Christiamericanity
The Religion of MAGA
“Christian Nationalism”
Anyone paying attention to the current attempts to deconstruct our nation is likely familiar with this term and what it means.
defines it as:1Christian Nationalism (CN) is a theological belief that establishing certain policies or politicians makes a country identifiable Christian and thus blessed.
Therefore, establishing those policies and/or politicians is a holy and necessary Christian practice while opposing those policies/politicians is sinful and damned.
CN often, but not always, allows for the manipulation of any kind of political or religious power (including violence) to promote these policies and/or politicians.
Writers such as
point out that Christian Nationalism in America is the most recent iteration of white supremacy.2 describes it as part of a “three-headed Cerberus” — a “triune MAGA god” made up of Musk, Trump, and Evangelical Fundamentalists. A recent study from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), cited by 3 finds that 65% of white and 57% of Hispanic evangelical Protestants believe the following:(1) The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation,
(2) U.S. laws should be based on Christian values,
(3) If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore,
(4) Being Christian is an important part of being truly American, and
(5) God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.
Then there is Project 2025 and Russell Vought who was just recently confirmed to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget — a move that puts the mostest Christianist nationalist of all Christian nationalists in a position of great power.
Each of these writers present robust synopses of the white American Christian nationalist movement in politics. But “politics” are just one manifestation of a uniquely American set of beliefs which has become the MAGA religion of choice. It is a perverse blend of Americana mythos with biblical mythology. It uses secular tactics disguised as spiritual temerity. It is the Bizarro world version of Christianity. I call it…
Christiamericanity
There are a number of traits shared by acolytes of Christiamericanity starting with…
Christiamericanity is a Religion ABOUT Jesus rather than the Religion OF Jesus
of writes that there is a distinct difference between a religion ABOUT Jesus4 and the religion OF Jesus.5 He describes the differences thusly6:
Before it is political movement, Christiamericanity is first and foremost a religion ABOUT Jesus. It is not one based on the religion OF Jesus7 which is that of blessedness, as he spoke about in his Beatitudes.8 These teachings were part of his so-called Sermon on the Mount — a sermon which contained radical themes such as…
Bringing goodness to the world9
The difference between religiousness and righteousness10
The nature of evil as originating in the heart and mind11
The inappropriateness of using God as a scapegoat for beliefs12
Choosing defiance instead of vengeance13
Characteristics of true goodness and piety14
The dangers of materialism15
The futility of worry16
The filthiness of hypocrisy17
How to search for truth and discernment18
The message of this sermon is striking in comparison to the values espoused and lived out by Christiamericans. Why is that? How can they be so different? Read on to find out:
Christiamericanity places more emphasis on words rather than “The Word”
Christians often refer to the Bible as “The Word of God”. The most fundamental Christians believe it to be perfect and inerrant — every word was “God breathed”. Other more skeptical figures, such as biblical scholar Bart Ehrman, have written extensively regarding the various biases, errors, and reasons why certain Scriptures were included, modified, or even completely left out of the canon. Other more mainline Christians view the Bible as a book that has many great lessons but isn’t necessarily without error or contradiction. They also believe in the need to understand it through historical and cultural perspectives. Still others who might be less inclined to accept any inerrancy in the Bible argue that the problem is HOW people interpret its messages. As one Christian friend recently put it, “The Bible was written FOR us, but not TO us.”
Christiamericans are almost exclusively part of the “The Bible is God’s perfect, mistake-free, written word” crowd. The paradox, however, is that they pay more attention to words ostensibly written by the human authors of the Bible more than they do to the red letters found in the book...19
The two main culprits being the Old Testament law and the Apostle Paul
Christiamericans love to cite the laws contained in the first five books of the Old Testament.20 These are the passages often used to justify bigotry, dominionism, racism, and vengeance. Yet, followers of this religious movement completely disregard the cautionary tales found in the Historical, Wisdom, and Prophetic Books which fill out the rest of the Old Testament.21 Furthermore, there is no attempt by Christiamericans to understand and apply Jesus’ words about what he considered to be the greatest of all commandments.22
Likewise, most of the New Testament philosophy followed by Christiamericans is less reflective of the words of Jesus, but more so on the highly problematic Paul the Apostle. At best, Paul was a bigoted, racist, prone-to-violence misogynist. At worst, he was a charlatan and an egotistical grifter.23 There is even some speculation that the “thorn in the flesh” he described in 2 Corinthians 12:7 was his self-loathing regarding his homosexuality.
