Is America headed toward a violent civil war in the next couple of years? Over 40% of Republicans believe that the country will be split apart violently. They are not alone. Democrats and Independents also believe the country is close to the breaking point. About 80% of Americans feel like the country is on the wrong track. One third of Republicans believe violence is justified in order to save the country from a clearly stolen election. And since the Covid-lockdowns and the January 6th attack on the Capitol, American citizens now possess 400 million guns (more than one for every citizen). Amidst all of that, many evangelical Christians believe that the United States is becoming a godless country embracing abortion, homosexuality, wokeness, drugs, pornography, and a godless school system. And under the Trump/Pence Administration, they have seen the Supreme Court become more conservative and the pro-life movement reassert itself. Many evangelicals believe that if the Republicans can capture the presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, America will be great again and indisputably Christian. I think this is highly unlikely nor do I think it is desireable. Religiously-led governments are disasterous and would definitely kill off democracy in America, but let’s assume all of this happens peacefully through an election season and evangelical Republicans succesfully control the U.S. government. There are some enormous questions evangelicals will now have to wrestle with that they are not even remotely contemplating as they embark on this religious agenda. Let’s take a closer look:
It’s Tuesday, November 5th, 2024 and (Trump/Pence/some other evangelical) has won the presidency. Republicans control Congress and dominate the Supreme Court. Even most of the states have Republican governors. The first big question will be whether the Democratic Party should exist at all since they are supposedly slaves to liberalism and an anti-God party. That would then mean that evangelical leaders will need to push for a one-party State. Only a theocracy (A government based on God’s rules) will work if the Christian Republican Party is to reform this godless country. So that would mean American democracy is finished, and a “Godly government” is now in power. Great right? Who needs democracy if your government is under the leadership of a Holy God?
Well there’s another big challenge. Of the 329 million Americans, a generous high estimate would suggest that only 10% (30 million) are evangelicals. What if the other 299 million Americans violently protest this evangelical America? Are American evangelicals ready to take up arms against 90% of the unbelieving population? Are they ready to use or go up against high-powered assault rifles? Are they ready to have the Christian government round up citizens and put them into armed camps so as to not interfere with the Christian agenda? Or to see their children and grandchildren caught in the crossfire of a long religious war and insurgency that will be assymetrical. There will be car bombs, mass shootings, guerilla warfare, and many weapons being unleashed even if the U.S. military doesn’t show up in defense of the Christian government. What will be done with Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and Atheists? How will equality be preserved for them or what new restrictions will they face to keep America Christian? Basically, this evangelical government is going to have to find a way to control 300 million people (in a Biblically-based way?).
Perhaps the evangelicals can pivot and just proclaim the United States “a Christian nation” that doesn’t have to be led by evangelicals. But do these evangelical leaders in Washington D.C. view Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics as Christians? Traditionally, they have not. Nor have those branches been comfortable with Protestantism. What about within the protestant, evangelical, and Christian sect traditions: Liberal Protestants, Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists; where do they fit in? Will they need to be identified as heretics not to be listened to by needing to wear a badge? Maybe an upside down cross? Or will there be a huge fight within the American Christian government and society between evangelicals, other protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians? How will this be settled? Which branch and theological school of Christianity gets to set the Christian rules of this Christian nation?
One answer could be making sure everyone gets a good evangelical education in public schools. But where are the evangelical or Christian leaders of America going to find the 3.5 million Biblically-based and correctly doctrinated teachers to educate our children? What do we do with non-religious educational institutions like Berkeley, Harvard, and Princeton and 4,000 other institutions where the curriculum is not religious?
Since the liberal media is untrustworthy and anti-American, which channels will be allowed to dispense news about our government? Fox News, OANN, the Christian Broadcasting Network? It would seem that the only way to get Christian truth to the masses would be through a select few channels. Do our cable providers drop most of our channels? Social media would need to be massively censored, so internet censorship would be a thing which would hinder knowledge and innovation. Also talk-radio would need to only reflect Christian values. Maybe all Americans should spend the hours they would have spent on social media, radio, and television reading the Bible instead. How many hours a day would that be? Wouldn’t that insure a more Godly society?
Then there’s the issue of art. If the lamestream media spreads liberalism and godlessness that undermines Christian values, then clearly much of what Hollywood produces should be banned. And someone will need to decide what gets banned, and once again, based on what stream of Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical)? Is Zeferelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth” movie okay, or does it contradict some streams of Christianity? Must we say goodbye to some of our favorite shows, movies, and songs? It would seem so, if the government wants to make sure that church and state are not separated. The church would need to be present in everything. This would lead to the biggest problem of all: Religious belief dramatically decreases under religious governments. Are evangelicals ready for the secularization that would follow in “Christian America?”
What about other sources like Q-anon or Alex Jones or Sean Hannity. Is there a Q-anon theology that someone has developed? Where does there authority lie in relation to the Bible? Maybe they are trustworthy, Christian sources of information, but there would need to be some kind of theological matrix created upon which to declare them theologically kosher.
And what about the End-times? Many Evangelicals believe that Jesus is returning soon, and that things are getting bad because this is the prophesied sign of the times Jesus talked about in Matthew and that we find in the Book of Revelation. So, if we are indeed living in the end-times, then why are we evangelicals trying to prevent Jesus from returning by establishing a Christian theocracy in the United States? Wouldn’t that contradict what is seemingly going on in this prophetically-driven decaying world? And wouldn’t it delay Jesus’ return? It all seems pretty self-defeating, not to mention the Bible talks of a Kingdom ushered in by Jesus redeeming Creation through a New (non-political) Covenant, and a new Heaven and New Earth. The Bible doesn’t say anything about a Christian empire ushered in before the end-times or during the end-times by American evangelicals through politics. So wouldn’t this Christian American theology in fact be a competing “Kingdom?”
In fact, the Old Testament captures the folly and failure of “God-led government” and “Godly Kings” quite well, and the New Testament is primarily made up of small churches already divided amongst themselves by controversies. Not only are the churches in conflict and confusion about their identity and theology, but key leaders like Peter and Paul don’t agree on critical issues…and they weren’t trying to govern a nation of 300 million. In fact, not even Jesus manages to make it through his 3 years of ministry without one disciple betraying him completely and committing suicide because Satan entered him. What is to prevent division and Satan entering into this new Evangelical Christian Godly United States of America (ECGUSA)? What is to prevent this religious government from getting co-opted by bad actors like the Fascists and Nazis (Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini) who all used religion to justify their massacres? What safeguards have evangelicals come up with to prevent what happened in Ancient Israel and in the New Testament church from happening now in, of all places, the not so pure culture of Washington D.C.?
What these questions reveal is that politically active evangelicals are great at identifying what’s wrong and sinful in society, but not so hot on explaining how an Evangelical Christian Godly United States of America (ECGUSA) could ever be ushered in without destroying the separation-of-church-and-state-intentions of the Founding Fathers and repeating the same mistakes as found in the Old Testament and in Christendom. As Communist revolutionaries learned throughout the 20th century, the revolution is the easy part; it’s the day after you win the revolution that is the hard part. What are theocratic, one-party, Republican Christians planning to do with the rest of the 200 million Americans that are not in support of this agenda. It would seem like there should be some concrete plans presented and new theologies deliberated as well. Most importantly, are all these Christian theocrats ready for a very long, bloody, insurgency that will probably require murder, mass arrests and incarceration?
The reality is that a “Christian America” is not possible; not even by the Bible’s own definition. There’s one Heavenly Kingdom promised, not two. It doesn’t make sense from a political point of view, a theological view, or a Biblical point of view. It doesn’t even make sense from a self-perpetuating, self-interested, marketing point of view. Consequently, the goal of a one-party Christian theocratic state is not a Christian, or Biblical agenda. It is a fantasy ideology. But one which is alluring enough to some people, that a horrifically violent war in the near future is not out of the question, even though it should be.
Patrick Nachtigall is the author of six books including, “In God We Trust: A Challenge to Evangelicals” and “No Religion Required, a Memoir of Faith, Doubt, Chocolate Milk, and Untimely Death.”