Back in November 2015, I ate dinner with one of President Trump’s biggest supporters. At the time, of course, Trump was only one candidate among many in the Republican primary. And I did not understand the depth of passion among his supporters. This person explained to me that America is the last hope of Christianity. And I thought I simply misheard, or that he got the order wrong. So I corrected him. You mean that Christianity is the last hope of America, right? He said no, America is the last hope of Christianity. Well—that’s Christian nationalism.

Michael Horton did not refer to Christian nationalism in his December 2020 article for TGC, “The Cult of Christian Trumpism.” But I think he captured the same concept in what he called “Christian Americanism,” which he described this way: “Christian Americanism is the narrative that God specially called the United States into being as an extraordinary—verging on miraculous—providence. Passages from the election of Israel in the old covenant are lifted out of context and applied to America.”

And then you had January 6 at the U.S. Capitol. I agree with Tim Keller’s assessment: “It will be many years before the sights and sounds of evangelical religious symbols and language in the Capitol riot will fade from national consciousness. We have all been stained with it.”

Whether or not your church would advocate Christian nationalism, it’s become an apologetics challenge for church leaders in terms of public perception. That’s where I aimed to help in this episode of Gospelbound by asking Michael Horton of Westminster Seminary California and Justin Giboney of the AND Campaign a few questions.

“Can you imagine what would have happened if the church did what only it can do?” Horton asked with reference to past failures of the church to teach and correct aberrant doctrine and practice, such as racism. We have an opportunity now to chart a different course and model faithful obedience to future generations of believers.