The rise and fall of Christian nationalism

“By any objective, scientific standard, blacks are not fully human.”

“Adolf Hitler was a Christian prince.”

“It was evil to permit women to vote.”

“You can have either a civilization or blacks — but not both. What must be done is obvious.”

“Jews and blacks are both a problem.”

“It should be illegal for women to work outside the home.”

“Tolerance for the Jews is apostasy before God.”

“Adolf Hitler is in Paradise.”

Thesestatements — and many, many more like them — were posted on X over the past few years by Corey Mahler, a self-identified “Christian nationalist,” who is co-host of the Stone Choir podcast.

Last week, Mahler’s podcast was recommended by Gab CEO Andrew Torba as the “#1 Christian Nationalist podcast in the world” on his new website ChristianNationalist.com. More concerning still was the fact that Torba’s website was immediately praised by Christian nationalist pastors like Joel Webbon and Brian Sauvé, whose ministries were also recommended on the site.

How did Christian nationalism go from an ambiguous pejorative invoked primarily by progressives, to a small but growing movement among Reformed Evangelicals, to a repository for gutter racism, misogyny, and antisemitism? The story is complicated.

Christian nationalism as vague pejorative

The term “Christian nationalism” has existed for decades but dramatically rose in visibility after the Jan. 6th riots at the Capitol. Though there are undoubtedly Christians who fuse Christianity and patriotism in unhealthy ways, the term itself is often poorly defined, conflating extremist groups with mainstream Christian conservatives.

For example, Whitehead and Perry’s popular bookTaking Back America for God, measured support for Christian nationalism in terms of benign statements like “The federal government should allow the display of religious symbols in public places” or “The federal government should allow prayer in public schools.” Indeed, the term was defined so broadly that 38% of Democrats, 67% of Black Protestants, and 21% of Jews were supportive of Christian nationalism.

Similarly, journalist Heidi Przybyla claimed that what unites Christian nationalists is the belief that “our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don’t come from any earthly authority [but] come from God.” While she later apologized for her remarks, they entailed that basic Christian beliefs (beliefs that are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence!) supposedly qualify as Christian nationalism.

As a result, many Evangelicals have come to conclude that Christian nationalism is a largely meaningless progressive bogeyman. However, a smaller number of Evangelicals decided to lean into the label, embracing it as a term of self-identification.

Christian nationalism within Reformed Evangelicalism

The fall of 2022 saw the publication of two books promoting Christian nationalism to a Reformed Christian audience: Andrew Torba’s and Andrew Isker’s Christian Nationalism and Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism.

Isker and Torba’s book upheld mainstream American ideas like “functional separation between church and state” (p. xviii) and the freedom of non-Christians to “operate their own places of worship (synagogues, mosques or temples)” (p. xix). According to the authors, their “primary goal” was to encourage Christians to “[build] a parallel Christian society, economy, and infrastructure” (p. xxviii).

In contrast, Wolfe’s book was a more radical attempt to break free of contemporary modes of political thought. Wolfe’s ideal nation is led by a “Christian prince” who “resembles God to the people [and] is a sort of national god” (p. 287-288). The Christian prince has the power to “call synods in order to resolve doctrinal conflicts … [and to] confirm or deny their theological judgments” which then become “the settled doctrine of the land” (p. 313). In this idealized state, “Arch-heretics [who] are publicly persistent in their damnable error and actively seek to convince others of this error … can be justly put to death” (p. 391). His book also included some unusual views on ethnicity, affirmed that he was not making a “’white nationalist’ argument” (p. 119).

The two books, both of which are recommended on Torba’s website, sparked significant interest, especially amongst disaffected young White Christian men who view institutional Evangelicalism as compromised by feminism, progressivism, and critical race theory. However, neither book revealed in the open bigotry that characterizes Mahler’s statements. Unfortunately, the past few years have witnessed some segments of the Christian nationalist movement lurch hard in this direction.

Christian nationalism and the dissident right

From the beginning, the Reformed wing of Christian nationalism has had significant overlap with the dissident right, an eclectic ecosystem of books, blogs, YouTube channels, and 4chan boards that traffics in juvenile humor, vulgarity, and (to put it mildly) politically incorrect views of women and minorities. The worldview of the dissident right is in many ways the mirror image of that of the woke left, but with all the roles reversed. The dissident right believes that straight white Christian men are victimized by women, “bugmen,” and foreigners through “the gynocracy,” “the Longhouse” and “the postwar consensus.”

