Hello my friends,

With the the Rededicate 250 event being held at the National Mall today (May 17th) I wanted to reflect with you on the dangers of revisionist history, the state wielding performative Christianity, and what Jesus may be calling us to in days like these.

Recommended Resources

-A Christian Field Guide to Christian Nationalism . I recently put together this brief resource in hopes to equip people to be able to better respond to questions about Christian Nationalism in their day to day life. By clicking the link above, you can download the ebook as a PDF. I hope you find it helpful.

​-Better Ways To Read The Bible, by Pastor Zach Lambert. My friend and colleague Zach Lambert has written a great book on better ways to read the Bible in light of many of the ways it has been misused in our modern age. If you are interested, you can read more about it in the link above.

​-Christian Nationalism Is Not Conservative, by Political Potatoes Podcast. I was recently interviewed by my friend Gregory Graf over at political potatoes, which focuses on Idaho culture, Idaho politics, and beyond. We talked about the political and religious movement that is impacting both thee state of Idaho and the nation. I think you may find it helpful.

​-Doug Wilson Interview If you haven't seen this interview with a prominent self proclaimed Christian Nationalist here in Idaho, I encourage you to watch when you're able. His movement has gained prominence in recent years. For example, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, is a member of Wilson's church network. It's tough to listen to, but it is so important to know what we are facing. They are literally advocating for removing women's right to vote and repealing the 19th Amendment. We need to oppose such movements as followers of Jesus.

​-The Path to Contentment, by Hidden Brain. I found this interview with psychologist Iris Mauss to be really helpful. She explains why happiness can seem more elusive the harder we chase it and what we can do instead to build a lasting sense of contentment. In our culture that has long prioritized the "pursuit of happiness," unpacking what that actually means is really productive.

Rededicating America To God?

On Sunday, May 17th, the Trump administration is holding a national “rededication” worship service. The stated goal is to “rededicate the United States as being one nation under God” for our nation’s 250th anniversary.

While there are many who are celebrating this service, many others, such as myself, see it as a blatant misuse of our sacred faith as a tool for cultural and political dominance.

The stated goal for this event is a red flag as it is historically dishonest and encourages Americans to assume “one nation under God” has always been part of our national identity. It has not.

The phrase “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 during the Cold War under President Dwight Eisenhower. The original pledge, written in 1892, did not contain those words. The addition came during a period of intense ideological conflict with the officially atheistic Soviet Union. American leaders wanted to distinguish the United States from communism by emphasizing religious belief in the nation’s public identity.

Likewise, “In God We Trust” did appear on some coins during the Civil War era, but it did not become the official national motto of the United States until 1956, also during the Cold War.

Before that, the traditional motto associated with the United States was E Pluribus Unum: “Out of many, one.” That phrase, adopted in 1782 as part of the Great Seal of the United States, reflected something profoundly important about the American experiment. It envisioned a nation formed not around one ethnicity, one denomination, one political ideology, or one religious tradition dominating everyone else, but around the difficult and ongoing task of forging unity amid diversity.

“Out of many, one.”

The emphasis was not religious exclusivism. It was pluralism held together in shared civic life. That does not mean the founders were hostile to religion. Many were deeply influenced by religious ideas, particularly Christianity. But they also understood the dangers of state-established religion from European history. Many early settlers themselves had fled societies where governments enforced conformity to a particular Christian sect.

This is why the Constitution contains no reference to Christianity as the official religion of the nation. This is why Article VI explicitly prohibits religious tests for public office. This is why the First Amendment prevents Congress from establishing a national religion while also protecting the free exercise of faith. The founders understood something many modern Christians seem to forget. That when governments fuse themselves too closely with religion, both democracy and Christianity are often harmed. Because once Christianity becomes intertwined with national identity, those who disagree politically or theologically can quickly be portrayed not merely as fellow citizens with differing views, but as enemies of God, enemies of the nation, or threats to “Christian civilization.”

And this is where the contrast becomes deeply important today. There is a significant difference between people of faith contributing to public life and a political movement attempting to frame one specific expression of Christianity as the defining identity of the nation itself. The first can enrich society. The second becomes coercive.

Given the line up of speakers for Sunday’s service, which includes Franklin Graham, Bishop Robert Barron, Robert Jeffress, and Paula White, all of whom have been unapologetic in their desire for the United States to conform to their particular Christian beliefs, it seems quite clear that the true goal of events like this is to reassert religious dominance of a particular brand of Christianity over the nation, under the guise of “rededication.”

Throughout history, this has been one of the most dangerous dynamics, the fusion of state power with performative Christianity. Not sincere faith. Not ordinary people trying to follow Jesus imperfectly. But governments and political movements using Christian language, symbols, and identity to strengthen their own authority, justify their actions, and secure loyalty from the public.

History shows us again and again that when the state seeks Christian dominance rather than Christlike humility, the result is almost never the flourishing of the way of Jesus. Instead, Christianity often becomes a tool of empire, nationalism, exclusion, fear, and control.

