“Unfortunately, some Christian leaders — lay leaders and clergy and politicians — have used their platforms and media megaphones to dismiss the idea that Christian nationalism even exists, never mind that it distorts the teachings of Jesus or threatens religious freedom and democracy …
“If you are accused of making up the term 'Christian nationalism' or using it as a scare tactic to silence your political opponents, I suggest sharing definitions of the term used in step one of this book. Over the past several years, there have been many excellent books and articles written about Christian nationalism, many of which I have cited in the resources section of this book, which also has helpful tools for defining and understanding the term.
“If your conversation partner still won’t accept the term, see if you can find common ground on what the term gets at: the merging of American and Christian identities as a betrayal of both constitutional promises and the Christian faith. Can they acknowledge that God loves all God’s children equally, without regard to national identity? Do they accept that all U.S. citizens are equal, without regard to religion? Do they denounce violent rhetoric that couches itself in Christian language and symbols? If you can find agreement on some of these core principles, the semantics matter less than the concepts.”
