New book from BJC’s Amanda Tyler offers concrete solutions to generational problem of Christian nationalism
A new book from BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler tackles the gravest threats to religious liberty in the United States and explains what can be done about it. Releasing this week, How to End Christian Nationalism offers a step-by-step process to combat the political ideology and cultural framework of Christian nationalism and to protect religious freedom for all.
In the introduction, Tyler explains how a 2019 interfaith meeting convinced her that this was an essential effort that must be led by Christians. Here is an excerpt:
Some of our interfaith partners … suggested that we focus our efforts to combat Christian nationalism as Christians. Our advocacy would be more effective, they told us, if it were a project led by Christians. Christians were in the best position to distinguish Christian nationalism from Christianity and to point out all the ways it distorts the gospel of Jesus Christ beyond recognition. Plus, they told us, not unkindly, that Christian nationalism was our problem—not theirs—to fix.
The book is organized in action steps and – because it is “our problem to fix” – Tyler grounds each solution in Scripture and a Christian perspective. How to End Christian Nationalism is also unapologetically geared toward a white Christian audience, exploring “how deeply interconnected racism is with Christian nationalism.”
One step that especially spoke to me is Step Five: “Take on Christian Nationalism Close to Home.” From that section:
Our largest sphere of influence is with those we already know well and have built trust with through years of relationship and shared experience. It is often easier to think about railing against the latest example of Christian nationalism from a national leader or an ideologue than to have a candid conversation with a loved one who espouses some of the same ideas.
Conversations within our communities, our congregations and even our families can be the most difficult, but they also can be the most important and ultimately the most fruitful dialogues we can have. One helpful starting point, Tyler says, is to discuss and recognize Christian nationalism rather than calling someone a “Christian nationalist.”
“Seeing Christian nationalism as an ideology—which we can all slide toward or away from on any given day—will ultimately be more effective in countering it than seeing it as an immutable part of a person’s identity,” she writes.
“Close to home” also includes ourselves! Those of us who are Christians, Tyler urges, all have to examine our complicity in and privilege from Christian nationalism, and we have to recognize the ways we may be unwittingly promoting it, even as we seek to reject it. It is an especially challenging and powerful section of the book.
At its heart, How to End Christian Nationalism calls on Christians to acknowledge and embrace the fact that “Christianity is not what unites us as Americans.” That frame of reference is an essential guidepost to the steps Tyler lays out for dismantling Christian nationalism. To be sure, it will not be easy or quick. “We must accept,” she writes, “that a problem that has gone unaddressed for centuries will take several generations to resolve.” This book is an important and inspiring look at how all of us can take action – starting right now – toward solving it.
The book is available to order wherever you buy your books, including through local booksellers at Bookshop.org and also Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and from Broadleaf Books, the publisher. Plus, Amanda is going on tour with the book across the country, and you can see the upcoming (and previous) events at this link.
