment of the Early Church by Alan Kreider.