The problem, of course, isn’t that Paul was a very human person with very human characteristics. It’s that he, through his letters to various churches included in the New Testament, has been deified to, and arguably beyond, the level of Jesus. Especially for the Christiamerican. It makes sense in a way. Paul seems to be much more like the rugged, pugilistic cowboy of the American mythos than Jesus does. Which leads to the next characteristic of Christiamericanity…
Christiamericanity is a perverse interpretation of Biblical principles, viewed through the lens of a false American Mythos
That’s a mouthful…
The book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by
tells the story of how evangelicals have created a caricature of Jesus over the last 75 years that is part Chuck Norris, part John Wayne, and yes, even part Donald Trump. The author argues that this patriarchal, hyper-masculine version of Christ has led to pseudo-Christian effigies with names like Doug Wilson, Bill Gothard, and Mark Driscoll. As well as the even more well-known JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, Mike Johnson, and the aforementioned Russell Vought.24We are at the culminating point of the evangelical push for Christian Dominionism which was detailed in Project 2025.25 This plan is currently in the process of being implemented in virtually every American institution from the government to the military, education, media, religion, business, arts and entertainment, and in American homes.26
Read How Trump is Spearheading the American Christian Nationalist Movement by
AND
7 Mountain Mandate: Your Blueprint for Navigating the Christian Nationalists' Agenda by
This noxious blend of cherry-picked biblical ideas and romanticized Americana is the foundation for the religion of Christiamericanity.
This is what it looks like…
COMFORT - Christiamericans allow no room for growth, improvement, or conviction. Their beliefs about the world are opposite those principles that Jesus espoused - especially the challenging ones that require selflessness. They insist on saccharine messaging that reminds them of how special they are to God and how much he loves them. But don’t preach to them about anything that might cause them to have to address their antichrist views and behaviors.
COMPROMISE - Christiamericans claim to be a people of conviction. But their conviction is conditional upon the constructs of their controllers. In other words, they do not possess any unshakeable beliefs about anything. Except to follow and adapt to whatever group-think their demagogue pushes them towards. Beliefs and values are created without any support from either the real world, Christian tradition, or Biblical basis. Rather than being established on verifiable facts or truth, they are built upon distorted biases and the most negative of human emotions. Their world view constantly changes and adapts to align with the whims of whichever person(s) to whom they’ve ceded control. This inevitably leads to hypocrisy, self-destruction, and immense harm to others.
CONTORTION - When confronted with truth, facts, or even just their own hypocrisy, Christiamericans double down on their beliefs and attitudes rather than allow space to repent and grow. As such, their standards shift according to their sense of self-righteousness rather than as a result of self-reflection. They claim their Scriptures to be inerrant and never changing. Yet, they show no compunction for “moving the goalposts” of interpretation if it allows them to dispense of their guilt, inhumanity, ignorance, arrogance, or inconvenient truth.
COMMUNITY- Christiamericans exist inside a bubble of their own making. It tends to be white, suburban, a veneer of tradition, and big on outward appearance. For them, church isn’t something they ARE as much as it is just something they DO - motivated by guilt, expectation, status, tradition, or social needs. But only as long as it’s entertaining, doesn’t make them feel bad about themselves, the music is fun, and there’s good coffee in the lobby.
CONFORMITY - Christiamericans are intellectually and morally lazy. They have neither the will nor the capacity to think critically or defiantly about what their leaders tell them to believe. There is no logical or emotional appeal to be made to their better angels. They rely on being told what to believe, even if it means being a hypocrite.
CONTROL - The end game for Christiamericanity is control. The believe it is their right and responsibility to take over the country and the world. The term for this philosophy is Christian Dominionism and it has been an essential belief for right wing evangelicals for decades.
CONCEIT - Christiamericans possess an odd mix of inferiority and superiority complexes that put them in constant war within themselves. Author
shares one of the most insightful commentaries I’ve read regarding the psychological roots of Christian Nationalism.27 He describes their dual nature of seeing themselves as sinful degenerates but also God’s chosen elect. This phenomenon creates a sort of schizophrenia, where both the evil and the redeemed versions of the “born again” are not only at war with each other, but are acutely aware of the other’s presence.
