I have written previously about the benefits of democracies—governments of the people for the people—as opposed to autocracies—governments ruled by a dictator or elites. Democracies are governments dedicated to freedom, equality, and the rule of law. Democracies have led to increased peace, happiness, and liberty, while autocracies have led to oppression and injustice. Democracies bring us closer to the “kingdom of God,” the vision of Jesus.

Jesus was not crucified for telling people to love God and our neighbors. He was killed for challenging the authorities of that time. He challenged the Jewish authorities, and he challenged the Roman authorities. He challenged autocratic domination systems. Jesus’ message was both spiritual and political: to grow in relationship with God and neighbors, but also to confront systems of oppression.

Jesus was a Jew, and the Jewish people had a long history of being oppressed by autocratic empires. The Israelites were oppressed by Egypt and later liberated by God. God later liberated the oppressed Israelites from the Babylonians. At the time of Jesus’ life, the Jews were oppressed by the Roman Empire.

One would think, therefore, that Christians would be strong advocates of democracy, but this has often not been the case. We are living in one of those times now. The current favorite presidential candidate of white evangelical Christians is Donald Trump, who has suggested suspending the constitution and being a dictator on his first day of office if elected for another term. He is also a man considered a convicted rapist by a judge, who has bragged about his ability to assault women with impunity, whose business has been found guilty of business fraud, who has credibly been charged with inciting an insurrection, who has credibly been charged with stealing top secret government documents, who mocked a disabled reporter, who joked about an 80-year-old man being brutally assaulted with a hammer to the head, who wants a Muslim registry, who calls immigrants vermin who poison the blood of America, who wants the ability to do anything as president he wants (even to kill political rivals), and who has expressed admiration for some of the worst tyrants to have ever lived. I could go on and on!

How has this man, the antithesis of Jesus, an “antichrist,” if you will, become a hero to the American Christian community?!

This is not an altogether new phenomenon. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow recently published a book titled “Prequel”- a prequel to the times we are living through, which occurred prior to WWII. During the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism in Germany, there was a movement in the United States that supported Hitler, autocracy, and antisemitism. And perhaps the most prevalent supporters of this movement were white evangelical Christians. They went by the names of the Militant Christian Patriots, the American League of Christian Women, the Christian Constitutionalists, the Defenders of Christian Civilization, and the Christian Mobilizers.

This was by no means a minor fringe movement. Maddow writes that the U.S. Justice Department asserted “that the Hitler government had been successful in its efforts to set up shop in the United States. And that a surprising number of Americans, including some in surprisingly high places, had colluded with the Nazis against U.S. interests.” This foreshadows what is currently happening in America. Once considered part of an “axis of evil,” Russia and Vladimir Putin now have significant support from a growing number of Americans including many in very high places and including many white evangelical Christians.

White evangelical Christians would appear to have a particular affinity for alpha male autocrats.  While writing this article during Holy Week it was made apparent to me once again Trump’s intention to capitalize on this affinity.  He decided to start hawking a Trump edition of the Bible. On Easter a flood of statements by Trump on his social media platform suggested that he was a messianic savior. 

There also was a popular alpha savior during the time of Jesus: Augustus Caesar, who was considered the “son of god” for bringing peace to the Roman empire through military conquests.  Jesus presented a new type of leadership: peace through love.

There is a movement in this country known as Christian nationalism. There is a misunderstanding by many about what this term means. Many mistakenly think it simply refers to Christians who are patriotic. In reality, it is an ideology that seeks to force Americans to adhere to a certain fundamentalist version of Christianity. It is an ideology of oppression. We often hear conservatives talk about the importance of religious freedom, but what many really want is freedom for themselves and the removal of rights and freedoms from other certain groups of people. White Christian nationalism is racism, patriarchy, and xenophobia in Christian guise.

