Love your neighbour, not your nation – Q&A with Stephen Backhouse

Christian nationalism has infiltrated much of Christianity, and is now in government, too.

Nationalism and patriotism are the same thing for Stephen Backhouse: idols that get in the way of where our true loyalty as Christ-followers should lie. He talked to S(h)ibboleth about Christian nationalism and how to spot it.

S(h)ibboleth: Christian nationalism, is it something that is going to be a problem sometime on the horizon? Is it something we should be worried about?

Stephen Backhouse: I think Christian nationalism defines the default Christianity that you and I were born into, and that anybody who reads this is experiencing whether they know it or not. Think about your bog-standard, basic evangelical, charismatic or church-going Catholic – just that kind of Christian. That's Christian nationalism.

And what defines Christian nationalism?

Any 'ism' is like your lens or your frame that essentially gives you your ultimate authority. How you interpret morality, how you're going to make decisions in the world. Nationalism is where the needs of a nation – the social morality of a nation, the identity that comes from being a member of a nation – that becomes your guiding principle. I don't think it's something extreme – we're not talking about Nazis wearing overcoats and lining up Jews against a wall and shooting them. That is an end point of Christian nationalism. But you can have Christian nationalism well before that.

People think: we don't have that particular extreme from 1940s Germany, therefore, we don't have it. Actually no, this is the Christianity that you were born into. For example, Jesus doesn't want you to kill your enemies. The vast majority of Christians that I've ever spoken to on any continent in any denomination support the troops and think that it's good to kill your enemies to defend your nation.

Jesus said don't do it. Your nation says do it. You're a nationalist. Nations have ultimate authority for you, over Jesus.

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If you're a Christian and you think it's all right to kill a human being to solve your problem in any way, especially if it's to defend your state or your nation or your tribe, you are perfectly justified. Philosophically there's lots of good arguments for it. There's lots of good reasons to kill human beings to defend your nation. It's just that Jesus said don't do it, and you are doing it. You can do it, you just can't call yourself a follower of Jesus while doing it, because Jesus is not your ultimate authority.

What are some other ways you see Christian nationalism manifesting?

One example is the idea that being a good citizen and being a Christian are similar, where Christians will often think of law-breaking as a sin.

Christians are very wary of becoming seen as 'not good citizens', not reliable citizens. There's a sort of idea that social morality is equated with Christian ethics.

When we talk about Christian nationalism, it's kind of like the water that a fish swims in. You don't even notice it. I'm not talking about like the extreme of somebody kicking down your door and saying are you hiding any atheists? We're going to drag them out and kill them. I'm talking about the story it tells you about yourself. The story that tells you who you are, why you're here on this earth, what your ultimate meaning is, is a story that is much more informed by being the kind of person that furthers the aims and needs of your country, rather than of the kingdom of Christ.

So, nationalism, for the Christian, is a conflict of loyalties? Idolatry as well as ideology?

It's idolatry because what's your ultimate authority? If you are a follower of Jesus, if you're a Christian, then you're supposed to think that Jesus is God, or Jesus is God's voice on earth.

And [if you're a nationalist] you look at Jesus and you go: "oh, that's an interesting point of view of Jesus. I wonder what the Old Testament said. I wonder what my politicians say. I wonder what my pastor says. I wonder what the Apostle Paul says." We think Jesus said don't do these things or act this way, but that would make us unreliable citizens. And history shows us that we always go for the other voices that allow us to kill our enemies or retain our sense of 'progression'.

This very prevalent idea of 'civilizational Christianity' is another one you see. Because when Elon Musk says we must defend 'Christian values' or when Donald Trump says we're going to defend 'Christianity', they're not talking about Jesus Christ. These are not people whose lives are filled with the light and love of Jesus Christ. They're talking about Western civilization. Basically, White Western civilization. They're talking about European, Eurocentric civilization. Civilizational Christianity primarily sees Christianity as the builder of a of a type of civilization.

And Christianity has built Western civilization. But if you are serious about being a follower of Jesus, you have to notice that every single thing that a Western civilization had to do to become great was done as a direct disobedience to Jesus. We have to start getting used to the idea that being a Christian and being a follower of the way of Jesus are not the same thing.

Are 'nationalist' and 'patriot' pretty much interchangeable?

I think they are, yeah. And anybody who's ever died in any war ever, as an attacker or a defender or collateral damage, has died because of patriotism. It's the emotion that has probably killed human beings more than any others. It's the justification that allows you to kill a human being and keep your conscience clear.

Perhaps, then, it's not just about the killing, it's about saying 'we're better than them because our country is better than theirs'?

Absolutely right. It's not just the killing. It's the identity. The patriotic story essentially tells you that you are a product of your nation. It privileges ethnic or national heritage as your form of identity.

Some people would say: 'I'm a patriot. I love my country and I love Jesus.' What's so wrong with that?

Well, you can't do both. It's like a wagon hitched to two horses, and they're going in opposite directions.

The earliest Christians thought of patriotism as a vice. They recognised it as a as a very strong feeling in people, this idea of patria, but they were suspicious of it in the same way that they were suspicious of lust or greed. They thought: this is a natural feeling. But it's an indication of something in me that needs to be overcome, not endorsed. Not allowed to flourish. Because that feeling of patriotism is drawing me into a form of life which is asking me to do things that are the opposite to what Jesus asked me to do. To privilege only my people, who look like me and sound like me. It's asking me to privilege the heritage of my inheritance, to privilege a group I was born into.

Jesus is constantly the opposite: 'You must leave your father and mother to come follow me.' He says: 'I tell you, the kingdom of God is made of people like this' – the people from the hedgerows and the byways he brings in. 'Don't kill your enemies,' he says, and: 'When somebody tries to attack your temple, don't fight them, flee to the mountains.'
Everything that Jesus wants you to do, to be his follower, would make you look like a bad patriot. And the early followers of Jesus knew this.

There is so much more of this interview for you to read. Get a print copy of this issue of S(h)ibboleth now. 

This excerpt comes from Issue 3 of S(h)ibboleth magazine.