Unraveling the Strands of Christian Nationalism - Part 12

Opening Prayer

With you is the source of life, O God. You are the beginning of all that is. From your life the fire of the rising sun streams forth. You are the life-flow of creation’s rivers, the sap of blood in our veins, earth’s fecundity, the fruiting of trees, creatures’ birthing, the conception of new thought, desire’s origin. All these are of you, O God, and we are of you. You are the morning’s freshness.

• John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal, A Celtic Psalter, p. 50.

Replacing Christian Nationalism

Recently Opinion Columnist David Brooks wrote a piece entitled “How to Replace Christian Nationalism” [The New York Times, November 13, 2025]. I would like to share some excerpts from that column.

“Once you put people into categorical boxes, you are inviting them to see history as a zero-sum conflict between this group and that one. And sure enough, today we are in a political, cultural, and religious war between two impoverished armies.”

“On one side are the Christian Nationalists, who practice a debauched form of their faith. Christian Nationalism is particular rather than universal. It is about protecting ‘us’ against ‘them’ – the native versus the immigrant. It is about power more than love. It is about threat more than hope. It is rigid and pharisaical rather than personal and merciful.”

“On the other side are the exhausted remains of secular humanism. That humanism started out trying to liberate people from dogma, but it has produced societies in which people feel alienated, naked, and alone. It has failed to formulate a shared moral order that might help people find meaning and solidarity in their lives. It is so enfeebled that it is being replaced by the religion of the phone – by shallow, technological modes of living.”

“Led by these wise people like Tomas Halik [Czech Roman Catholic priest] and Rowan Williams [the former Archbishop of Canterbury], I now see glimmers of a better way to be faithful in the world.”

[Halik has written in his book “The Afternoon of Christianity” (2024): “A person’s way of being human is the most authentic expression of their belief or unbelief. A person’s life speaks more about their faith than what they think or say about God.” Williams has written in his book “Passions of the Soul” (2024): “If we are growing in spiritual maturity and discernment, what we desire is always to go on growing and to go on desiring.”]

“St. Augustine advised us to follow what seems delightful, and in this pilgrim’s way of living I see the delight of pluralism. The world is too complicated to have all its truth encompassed by any single tradition – by Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or Enlightenment. You can plant yourself in one and learn from them all.”

“I see the delight of self-forgetting. As so many sages have told us, if you dive down to the deepest realms of yourself, you find there a desire for self-transcendence that leads you to a highway straight out of self – toward loved ones and friends, toward God. You’re no longer trapped in your small, insecure, self- absorbed self; you’re outward facing, maybe not thinking about yourself much at all.”

“I see delight in humility. I love Rowan Williams’ definition of humility as a ‘capacity to be a place where others find rest.’ Williams adds that the people Jesus calls blessed ‘are those who live in welcoming stillness yet are at the same time on fire with longing for the well-being of the neighbor and the healing of the world’s hurts.’”

“I see, finally, a glimpse of the America I thought I knew. For centuries, we have been a hopeful people, a people on the move, defined more by our future than our pasts. Sometimes this relentless passion for growth has led toward gaudy materialism and even exploitation. But American history has been at its best when the passion for spiritual and moral growth has been just as strong. When people have said: I want my heart constantly enlarged, my nation constantly moving toward fairness.”

“Somehow MAGA has swept in and made us a frightened nation, stagnant, callous, and backward. I don’t think this alien cultural implant can last forever. Eventually Americans, restless as any people on earth, will want to replace threat with hope and resume our national pilgrimage. When that cultural and spiritual shift occurs, a lot will change in our religious and political life.”

For this week: For reflection: Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian has written (Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes, 2014): “Hope is the power to keep focusing on the larger vision while taking the small, often undramatic, steps toward the future.” How can hope be found through the participation in public life by people of faith?

An invitation to our virtual participants: Discussion and comments are very much encouraged and welcomed. Online discussions can be held in the comments section in the upcoming post on Social Media for this week’s Deacon’s Reflection which is part of adult formation at St. Francis Episcopal Church.

Closing Prayer – Prayer of Blessing

In the gift of this new day, in the gift of the present moment, in the gift of time and eternity intertwined - let us be grateful, let us be attentive, let us be open to what has never happened before, in the gift of this new day, in the gift of the present moment, in the gift of time and eternity intertwined.
May the light of God illumine the heart of my soul.
May the flame of Christ kindle me to love.
May the fire of the Spirit free me to live this day, tonight, and forever. Amen.

• John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal, A Celtic Psalter, p. 53.

“Unraveling the Strands of Christian Nationalism,” Deacon Joe Dzugan, St. Francis Episcopal Church, 2025.