The Trump administration and its agents with their crusader tattoos, and its supporters, adore the idea of Christian nationalism. It’s a pity they’re short on the ‘Christian’ part, says columnist Ross Douthat.
“Christian nationalism” can be understood in two ways, Douthat tells the New York Times. The first emphasizes the “Christian” aspect and imagines nationalism as the vehicle through which conservative believers impose their doctrines on a pluralist society. Think inquisitions, witch trials, and the Republic of Gilead.
“But there’s a second understanding, in which ‘nationalism’ is the controlling word and the religious modifier is the pinch of incense that makes believers comfortable with worldly deeds and choices,” said Douthat, adding that the second understanding seems closer to the Trump administration.
“What’s notable about this administration, though, is how widely the religious deficit extends,” Douthat said. “When the Trump administration slashed foreign aid programs that often reflected an explicitly Christian humanitarianism, some religious conservatives welcomed or made their peace with the cuts. But with the exception of the transgender issue, more ‘right-wing’-coded religious priorities have also received little attention from this administration.”
The administration keeps the pro-life movement at arm’s length, said Douthat. Trump, a serial adulterer, offers only symbolic moves toward the regulation of pornography, drugs, and gambling that evangelical Christianity once vigorously opposed.
“And it has done little to address growing Christian anxieties about the dehumanizing effects of an artificial intelligence future. If the right’s coalition is divided between an A.I.-boosting donor class and a potentially A.I.-skeptical base (which has Steve Bannon as its would-be spokesman), the Trump administration has strongly favored the side that wants to build the Machine God,” said Douthat.
The administration does have plenty of rhetoric, however, about the value of Christianity and complaints about alleged Christian persecution overseas and pious social media posts on Catholic holidays, of course. But it all comes off as performance in the absence of religious-informed policymaking.
“More Christian politics could serve the White House on three fronts,” said Douthat. “A true Christian social vision in policymaking could shepherd the nation away from its obsession with “transient hedonic vices” and toward more meaningful permanent commitments. It could also steer the administration away from needlessly cruel practices like treatment of immigration-related detainees or the murderous treatment of alleged drug runners left helpless in the sea.
“A little more Christianity in its nationalism might simply prevent this administration from doing wicked things,” Douthat said.