White Christian Nationalism is a political movement with the core belief that America should become a theocracy—a nation built by white Christians, for white Christians.
This belief has had a strong revival with the Trump administration and the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.
During his life, Kirk caught the attention of conservative Christians through his antisemitism and critiques against the separation of church and state, the LGBTQ community, and civil rights activists and laws, according to “Where Charlie Kirk Stood on Key Political Issues” by Ashley Ahn and Maxine Joselow.
Nearly 100,000 Americans, along with the president himself, attended Kirk’s funeral. How can so many citizens pay homage to the life of a demagogue who used religion to justify and preach racist, homophobic, and xenophobic sentiments? The posthumous honors Kirk received raises the question of what these Americans, who honor Kirk, stand for.
Trump showed public support for Kirk’s ideals, as he proclaimed, “In Charlie’s absence, we are now tasked with continuing his mission of giving voice to our cherished American ideals with confidence and clarity,” according to the White House.
Kirk did not seem to give voice to “cherished American ideals” as he referred to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended discrimination and gave non-whites equal opportunities in workplaces and education, as a “mistake” and an “anti-white weapon”.
Furthermore, Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a sermon about the prophesied return of Jesus Christ at Kirk’s funeral. People of high power should never publicly preach or politicize religion—they are not missionaries.
It is alarming to hear top government officials use their platform to preach Christianity because it directly goes against the 1971 ruling of Lemon v. Kurtzman, which states the government can only assist religion if “the primary purpose of the assistance is secular” according to “First Amendment and Religion” published by uscourts.gov.
Trump seeks the incorporation of religion into politics as he wanted to repeal the 1954 Johnson amendment so pastors could “speak freely and without fear of retribution”, as stated in “Pastors who Endorse Political Candidates Shouldn’t Lose Tax-exempt Status, IRS says in Filing” by Associated Press. The Johnson amendment, named after the then-senator Lyndon B. Johnson, prohibits non-profit organizations, such as churches, from endorsing political candidates because of tax-exempt organizations that imitated techniques of McCarthyism.
A great nation does not need to have government-supported religion to be successful. For the longest time, America had been an example of this because of the separation of church and state. Yet, White Christian Nationalists have weakened these ideals with their push back.
After all, when the integrity of a structure is challenged, the whole building will come crumbling down.