For example, in his Case for Christian Nationalism, Wolfe wrote: “Every step of progress is overcoming you … [the] straight white male” (p. 436) and “We live under a gynocracy — a rule by women” (p. 448) and “If you are a white, heterosexual, cis-gendered male … your career advancement depends on sacrificing your self-respect by praising and pandering to your inferiors who rule over you” (p. 464). He devotes an entire chapter to “justify[ing] violent revolution” (p. 326), which closes with him writing, “It is to our shame that we sheepishly tolerate assaults against our Christian heritage. We are gripped by a slavish devotion to our secular captors. But we do not have to live like this” (p. 352).

 In The Boniface Option, Isker wrote: “I use the term Trashworld to describe [our] dystopian society … [The rulers of Trashworld] want you to be spiritually homosexual whether or not they can make you actually homosexual” (p. xii-xiii) and “There is a direct line from the first wave feminists introducing women into the proxy war of democratic politics [i.e. voting] to the most destructive perversions of Trashworld in Current Year” (p. 65) and “feminism, even (especially!) the feminism accepted by conservatives, is a demon goddess responsible for our enslavement” (p. 68).

It’s no surprise that such apocalyptic sentiments can breed resentment towards perceived oppressors and a willingness to partner with Neo-Nazis, provided that they also hate Trashworld enough.

Beyond parody

While many Christian nationalists initially approached the dissident right as a mission field to be reached with the Gospel, it seems to be increasingly in the driver’s seat. Indeed, the best argument against Christian Nationalism now appears to be the online behavior of some of the movement’s loudest proponents.

Judging by the social media feeds of many professing Christian nationalists, the fundamental problem we face is not our own sin, but the ascendancy of women, foreigners, and Jews. And the fundamental solution is not redemption through Christ, but the repeal of women’s suffrage, mass deportation, and the end of American support for Israel.

Evangelical flirtation with the secular social justice movement should have taught us that bad ideas drive out good theology. Apparently, not everyone learned that lesson.

Torba’s recommendation of a Neo-Nazi’s podcast should be a wake-up call for genuine believers. 

If young men in your church are being influenced by these ideas, speak up. Bad company corrupts good character.

“By any objective, scientific standard, blacks are not fully human.”

“Adolf Hitler was a Christian prince.”

“It was evil to permit women to vote.”

“You can have either a civilization or blacks — but not both. What must be done is obvious.”

“Jews and blacks are both a problem.”

“It should be illegal for women to work outside the home.”

“Tolerance for the Jews is apostasy before God.”

“Adolf Hitler is in Paradise.”

Thesestatements — and many, many more like them — were posted on X over the past few years by Corey Mahler, a self-identified “Christian nationalist,” who is co-host of the Stone Choir podcast.

Last week, Mahler’s podcast was recommended by Gab CEO Andrew Torba as the “#1 Christian Nationalist podcast in the world” on his new website ChristianNationalist.com. More concerning still was the fact that Torba’s website was immediately praised by Christian nationalist pastors like Joel Webbon and Brian Sauvé, whose ministries were also recommended on the site.

How did Christian nationalism go from an ambiguous pejorative invoked primarily by progressives, to a small but growing movement among Reformed Evangelicals, to a repository for gutter racism, misogyny, and antisemitism? The story is complicated.

Christian nationalism as vague pejorative

The term “Christian nationalism” has existed for decades but dramatically rose in visibility after the Jan. 6th riots at the Capitol. Though there are undoubtedly Christians who fuse Christianity and patriotism in unhealthy ways, the term itself is often poorly defined, conflating extremist groups with mainstream Christian conservatives.

For example, Whitehead and Perry’s popular bookTaking Back America for God, measured support for Christian nationalism in terms of benign statements like “The federal government should allow the display of religious symbols in public places” or “The federal government should allow prayer in public schools.” Indeed, the term was defined so broadly that 38% of Democrats, 67% of Black Protestants, and 21% of Jews were supportive of Christian nationalism.

Similarly, journalist Heidi Przybyla claimed that what unites Christian nationalists is the belief that “our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don’t come from any earthly authority [but] come from God.” While she later apologized for her remarks, they entailed that basic Christian beliefs (beliefs that are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence!) supposedly qualify as Christian nationalism.

