On this episode of the Second Hour of War Room, host Alex Blumberg sits down with host Jim Carville to discuss the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and the rise of Christian nationalism in America.
00:00:58.580People in the press have no idea who this guy is, how he was formed, what the threat is, and this is a fundamental threat to the United States.
00:01:35.680And, you know, they probably won't win for a while, but they might.
00:01:39.680And if they do, the whole country blows the gas.
00:01:42.340I think, you know, what you're sort of getting at here is Christian nationalism, right?
00:01:47.040I haven't read the book yet, but I read the piece that you put out in The Atlantic about it that ended with the pastor who took over for your father, who was trying to fight the takeover of Trump in the church.
00:01:59.060You asked him what's happened to the evangelicals in America, and he said they love America too much.
00:02:04.020It's like they're – is that what we're dealing with here?
00:02:06.220Is this what the evangelicals, or at least for some evangelicals that are supporting Trump, morphed into Christian nationalism?
00:02:12.640I think so, and listen, Christian nationalism is a loaded term, and it means different things to different people.
00:02:18.880So I think clarifying in this context what the definition is is helpful.
00:02:23.640At the end of the day, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are called to a citizenship in heaven, and you are called to be a part of the kingdom of God.
00:02:33.160And we are warned as Christians throughout Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, prayers and epistles, all the way through.
00:02:39.840It's not ambiguous that your identity is rooted in heaven.
00:02:44.320Your identity is rooted in following Jesus.
00:02:48.040Unfortunately, I think this love of country, which can be healthy to a point, over-realized among some of these evangelical Christians, has sort of merged two kingdoms into one and has created this belief that somehow if America falls, then God himself is defeated.
00:03:07.600When, again, as Christians, we believe that Jesus triumphed over the grave, so there is no such thing as defeat.
00:03:13.080But when you begin to think of America as almost this covenant nation, that God has ordained us, God has blessed us, and you are fighting for God by fighting for America, that is Christian nationalism.
00:03:26.160And that is what has infected much of the church today.
00:03:29.420In America, we don't worship government.