In this solo, walking‑recorded episode of the Voices in My Head podcast, host Rick Lee James reflects on the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States and its corrosive impact on the church’s witness. Drawing on theological reading (William Willimon, Stanley Hauerwas, James Cone, Rodney Clapp) and historical‑political observation, he defines Christian nationalism as the fusion of the cross with the flag, a form of idolatrous ideology that captures the body of Christ in political power structures. He argues that this fusion silences the prophetic voice that calls nations to repentance and justice, and replaces the gospel’s radical love with a desire for domination. James points to concrete manifestations such as the Seven‑Mountain Theory, Project 2025, and leaders like Russell Vought and Lance Wallnau, explaining how policies seeking to embed compulsory religious content in schools or reshape government reflect the same danger. Throughout, he stresses that the kingdom of God is built on love, mercy, and love for enemies—not on control or violence—and that Christians must remain loyal to Christ alone, even while engaging the world prophetically. He concludes with a pastoral warning: any display that merges the cross and the flag signals a counterfeit gospel, and believers should resist conflating the United States with the kingdom of God.
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Welcome back to Voices in My Head. As always, I'm your host, Rick Lee James, and I'm so glad that you're back with me today. I'm actually walking to church this morning while I record this, so I hope you can hear everything all right. I'm gonna be actually reading something this morning while I walk. I've been thinking a lot lately, reading a lot, and as I watch things going on in our country and in our world, I'm concerned about what I see, what I understand as I read psychology books, as I read theology, as I look through a lens of history. As something that a lot of people don't recognize. They see it more as patriotism, but it's different than patriotism, and that is Christian nationalism. And so I shared some of this online, and it's been getting shared quite a bit. I've even been invited to come on some podcasts to talk about it, so you might be hearing more from me on this. I'm not really an expert, but I kind of am in some ways, because when I was in college, I guess the best way to think of it is they had me start reading books by William Willimon, Stanley Hauerwas, Rodney Clapp, different people, James Cone, different people who help us with these understandings of what happens in societies and how Christianity can quickly devolve when it becomes tied to a national identity. We're seeing that in, in huge ways right now, and it is imminently dangerous and destructive for the church. And we are seeing the church's witness being ruined, not just in our country, but American Christianity around the world is being tainted. Uh, so I wanted to share some of this on my walk this morning. Whenever Christians fuse the cross with the flag, we lose our prophetic voice that allows us to call the nations to repentance and justice. This fusion of the church with an idolatrous ideology makes the body of Christ captive to political powers and parties. In doing so, the church abdicates its true allegiance to Jesus and surrenders its freedom to serve him as Lord. The church cannot serve two masters. I have been posting fairly often about the dangers of Christian nationalism because it's so different from the way of Jesus. And it is not a fringe ideology anymore. Jesus invited people into the kingdom through table fellowship, accepting invitations, and offering his own. He never forced belief or grasped for power. The kingdom of God is never advanced by violence towards others but through self-giving radical love, even to the point of suffering, so that no harm is done to another. At the heart of Jesus' teaching is love for enemies. Not vengeance, not domination over them, but loving them. Now some people respond to posts like this that I'm making, saying they've never met a Christian nationalist before. I would argue they have. I may even argue that they are a Christian nationalist in some cases. The reality is that Christian nationalism often shows itself less in individuals wearing a label and more in movements, policies, and rhetoric. One example of this is the Seven Mountain Theory, which teaches that Christians should dominate areas like government, education, media, and the arts. In our own time— excuse me, um, sorry, I'm crossing the street— in our own time, we see this vision advanced through proposals like Project 2025, through leaders such as Russell Vought and Lance Wallnau, and in public policies that aim to insert compulsory religious content into schools or reshape government around explicitly Christian norms. So what's wrong with that, you might ask? Well, mainly it's because that is not the way of Christ. His kingdom is built not on control, but on love, welcome, mercy, and even love for those who oppose us. And even while I write about these things, it is important to say that Christian nationalists themselves are not the enemy. They are my baptized brothers and sisters. But even if they were the enemy, which I do not consider them to be, the call of Jesus is to love our enemies and to live a better way. It all goes back to my first statement about fusing the cross with the flag. And this is where I'm no longer reading. This is me just talking from the heart. I see it everywhere. I see it all around me. I see people conflating this current administration with Christianity, with all its cruelty, with its crimes. And yes, there have been crimes. There have been things that have been overlooked. There have been injustices. And you might say, well, all politicians lie, all politicians commit crimes. Well, that's not right either. And saying this does not justify any of that. Christians never, never threw full, full-hearted support behind candidates in the past this way. Yes, we saw it. Usually it's in Republican administrations, and it is always wrong. Always. It is never okay to conflate the work of Christ in the world with the work of the United States of America. Now, that doesn't mean that the two cannot overlap at times. Yes, there are times Christians need to be the prophetic voice to nations because Christians are called to be the light of Christ to the world. That does not mean We pledge our allegiance to it. It does not mean that we give our allegiance that belongs only to Christ our Savior to those that are not Christ our Savior in order to advance the kingdom of God as we see in Christ our Savior. Those are two different things. We don't combine them. It's not mixing peanut butter with chocolate to create something wonderful. It's like mixing peanut butter and dog feces. Which makes the whole thing unedible. So I just wanted to share that today. I'm concerned. I've been concerned most of my adult life, ever since Trevecca Nazarene University trained me in this and taught me that as a pastor, I should never conflate the kingdom of God with the United States of America. Anytime we see a cross, draped in a flag. That should be a warning sign to Christians everywhere that what we are experiencing is a counterfeit gospel. It is not the kingdom of God. It is Christian nationalism. Well, I know this was not a feel-good episode of Voices in My Head, but thank you for joining me anyway. I'm just about to walk into the church doors to help lead worship today. I'm grateful for all of you. Thank you so much for listening to Voices in My Head. May the Lord bless you and keep you this day. God bless. We'll see you next time.
