When the homosexual comes out of the closet and he is bragging about his activities, demanding not only acceptance, but endorsement, that is a nation that God is taking his hand off of. And that’s exactly who we are.
Jesus, take the wheel
Take it from my hands
‘Cause I can’t do this on my own
I’m letting go
So give me one more chance
And save me from this road I’m on
Jesus, take the wheel
— Chorus for Jesus, Take the Wheel
If you listen to the mainstream media, you might conclude that Christian Nationalism is new; and that Donald Trump and his MAGA faithful are to blame for the rise of Christian Nationalism in Evangelical sects and churches. Mainstream media says, “Look what we found!” However, as someone who spent the first fifty years of his life in Evangelicalism, I can authoritatively say that Evangelicals have always been, to some degree or the other, (white) Christian nationalists. I can’t remember a time when the American flag and the Christian flag didn’t fly together on Evangelical church platforms or flag poles in front of church buildings.
What is new is how Evangelicals now view the separation of church and state. When I began training for the ministry in 1976, most Evangelicals believed that there was a strict, inviolable separation of church and state. Each was a separate sphere of influence; separate, but equal. God ordains both government and church, each with their own duties and obligations. I believed then, and still do today, that government and church need to stay the hell out of each other’s business. The government can and must insist churches follow building and health codes and obey the law, but outside of that, the government should leave churches alone. That’s called freedom of religion.
Many Evangelical preachers now believe that the separation of church and state is a myth; that Christians are duty-bound to capture and control the government for the glory of God. In their minds, Jesus sits on the throne as ruler and king, and the Bible (as interpreted by them, of course) is the law of the land. Their goal is a hostile takeover of the secular state.
Regardless of how Evangelicals view the separation of church and state, most of them believe that the United States is a divinely chosen and called nation — an explicitly Christian nation. In their minds, the United States, much like the Jewish state, has a unique relationship with God; that God has blessed our nation because of our commitment to Christianity. As long as we maintain this commitment, God will bless us.
This “blessing” from God is often described as “God’s hand upon us.” Much like Adam Smith’s invisible hand, many Evangelicals believe that God has ahold of the steering wheel and is guiding us where he wants to go. Culture wars (which are primarily fueled by Evangelicals, conservative Catholics, and Mormons) are God taking the wheel and steering the United States in the direction he wants us to go.
The past fifty years have not been kind to Evangelicals. American culture has largely abandoned Evangelicalism. There are more non-Christians in the United States than there are Evangelical Christians. As a result, Evangelicals lose one culture battle after another. Not having numbers sufficient to win elections, Evangelicals (who are overwhelmingly Republican) have turned to using gerrymandered legislatures to advance their cause. This approach will eventually fail as voters fix the gerrymandering problem through voter initiatives or amendments to state constitutions.
If the United States is a Christian nation, why are we becoming increasingly non-Christian or indifferent towards religious beliefs? Some Evangelical preachers, such as Rick Scarborough quoted above, think the answer to the “why” question is that God has taken his hands off the wheel; that the United States is a driverless car careening down the highway.
How do Evangelicals know that God has taken his hands off the wheel? According to Scarborough, the h-o-m-o-s-e-x-u-a-l-s are to blame. Ah yes, blame the queers. During my high school years in the 70s, I can’t remember a sermon on the evils of homosexuality or abortion. Preachers blamed hippies, draft dodgers, rock music, and short-skirted slutty women for the decline of Western civilization. Today, LGBTQ people are to blame for, well, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g Evangelicals deem an affront to their deity. In their minds, if LGBTQ people would return to the closet (by force, if necessary), never to be seen again, then, and only then, will God put his hands back on the proverbial wheel.
Of course, even if LGBTQ people disappeared in the Gay Rapture, Evangelicals would not be satisfied. There are always culture wars to fight. There will always be threats of driverless cars speeding down the cultural highway. Evangelical preachers know that congregants need to feel threatened or persecuted for them to be motivated to attend church, and most importantly, give their tithes and offerings. Fear is good for business and keeping God’s soldiers on the battle lines.
The only hands on the cultural steering wheel are ours. May justice, equality, inclusion, and fairness always guide us.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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“God take the wheel” seems an apt slogan for people who trust self driving Teslas. Now that’s faith in action.
Folks who seek to abolish separation of church and state are wishing for religious dictatorship just exactly like those existing in Iran and other Muslim countries. Lets hope they don’t get their wish. It’s not a way most of us (including evangelicals if they think about it) would want to live.
Previous generations blamed sex, drugs and rock & roll. This is ridiculous. The Christian Nationalists want to create Gilead with Trump.
My Grandma was caught up in Christian Nationalism as long as I can remember being aware of it – the early 80s. She truly believed that USA was a Christian Nation that needed its government and politicians to be firmly steeped in fundamentalist Christianity. I am not sure where she got this – Christian radio I guess? She didn’t consume any media other than Christian media, though the rest of us in the house weren’t part of that and did our own thing. I grew up with names like Phyllis Schlafly, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, being part of her media repertoire. When the news media finally started reporting on Christian Nationalism, I was like, where have y’all been for the past 40 years? My uncle said he noticed pastors telling people how to vote from the pulpit in the late 80s and got out then.
As a trans woman, I have the power to steer the Tesla of this republic off the Big Sur cliffs. (She twitches her nose.)
Who knew?
As Dutch Guy wrote, the Evangelicals might regret getting what they wished, I mean prayed, for. That is what happens in theocracies: People who fight for them, convinced they are on the “right” side of God, Yahweh, Allah or whichever deity, soon find out that over something—whether it’s their interpretation of theology or simply the way they dress—doesn’t comport with what those who make or administer the laws dictate and mandate. And they end up in the same boat as those who consciously don’t (or can’t) comply.
Bruce, I think the election year 1976 with Carter and Ford started it but, The “Moral Majority” and Jerry Falwell drilled it in beginning around 1979 with support of Reagan. That was (in my opinion) when the evangelicals and IFB’s began to look at politics. I also remember the 70’s where sermons were on hippies, draft dodgers, women’s lib etc. Jack Hyles infamous sermon which went into print “Satans bid for your child” if read today (I re-read a couple years ago) does not even mention politics. Jimmy Carter (because he was a Baptist) was beloved until he did the Playboy interview. You might recall the Sword of the Lord conference at Cobo Hall in Detroit. The big IFB names were there including John Rice and even Jack Van Impe when he was IFB yet that conference didn’t focus at all on politics. It was Falwell (later despised by IFB) that put us on the war path with politics which then spawned Dobson and others.