CONTEMPT - That schizophrenic aspect inevitably leads to self-loathing from the “born again” ego towards the original sinful side. A human being can only abide this self-contempt for so long before it needs to be placed elsewhere. This means there needs to be an “other” who represents complete evil. For the Christiamerican, the “other” are liberals and Democrats. And immigrants. And anyone else who isn’t white Christian evangelical males. Pretty much whoever their demagogues tell them to hate.
CORRUPTION - This psychological creation of an enemy can only have one outcome for the Christiamerican - total annihilation at whatever cost. We are seeing this Machiavellian “end justifies the means” in the onslaught of moral, ethical, and senseless compromises that Christiamericans embrace in order to “win". Even if it means being disingenuous and deceitful. Case in point…
FINAL THOUGHTS
The good news is two-fold:
The Work of Christiamericanity is in Plain Sight
Now, more than ever before, the Christiamerican is emboldened to bring his darkness out into the light. They’ve even shared their playbook with Project 2025. As such, we just need to be vigilant, willing to fight back, work together, and have a plan in place before they amass too much power.
MAGA is a Three-headed Dog That Will Likely Destroy Itself
As author and expert on Christian fundamentalism
writes:Musk. Trump. Evangelical Fundamentalists. They are the triune MAGA god, the three-headed Cerberus sharing one set of legs. Which way will they go? Well, That depends. Why did they go outside of the law to take control of the nation’s payment processing and data?
They have their reasons.
Rigid fundamentalists couldn’t gain populist power.
A depraved populist couldn’t gain religious power.
Putridly rich tech bros couldn’t gain ruling power.
But combined, they are what we’re facing today: A theologarchy that will try to devour the power supply all three of them feed upon: we, the people. Evangelical fundamentalists want global dominion for God. Trump wants to be a god. Musk already acts like a god.
A god complex is part of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Let’s hope the dog destroys itself before it destroys America.
Otherwise, we are headed for Christiamerinsanity.
Which describes the typical evangelical fundamentalist of today
Which describes the example and teachings of Jesus as portrayed in the Bible
A term I doubt he would’ve ever used
Matthew 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes
Matthew 5:13-16 - He describes his listeners as the salt that seasons the world and the light that brightens it.
Matthew 5:17-20 - He speaks about the difference between false teaching and living with integrity.
Matthew 5:21-32 - He uses the immoral acts of murder and adultery to teach that the guilt and the sin is not in those actions, but in the attitudes, thoughts, and feelings that lead up to those actions.
Matthew 5:33-37 - He admonishes people taking oaths before God and tells them to take ownership of their own “yays and nays”.
Matthew 5:38-42 - This is the “turn the other cheek” passage that many mistakingly interpret as a message of meekness or forgiveness. Jesus was actually teaching two important truths about how to respond to those who attack you. The act of “turning the other cheek” is an act of defiance that tells the offender that their first hit didn’t break you. Likewise, the lesson about handing over your coat teaches us to not give abusers power over us by fearing what they can take from us.
Matthew 5:43-6:18 - He specifically points out how to treat the people we have the hardest time with (our enemies and those less fortunate than us) as well as how to practice religious rituals.
Matthew 6:19-24 - He reminds that we can’t serve two masters: God and money
Matthew 6:25-34 - He cautions that worrying about things has no power and that everything is figureouttable
Matthew 7:1-6 - He exhorts to be careful to not judge others by different standards you have for yourself, to be more concerned about correcting your own issues rather than those of others, and to be careful about giving the best of yourself to those who would only destroy it.
Matthew 7:7-29 - Here he claims that those who seek truth will find it and that the path to finding it is narrow. He cautions against following false, or dishonest leaders and teachers and how pursuing falsehood will take you away from God’s favor. Instead, he tells his listeners to be sure to build their lives on the foundations of truth, kindness, and goodness that he preached about in this sermon.
Many Bibles print the alleged words of Jesus in red ink.
Typically found in the books known as The Pentateuch of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy
Including the lessons that Samuel teaches about following a demagogue like King Saul! (See the book of I Samuel)
To love God and to love others as you love yourself
Now that I think about it, I can see who so many Christiamericans look to as a role model!
These are some bad dudes…I mean “bad” in the literal sense, not in complimentary way.
Which has NO biblical basis, in case anyone was wondering
This is what Christiamericans refer to as the Seven Mountains Mandate