Faith-based advocacy organizations have commenced a three-lesson curriculum targeted at assisting evangelical pastors fight Christian nationalism among their members. The organizations are Vote Common Good, Christians Against Christian Nationalism (CACN), and Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. They made this announcement last week.
According to a statement which was made available to The Christian Post, the curriculum defines Christian nationalism as “a framework of thinking that seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy.”
In 2019, the Baptist Joint Committee launched CACN. The executive director of Baptist Joint Committee, Amanda Tyler, said that the curriculum was made in reaction to a webinar in January that CACN hosted titled “Democracy and Faith Under Siege: Responding to Christian Nationalism.”
Tyler noted that CACN got several demands from lay leaders and pastors for extra resources to utilize with their congregations. This is for improved comprehension and reaction to Christian nationalism in their communities and churches.
In addition, she said that the curriculum was developed this spring and sent to the churches this summer. This is in the same period that churches are organizing fall activities with many going back to in-person services.
Tyler insists that Christian nationalism is “at odds with the core tenet of Christianity — that is, that Jesus Chris is Lord” and is “pervasive throughout American society.” She continued,
“Christian nationalism demands ultimate loyalty to political power rather than God. And therefore can become idolatrous. The curriculum relies on Biblical passages and core Christian theology to differentiate the Christian religion and tenets of Christianity from the ideology of Christian nationalism.”
She added that she is hopeful that the curriculum will be used by churches to learn a “basic understanding of what Christian nationalism is and how racism feeds into Christian nationalism” and “ways to respond to Christian nationalism that are grounded in Scripture and Christian understanding.”
On the CACN website is the content for the curriculum. It contains video clips on discussion questions linked to the January webinar and it is free to download.
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