DOGE Dismantles a Stronghold of Christian Nationalism

Evangelicals for Harris rejoice! Trump is working to end idolatrous Christian Nationalism.

The Trump Administration threw the world of Christian Nationalism into disarray this month.

The overwhelmingly popular Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) recommended a funding freeze for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) along the way to the possible abolishment of the program altogether. As of 11:59pm Sunday, 2,000 USAID positions have just been eliminated.

For far too long, USAID has funded dangerously unAmerican and dangerously unChristian efforts around the globe. To the tune of millions, sometimes even billions of dollars, USAID has propped up “Christian” organizations who are more focused on the blessings that come from God rather than life with God. They use Christianity as a means to secure earthly goods.

According to one Christian Nationalist, Matthew Loftus,

“A lot of what USAID is funding is critical infrastructure that everyone relies on to keep their programs running every day, like medicines. This is how the missionaries that you support do their job every day.”

A sampling of the Christian Nationalist projects funded by USAID include: health clinics, orphan care, life-saving HIV care, mission hospitals, and aid for Ukraine.

While these goals may seem worthwhile, here’s the problem: the goal is not Christianity. Jesus is not the goal. Christianity is just a tool, a device, to secure earthly blessings.

In fact, according to USAID rules:

“Faith-based and community organizations may not use financial assistance from USAID (or any other Federal agency) to support explicitly religious activities, but are otherwise free to engage in such activities. Explicitly religious activities involve content such as worship, prayer meetings, religious instruction and proselytization.”

Laying aside the proclamation of the Gospel (proselytization) and discipleship (religious instruction) in order to gain money and power from the government is not true Christianity, it’s idolatry. This is using Christianity simply as a means to get blessings from God rather than God Himself.

This isn’t what Jesus taught or what the apostles preached. It isn’t the mission of the church. This isn’t what we read in the New Testament. And, it’s certainly not the surrender of power we see in the cross.

Of course, I’m writing tongue in cheek.

Progressives follow the Iron Law of Projection: they themselves are doing what they accuse their enemies of doing. While horrified that so-called Christian Nationalists might use the means of governmental power to further their aims, this is, in reality, what progressives do. Proudly.

Leftist Christians don’t really have a problem with POWER as a means. They just don’t want those means to be used for conservative ends. The truth is, it is progressives, far more than conservatives, who believe the proper role of government is to “do good” and “secure blessings.” They explicitly want to EXPAND their tribe’s grip on power within the government in order to achieve their ends. And they’re more than willing to curtail the Jesus talk in order to get there. Who’s really using Jesus as a means?

When “racist” lost its sting, new insults had to be created. “Christian Nationalism” is just the latest epithet in a long line of them. It’s the latest scare word to use as a cudgel against hated conservatives.

Anti-CN is a way for supposed experts to make money and gain prestige churning out new books and hitting the interview circuit, expanding their platforms with the latest political and sociological fad.

Anti-CN progressives could try to pick apart the points I’m making here. They could explain how the government’s anti-proselytization rule is no real impediment to ministry. And how it’s actually a good thing for America to project soft power by funding humanitarian projects.

They’ll use Christian arguments from Scripture explaining why the government should be doing explicitly Christian good works through Christian ministries and see absolutely no contradiction between this and their critiques of Christian Nationalism.

Ok, we’re all doing similar things, they might admit. We’re not really content with “life with God” only. We are seeking blessings from God too. But, when CN’s do it, they’re only doing it for their tribe: conservative, white, evangelical Christians! They just want a country that looks more like themselves! But we do it for the right reasons.

Sure.

Believe it or not…conservative Christians actually want to do good too. We believe in loving our neighbors, including people who don’t look like us. Obviously. Agree with the wisdom of this philosophy and method or not, but conservatives want a smaller government, taking less tax dollars, in order to keep more of our own hard-earned resources to do as we see fit, which includes giving money to our churches, denominations, and missions organizations.

(On a side note, progressives may one day wish the right still wanted smaller, limited government. It is possible to take this massive monster the left has created and, instead of dismantling it, use it to take control of every American institution and enact it’s agenda no matter the will of the people. As the left has done.)

We disagree with progressives on the role and, therefore, size of the government. Progressive Christians argue we MUST have the assistance of the federal government in order to meet the humanitarian needs we face. Churches, denominations, and missions organizations will never have enough resources to do what needs to be done, they say. Which is why they seek to gain the cultural and political power necessary to secure the means to accomplish their goals…something they call “idolatrous” when Christian Nationalists do it.

Now we’re arguing strategy and tactics, the role of government, and relations between church and state. And that’s really where the discussion should be. We can debate how gaining control of the government in order to have the government promote the efforts of our tribe IS somehow emulating the (Anabaptist) “surrender of power we see in the cross” for leftists but NOT for the right. I’d like to hear that argument. It would be interesting to see how the surrender of power we see in the cross is supposed to be used to prop up a massive leftist empire rather than, say, Christian anarchy.

But let’s not pretend leftist Christians are doing one thing but so-called Christian Nationalists on the right are doing something completely different. Something that is racist and idolatrous. It’s foolish and slanderous to continue with this line of attack.

Most of the critiques of Christian Nationalism used by progressive Christians apply to them as well. They too support candidates who don’t align with Christian piety. They want the government to enact policies which they conceive of as “loving our neighbors” because of God’s commands. They want the federal government to, under the force of law, carry out the teachings of Christianity (according to their tribe’s interpretation of Christianity). “Privileged access to power” is what the anti-CN Christian left claims Christian Nationalists are all about and, yet, it is the current populist movement, which the Christian left despises and associates with CN, that is actively working to overthrow oligarchical, elitist rule.

Anti-Christian Nationalists should be honest about their own tribe, the Christian left. Their critiques of CN apply to them as well. If they can bring themselves to admit that they too are seeking cultural and political power and they are doing so in order to enact their Christian convictions, they’d be left with the excuse that they are using their power for good while the right is using their power for evil: to horde power for their tribe of conservative, white, evangelical Christians. Reality shows such an assertion is a joke.

“Christian Nationalism” as a slur is already losing its sting. Its time for the Christian left to invent a new bogeyman to build their platforms with.