Sociologists Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry, in their book The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy, write

The characteristics we link with white Christian nationalism could all be considered components of what’s commonly called “populism,” an orientation or ideology that pits corrupt “elites” against virtuous common folk.  Its components are, among other things, scapegoating of minorities, distrust in science, the media, and “establishment” politicians, corresponding trust in strongman leaders, and conspiratorial thinking.  White Christian nationalism unites all these elements.  As a result, it is one of the strongest currents within American right-wing populism and one of the main drivers of political polarization.

White Christian nationalism is very similar in ideology to that of conservative Muslims who advocate Sharia law. Both are not only a religious ideology but also a political one.  The goal is to force religious and cultural conformity.

The crux of the dispute in the American culture wars is differences in worldviews or stages of consciousness/spirituality.  I write about this in my book Beyond Religion: Finding Meaning in Evolution.  To simplify, there is a ” war” between those whose worldviews are based on traditions and self-interest versus those whose worldviews are based on empirical evidence and reason and the desire for universal human rights. It is not that there is a conflict between the religious and non-religious or between Christians and non-Christians.  It is that there is a conflict between worldviews.

In my book, I discuss seven levels of consciousness or world views: tribal, warrior, traditional, modernist, postmodern, integral, and transpersonal consciousnesses.  Tribal consciousness can be characterized as self-centered;  God is a means to an end. With warrior consciousness, there is an “us versus them” mentality.  The “Axial Age” from 800 to 200 BCE was a period of revolutionary change in religion where morality began to take center stage.  This was a movement of increased compassion and care; it was during this time period that the “golden rule” in its various iterations came into being. Then, with the Enlightenment, the focus included the importance of empirical evidence and reason.  With postmodernism, there was increased emphasis on human rights and a movement from ethnocentrism to world-centric morality, i.e., concern for all of humanity and even for all of life.

White Christian nationalism as a movement has strong elements of warrior consciousness.  It centers on the need to retain power- white, male, heterosexual power. It is about maintaining privilege and minimizing the rights of others.  Because some do not believe in homosexual relationships, they want to ban anybody from having these relationships. Because some don’t believe in birth control, they don’t want anyone to use birth control. Although some want prayer in public schools, they only want it if it conforms to a God of their beliefs.

The main value taught by Jesus was love.  White Christian nationalism is quite the opposite.  It is an ideology of grievance, anger and hate.  The apostle Paul writes about what Christian love is in the letter to the Corinthians.  Although this passage is often read at weddings, it was written to inform us about what Christian love should be- how we should treat other human beings.  Paul writes that “love is kind”; it is not kind to deprive others of rights and freedoms.  Paul writes that love “is not proud”; it is arrogant to think that we have a corner on truth and that we should force others to conform to our beliefs.  Paul writes that love is not self-serving; love is about caring for others and respecting their right to live their lives as they see fit.

Christian nationalism is not Christian or patriotic.  It is not loving. It is anti-democratic. It is oppression by a group of people toward others who do not share their ideology. It is about power and privilege.

These are dark times in America that we are living through, but during this Easter season I am glad to be reminded about resurrection.  After death comes life.  After cultural setbacks come periods of further evolution.  As Martin Luther King Jr. stated “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”  Progress is slow and it has its ups and downs, but in the long run we are moving forward- we are evolving.

I write about cosmic evolution in Beyond Religion.  Ever since the Big Bang, the universe has been in constant evolution, moving forward in ever-increasing complexity, perhaps moving toward something like an omega point as envisioned by French theologian and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. This has included moral evolution.  I also wrote in Beyond Religion about conscious evolution.  It is only recently that human beings have developed the capacity to participate in the evolution of the universe.  At this current point in history, we progressive Christians need to rescue Christianity from current corruptive influences and save and promote democracy.  God is not going to magically make Jesus’ kingdom of God a reality; we need to be the ones who help make it happen.

Dr. Craig R. Vander Maas is a clinical psychologist whose vocational specialties are neuropsychology and psychopharmacology and his research and writing interests are evolutionary psychology, developmental psychology (especially spiritual development), and transpersonal psychology.  He is the author of the recently published book Beyond Religion: Finding Meaning in Evolution.