In the fourth century, after Christianity became aligned with the Roman Empire under Constantine and later emperors, the faith that once existed largely as a marginalized movement centered on humility, service, and care for the vulnerable increasingly became intertwined with imperial power. Christianity moved from persecuted minority to state-supported religion. While this brought some protections and opportunities for the church, it also introduced profound temptations. The church became entangled with political dominance, coercion, and state violence in ways that deeply shaped Christian history for centuries afterward.

During the medieval period, European kingdoms often fused national identity with Christian identity so completely that political dissent could be treated as spiritual rebellion. The Crusades were justified with religious rhetoric. Violence was sanctified in the name of defending Christendom, even towards Christian sects who resisted. The language of faith became intertwined with conquest and empire.

Centuries later, many authoritarian regimes continued this same pattern. Francisco Franco, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Jozef Tiso, Augusto Pinochet, and others, repeatedly invoked God, Providence, and Christianity to encourage the Christian majority to accommodated themselves to nationalism, militarism, bigotry, and authoritarian rule. In each of these cases, Christianity was repurposed as a tool of empire.

Religious symbolism was used to create moral legitimacy. Christian identity was used to rally support. Faith language was used to frame political power as sacred. Criticism of leadership could then be portrayed not merely as political disagreement, but as opposition to God, nation, or “Christian civilization” itself.

A Kingdom Not Of This World.

This is precisely why followers of Jesus should be deeply cautious whenever political movements become overly invested in a certain brand of Christianity. Because Jesus never taught that the kingdom of God would come through domination, coercion, or national supremacy.

Jesus consistently resisted the temptation to seize political power. When crowds wanted to make him king by force, he withdrew. When Peter reached for the sword, Jesus rebuked him. When standing before Pilate, Jesus declared that his kingdom was not of the same nature as the kingdoms of this world.

The irony is difficult to ignore. Many who speak most loudly about creating “a Christian nation” often advocate policies, rhetoric, and systems that stand in profound tension with the teachings of Christ himself. Jesus taught love of neighbor, including the foreigner and enemy. Jesus blessed the poor and warned the wealthy. Jesus condemned religious hypocrisy more fiercely than almost anything else. Jesus centered children, the vulnerable, the sick, and the marginalized. Jesus rejected the pursuit of status, domination, and public religious performance for the sake of recognition.

And yet throughout history and today, movements claiming Christian dominance have often been marked instead by exclusion, cruelty, nationalism, fearmongering, greed, suppression of dissent, scapegoating of minorities, and the consolidation of power.

This contradiction should deeply grieve Christians. Because the issue is not whether Christians should participate in public life. Of course they should. Christians are called to pursue justice, mercy, truth, compassion, and the common good within society.

The danger arises when Christianity stops being a prophetic witness to power and instead becomes a religious justification for power. Because Christianity not only becomes a justification for all the decisions of those in power, no matter how cruel, but the same government powerful enough to impose one form of Christianity is powerful enough to redefine Christianity tomorrow according to whoever holds office next. Throughout history, state-controlled religion almost always becomes distorted by the ambitions of political leaders rather than shaped by the teachings of God.

And in a nation as religiously diverse as the United States, whose Christianity would even be enforced? Catholic? Evangelical? Pentecostal? Mainline Protestant? Orthodox? Progressive? Fundamentalist? Even among Christians, there are profound theological disagreements on scripture, sacraments, ethics, politics, church authority, nationalism, violence, immigration, wealth, and countless other issues. This is why attempts to establish “Christian dominance” almost always require coercion, exclusion, and the suppression of dissenting voices, including dissenting Christian voices.

One of the most pressing questions for me has always been, if Christianity is true, why would it need state power to survive?

The early church spread across the Roman Empire not through political control, but through sacrificial love, generosity, courage, hospitality, care for the poor and sick, and radical fidelity to Jesus in the face of persecution. The church was most transformative when it had the least worldly power. But when Christianity becomes obsessed with controlling national identity, maintaining dominance, or enforcing public religiosity, it often drifts away from the very teachings of Jesus it claims to defend.

That is why Christians should be especially cautious whenever faith becomes wrapped too tightly in nationalism, political spectacle, or state power. Not because faith is unimportant. But because it is sacred. When the church becomes too closely tied to the ambitions of the state, it often loses its ability to speak truthfully against injustice altogether.

Christians should be among the strongest defenders of this freedom, not because faith is unimportant, but because genuine faith cannot be forced by the state. Love cannot be legislated into existence. Worship cannot be coerced. Allegiance to Jesus must remain freely given, not politically imposed.

And when Christians seek to wield the power of the state to enforce religious dominance, we should not be surprised when the watching world begins to associate Christianity not with the Sermon on the Mount, but with power, coercion, exclusion, and fear.

That is not only dangerous for democracy. It is dangerous for the soul of the church itself.

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" -Amos 5:21-25

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of we are currently navigating together. You can find out more below: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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