As a result, many Evangelicals have come to conclude that Christian nationalism is a largely meaningless progressive bogeyman. However, a smaller number of Evangelicals decided to lean into the label, embracing it as a term of self-identification.

Christian nationalism within Reformed Evangelicalism

The fall of 2022 saw the publication of two books promoting Christian nationalism to a Reformed Christian audience: Andrew Torba’s and Andrew Isker’s Christian Nationalism and Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism.

Isker and Torba’s book upheld mainstream American ideas like “functional separation between church and state” (p. xviii) and the freedom of non-Christians to “operate their own places of worship (synagogues, mosques or temples)” (p. xix). According to the authors, their “primary goal” was to encourage Christians to “[build] a parallel Christian society, economy, and infrastructure” (p. xxviii).

In contrast, Wolfe’s book was a more radical attempt to break free of contemporary modes of political thought. Wolfe’s ideal nation is led by a “Christian prince” who “resembles God to the people [and] is a sort of national god” (p. 287-288). The Christian prince has the power to “call synods in order to resolve doctrinal conflicts … [and to] confirm or deny their theological judgments” which then become “the settled doctrine of the land” (p. 313). In this idealized state, “Arch-heretics [who] are publicly persistent in their damnable error and actively seek to convince others of this error … can be justly put to death” (p. 391). His book also included some unusual views on ethnicity, affirmed that he was not making a “’white nationalist’ argument” (p. 119).

The two books, both of which are recommended on Torba’s website, sparked significant interest, especially amongst disaffected young White Christian men who view institutional Evangelicalism as compromised by feminism, progressivism, and critical race theory. However, neither book revealed in the open bigotry that characterizes Mahler’s statements. Unfortunately, the past few years have witnessed some segments of the Christian nationalist movement lurch hard in this direction.

Christian nationalism and the dissident right

From the beginning, the Reformed wing of Christian nationalism has had significant overlap with the dissident right, an eclectic ecosystem of books, blogs, YouTube channels, and 4chan boards that traffics in juvenile humor, vulgarity, and (to put it mildly) politically incorrect views of women and minorities. The worldview of the dissident right is in many ways the mirror image of that of the woke left, but with all the roles reversed. The dissident right believes that straight white Christian men are victimized by women, “bugmen,” and foreigners through “the gynocracy,” “the Longhouse” and “the postwar consensus.”

For example, in his Case for Christian Nationalism, Wolfe wrote: “Every step of progress is overcoming you … [the] straight white male” (p. 436) and “We live under a gynocracy — a rule by women” (p. 448) and “If you are a white, heterosexual, cis-gendered male … your career advancement depends on sacrificing your self-respect by praising and pandering to your inferiors who rule over you” (p. 464). He devotes an entire chapter to “justify[ing] violent revolution” (p. 326), which closes with him writing, “It is to our shame that we sheepishly tolerate assaults against our Christian heritage. We are gripped by a slavish devotion to our secular captors. But we do not have to live like this” (p. 352).

 In The Boniface Option, Isker wrote: “I use the term Trashworld to describe [our] dystopian society … [The rulers of Trashworld] want you to be spiritually homosexual whether or not they can make you actually homosexual” (p. xii-xiii) and “There is a direct line from the first wave feminists introducing women into the proxy war of democratic politics [i.e. voting] to the most destructive perversions of Trashworld in Current Year” (p. 65) and “feminism, even (especially!) the feminism accepted by conservatives, is a demon goddess responsible for our enslavement” (p. 68).

It’s no surprise that such apocalyptic sentiments can breed resentment towards perceived oppressors and a willingness to partner with Neo-Nazis, provided that they also hate Trashworld enough.

Beyond parody

While many Christian nationalists initially approached the dissident right as a mission field to be reached with the Gospel, it seems to be increasingly in the driver’s seat. Indeed, the best argument against Christian Nationalism now appears to be the online behavior of some of the movement’s loudest proponents.

Judging by the social media feeds of many professing Christian nationalists, the fundamental problem we face is not our own sin, but the ascendancy of women, foreigners, and Jews. And the fundamental solution is not redemption through Christ, but the repeal of women’s suffrage, mass deportation, and the end of American support for Israel.

Evangelical flirtation with the secular social justice movement should have taught us that bad ideas drive out good theology. Apparently, not everyone learned that lesson.

Torba’s recommendation of a Neo-Nazi’s podcast should be a wake-up call for genuine believers. 

If young men in your church are being influenced by these ideas, speak up. Bad company corrupts good character.