Dear Friends in Christ,

Christian nationalism is the belief that America was founded as, and should remain, a distinctly Christian nation—that Christian identity, values, and institutions should be privileged in law, culture, and governance. At its core, it fuses religious and national identity so completely that to be a “true American” is to be Christian, and the state’s legitimacy is grounded in Christian heritage.

The movement typically asserts that the Founders intended a Christian constitutional order and that biblical law should shape legislation; that Christian moral norms should govern public life; and that threats to this order—secularism, pluralism, diversity, LGBTQ+ rights, and immigration—are simultaneously threats to the nation. There is often a spiritual warfare dimension: the culture war is a cosmic battle, not merely a political disagreement.

It runs from soft to hard versions. The hardest versions are associated with the Seven Mountains Mandate that envisions Christians taking dominion over government, media, education, business, and arts, not just as influencers but controlling institutions. The Kingdom of God must be built through Christian political control. A powerful sense is transmitted that America was Christian from its founding and is now under siege and must be reclaimed.

The Founders were largely Protestant, drawn from Anglican, Unitarian, Presbyterian, Congregational, Quaker, Dutch Reformed, and Lutheran traditions. Three of them were Roman Catholic. Thomas Jefferson was strictly and unequivocally for the separation of church and state. Benjamin Franklin identified as Deist. George Washington, raised Anglican, avoided Christian language in his public writing.

Paul’s radical claim—”Neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free”—is a direct assault on the logic of ethnic or national religion. Christian nationalism reinstates exactly what the early church dismantled: the god of the tribe who blesses our wars and curses our enemies. It’s a regression behind the prophetic tradition, not an advance.

Christian nationalism doesn’t merely distort Christianity—it inverts it. It takes a faith organized around a crucified outsider who welcomed the marginalized and transforms it into a tribal cult that protects insiders by excluding the marginalized. That’s not a minor theological disagreement. That’s worshipping a different god. That’s worshipping an idol.

On Saturday, March 28, No Kings demonstrations will occur across the country. The Saint Philip’s contingent will gather in front of the great doors of the church at 10:00am for a brief period of time before heading out to the four corners of Campbell and River with presence and signs and occasional singing.

What would you be protesting if you were to participate? For me, I am taking a stand against escalating brutality, anti-science policies that set back advancements in medical science, the censoring of books and attitudes, and energies that divide the country into polarization.

If there is any tendency growing that would curtail free elections, I am certainly opposing that. Steve Bannon has publicly stated that ICE agents will be present at polling stations around the country. If that is implemented, voter turnout would be circumscribed in actions intended to intimidate.

If the democracy is currently threatened, something priceless is endangered. When citizens gather to take a stand, there is pushback against the regressive and negativistic. The first creation story in Genesis says that everything created is good and even “very good,” That means everyone and everything. No exceptions. When humanity evolves towards goodness for all and blessing for all, then the collective is moving towards what Jesus called the “Kingdom of God.” This perspective gets mirrored in the American “liberty and justice for all.”

The demonstration for me is “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross.”

I invite your participation on March 28.

Yours in Christ,

—Richard