Top of the News: Immigration, Ukraine, and Christian Nationalism
Three new columns on topics in the public debate
Three topics have been in the news lately: immigration, the war in Ukraine, and Christian nationalism. I’ve recently written pieces on each issue.
First, The Bush Center for Faith and Culture asked me to write an explainer that helps frame some biblical principles on immigration. Christians of goodwill, of course, will disagree on specifics, but I think Scripture offers us some basic ideas for how to think about it:
America has the right and duty to secure her borders and protect her citizens.
America should uphold the rule of law.
America should create more efficient pathways for people to emigrate legally with limits based on a variety of factors.
The US cannot take in all those who flee terror and religious persecution, but we should take as many as we can, provided there is appropriate screening.
Individual Christians have different responsibilities than the state and federal government.
American Christians should welcome immigrants and refugees who end up in our communities.
American Christians should see the nations coming to America as ordained by God and an opportunity for evangelism and discipleship.
You can read the rest of it here:
Second, I co-wrote an opinion piece for The Christian Post with Dr. Richard Land on the necessity of the U.S. Congress to send urgently needed support to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan against their totalitarian foes bent on their destruction:
The fall of Ukraine to Russia, and a failure of resolve on Israel will only signal to the dictators in Beijing that they have a free hand to take on their island neighbor. Unlike in the case of Ukraine and Israel, it is clear that Taiwan cannot defend itself successfully against Chinese aggression without active American military participation.
This is a test of American resolve, a test of whether we will keep our commitments to our NATO allies and to our allies in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan or whether we will shrink back into the neo-isolationism that was a catalyst for world war a century ago. Republicans have a chance to help correct the weak posture of the current administration.
You can read the rest here.
Third, my column at USA Today digs into new research on the topic of Christian nationalism. There is new research that shows that this belief is held by very few Americans. So I urged folks to not use this term as a pejorative for folks who simply want to apply their faith to the public square:
To be sure, there is an academic conversation among Christian scholars about the scope of government, and there is a small but growing cohort who are dissatisfied with classic liberalism and American democracy.
Patrick Deneen, author of books such as "Why Liberalism Failed" and "Regime Change," is part of a group of Catholic thinkers who espouse what is commonly referred to as Catholic integralism. Protestant scholar Stephen Wolfe has ignited a similar discussion in evangelical academic circles with his book, "The Case for Christian Nationalism," in which he calls for a return to “Christendom.”
As a Baptist, I strongly disagree with the theses of both Deneen and Wolfe. While Baptists advocate for a robust Christian engagement in the public square and believe that America’s founding ideals are rooted, in part, in Christianity, we believe that the best social arrangement is a free church in a free state.
Still, the term itself has been employed to incorporate seemingly any Christian engagement in the public square.
To address the lack of definition of what constitutes Christian nationalism, one group has released a survey that both dispels some of the hyperbole and gives a more nuanced picture. The group, Neighborly Faith, began with a 14-point definition of Christian nationalism. What the researchers found is that the number of actual Christian nationalists is much smaller than we’ve been led to believe: Only 5% of Americans self-identify as Christian nationalists, and only 11% of Americans fit the category of “adherents.”
You can read the rest of the column here: