World Religions News

(RNS) — George Orwell famously defined nationalism as “the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.” But what exactly is a nation?

The term derives from the Latin natio, meaning breed or species, and was adopted in medieval universities to organize students coming from different places. (At the University of Paris, the principal nations were French, Norman, Picard and English-German.) In due course, the term was applied to entire populations, but geography alone did not suffice to establish national identity. What also counted (or could count) was your native language, your ethnicity or ancestry, and your religion.

Countries defined in terms of a single nation thus came to be called nation-states. A significant dimension of 19th-century nationalism was the desire on the part of nations that lacked a country of their own to have one.

After World War I, various nations in Central and Eastern Europe that had been part of multinational empires, like Russia and Austro-Hungary, were enabled to establish nation-states — Poland for the Poles, Hungary for the Hungarians, Lithuania for Lithuanians, etc. In our time, the breakup of the Soviet Union created comparable nation-states like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. 

But what of the people in a given nation-state who belonged to a different nation — Ukrainians or Germans or Jews, for example, living in interwar Poland? They could express their national identity through their own (sometimes state-supported) educational and cultural institutions, and with representation in governmental bodies.

All this is at odds with how the United States has defined itself. Within our borders the only nations in the European sense are Native Americans, many of whom have territory and laws of their own and who in fact identify as nations. 

If, in the words of the Pledge of Allegiance, we are “one nation,” it’s because of the terms laid out in our founding documents. Or as Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch told New York Times columnist David French the other day, “We’re a creedal nation, right, David? I mean, we don’t share a religion, we don’t share a race, we share an idea, OK?”

To be sure, many Americans identify with a particular ethnic or racial community, a religious body or a country of origin. And while they are not identified as separate nations, they may be considered adherents of separate nationalisms.

Before the fall of the Soviet Union, there were Ukrainian nationalists raising money for an independent Ukraine. Zionists — Jewish nationalists — support the state of Israel as the Jewish homeland. Black nationalists reject integration in favor of self-determination, economic empowerment and racial solidarity. 

Such nationalisms relate to the interests or aspirations of minorities of the population. It’s something else entirely when nationalist claims are made on behalf of the majority. These have to do with defining the United States itself.

Christian nationalism thus has to do with advancing the claim that Christianity has special standing in the country. As religion scholar Jerome Copulsky makes clear in a fine essay on this site, the desire to do so has a long history, in large part because the framers of the Constitution went a long way toward making sure that wasn’t the case — rejecting religious tests for office, barring religious establishments and guaranteeing religious free exercise.

According to White House faith adviser Paula White-Cain, Sunday’s daylong federally underwritten Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving on the National Mall is about “rededicating the country to God.” The thing is, our nation wasn’t dedicated to God in the first place.

After their conversation with philanthropists Kim Duchossois and Jessica Swoyer Green, Amber and Tom return to explore one of the thorniest questions in generosity: If you have more, should you give more? What unfolds is a candid, thoughtful look at the tension between purpose and self-preservation — between the call to give and the instinct to save.

Drawing on wisdom from Jewish teaching, Christian Scripture and behavioral science, Amber and Tom dig into why giving is hard to do — yet why it feels so good — and how to know how much giving is “enough.” They wrestle with questions about timing, limits, legacy and control: Is it better to give now or later? How much should we direct our gifts? And what do we owe our children — security or the opportunity to struggle and grow?

It’s a warm and honest conversation about generosity, trust and the values that guide us when the stakes are high.

For more episodes and info, visit Money, Meet Meaning.

(RNS) — Forty days after Easter, Christians observe Ascension Day (May 14), celebrating the bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven. After many post-Easter appearances and conversations with his disciples, this was the last time they would see the earthly Jesus, marking the conclusion of his earthly ministry.

Just before his ascension, in what is now often called the Great Commission, Jesus gave his final commandment to his disciples. The Bible says:

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him they worshiped him and some doubted, And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)

Growing up in a conservative evangelical church, I struggled with how the Great Commission was often privatized and reduced to a message of personal salvation alone, with little reference to the teachings Jesus commanded his disciples to live out in the world.

I later came to see a fuller and more biblical meaning of the Great Commission — one anchored in the teachings and commandments of Jesus himself. Understanding the importance of this day of ascension guides us to answer the Christian call to help build a more just, compassionate and truthful world for all people by following the way of Jesus and rejecting the narrow privatized interpretation.

The Trump administration violates the Great Commission every day. In Matthew 25, Jesus says, “I was hungry,” yet this administration continues to advance policies that make more people hungry both here in the United States and around the world. Cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have increased our nation’s food insecurity, leaving families to struggle, while the Department of Agriculture has halted data collection efforts, effectively obscuring the human impact these cuts have had and avoiding accountability for the growing hunger facing millions of Americans. Beyond our borders, people are dying amid wars and humanitarian crises that the Trump administration has helped fuel, finance or refused to end.

Jesus says, “I was a stranger,” yet the cruelty and violence of the White House’s mass deportation policies, disproportionately targeting immigrants of color, continues on. With Markwayne Mullin taking charge of the Department of Homeland Security, there have been efforts to decrease reporting on immigration crackdowns, The New York Times reported. This has been a tactical switch as we approach the midterm elections, due to Republicans’ fears of voter resentment over immigration policies. Even so, in April there was a 94% increase in removal flights, with 245 deportation flights departing in a single month.

Jesus also says, “I was sick,” but the GOP is reportedly considering cutting federal health spending to help supplement the $200 billion military budget to pay for the war on Iran.

These realities should lead Christians, especially those who support the current administration, to ask what it truly means to obey the teachings Jesus commanded his disciples to follow. The Great Commission should give us the opportunity to evaluate whether our public life reflects the values of God’s kingdom.

While the Ascension Day feast technically falls exactly on the 40th day after Jesus’ resurrection, many Christians will observe and celebrate this weekend at church. Also this weekend, two contrasting public events, both anchored by faith leaders, will put forward radically different understandings of what Christians in this moment are being called to do for their separate visions of America.

On Saturday, thousands are gathering in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, for All Roads Lead to the South — a National Day of Action. The mobilization comes as a response to the dangerous attacks on civil and voting rights we have experienced in the past weeks, including the clear racial gerrymandering efforts across Southern states aimed at weakening Black representation at both the state and national levels. Faith leaders, organizers and activists are joining together in direct action to defend voting rights and Black political power across the South.

While thousands gather in Montgomery, a very different vision of America will be on display at the National Mall the following day. Organizers of the “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” event, a large-scale Christian nationalist rally framed around the nation’s 250th birthday, are calling Americans to the mall for Scripture, prayer, testimony and what they describe as a “rededication” of the country as “One Nation to God” — language that goes beyond patriotism and firmly advances into a false theological claim about our nation’s identity and divine status. Running from morning fellowship on the Capitol grounds to an evening concert, the event is designed to project the image of a Christian America seeking divine guidance for its next 250 years as a newly chosen nation.

The contrast with Montgomery, and more importantly with the Great Commission itself, could not be sharper.

The Great Commission offers a direct rebuttal to the Christian nationalist vision on display by some politicians today and at Rededicate 250. Its call to make disciples of all nations rejects any privileged status for America, or for any racial or ethnic group, and, by its own logic, is a repudiation of white Christian nationalism. Equally important is the distinction between making disciples and making converts. The Commission is an invitation into the life, teachings and values of Jesus — love, justice, compassion, forgiveness and care for others. The kingdom of God, in other words, is not a political regime or a national identity. It belongs to the whole world.

Aaron Graham, pastor of the District Church in Washington D.C., has a new book, called “Unshakable Faith,” where he speaks to what the Great Commission means to us right now and for the long haul. To follow the things Jesus commanded in a time like this, when authoritarian power holders promise and execute retribution against all who oppose them, will require courage on our parts.

To hold onto our hope we must always remember the cloud of God’s presence that protects and guides us. I am very grateful for how the Great Commission ends, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Knowing that Jesus is with us through it all gives us the courage to follow his teachings in the face of authoritarian power and injustice.

Happy Ascension Day!

(The Rev. Jim Wallis is Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair and director of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice and is the author, most recently, of “The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy.” A version of this commentary appeared on the Substack God’s Politics with Jim Wallis. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)

(FāVS News) — America is largely a Christian nation but it’s complicated, argues Matthew Avery Sutton in his new book, “Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity.” 

The book claims to be a 500-year historic survey of Christianity in America just in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, which marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“I started off with the question … ‘Why are Americans more Christian than our peer nations?’” Sutton said, adding that his goal was to explain historically why that matters. “The book was my effort to go back into the archives, go back into the sources and try to figure out what it is that’s unique or distinctive about the United States and its history that has led us to today.”

With 20 years of professional work at the intersection of religion and politics, Sutton now chairs Washington State University’s history department.

Prior to “Chosen Land,” he wrote five other history books that focus on specific areas of American Christianity, including “American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism.” 

To the source

As a historian, Sutton demonstrates his expertise. Each of the book’s 31 chapters includes a curated list of works alongside footnotes, so readers can trace the scholarship behind his arguments.

“To tackle a book like this, I was essentially doing two things. One was building on [an] entire generation of scholarship — folks who are much more specialized in certain eras to try to figure out how they understood the particular periods they were studying and then combine that with archival research,” Sutton said.

Fellow historian Seth Dowland, a professor of religion at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, Washington, called Sutton’s book “incredibly ambitious” and a “massive survey” of generations of American religious historians.

“What I think Sutton is attempting to do is … to try to synthesize it into an accessible narrative of American Christianity and using Christian activism as the sort of throughline,” Dowland said. 

That thread challenges familiar narratives — about the Constitution’s secular and nonsecular roots, the First Amendment’s intent and the role marginalized communities have played in reshaping American Christianity from within.

American Christianity’s origins up to the present

Beginning with Native Americans and how they viewed religion as part of their culture, Sutton exposes the “vibrant and diverse” place 15th-century America was before “the Christian invasion began.”

From there, he moves on through early Spanish conquests and missions work and writes about how Christopher Columbus believed God had chosen him as part of fulfilling the Bible’s prophecies of the last days. Sutton explains how Spanish soldiers often justified beating and killing Indigenous men and raping Indigenous women, while at the same time some Franciscan monks complained these acts “‘brought discredit on our teaching.’”

The book concludes with President Donald Trump’s second presidency and how he began “not just as a politician, but a self-anointed messiah.” 

Sutton noted Trump’s choice of words during his 2025 inaugural address regarding the assassination attempt against him months earlier: The president used Christian language to suggest that his survival was divine intervention. 

“‘Just a few months ago … an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more now … I was saved by God to make America great again,’” Sutton quotes Trump saying.

Rebranding American Christianity

In between these two historical worlds of past and present, Sutton shows how Christians in America rebranded and redefined Christianity to gain followers and influence over the centuries, since America’s founding documents prohibited federally sponsored churches. Each Protestant denomination competed for followers like companies would compete for buyers in the free market.

He also asserts that the First Amendment has been rebranded into a mythos of coming from high-minded secularism, instead of what he defines as the “crass pragmatism” of the founders.

“The goal was to ensure that the major competing Protestant denominations (Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc.) could get along to ensure the survival of the American experiment, rather than to keep religion out of government entirely,” he said.

Christian nationalism is as old as America itself

Sutton also spends some time in his book defining Christian nationalism and pointing out that it has shaped the whole of American history. Rather than defining it as “good” or “bad,” he identifies it as “productive” versus “problematic.”

“Christian nationalism has influenced activists across the political and religious spectrum, Black and White, left and right, for centuries,” Sutton writes. “Americans have never really separated church from state, nor have they truly championed the free exercise of religion. Christian activists from Frederick Douglass to Jerry Falwell used the Bible to try to impose their values and beliefs on the nation.”

Dowland believes “Chosen Land” is also more than a book on Christian nationalism. It’s about broadening that focus to see Christian nationalism in more contexts than the “MAGA wing of evangelicalism.” 

“The [real] story is whose vision of Christianity is going to triumph in American life as opposed to Christian nationalism being a sort of descriptor of a bad variety of Christianity that wants to violate the separation of church and state,” Dowland said. 

But then the argument against Christian nationalism needs to not be “we shouldn’t have religion in our politics,” argues Sutton.

“I don’t think that’s fair to people of faith to ask them to put their faith on a shelf,” he said. 

However, he does think it’s fair to ask Christians, and by inference other people of faith, if applying their religion is “in the best service of the country” and all citizens in a pluralistic understanding.

Will Christianity shape America’s future?

Joan Braune, a Gonzaga University faculty member and researcher of fascist and Christian nationalist movements, agreed that Christians should advocate for their values on the basis of faith. However, “it is important that this happens within the context of a secular state,” she said.

“As long as this project is framed as a ‘Christian’ endeavor on the part of the state, it would remain one in which non-Christians have a secondary status, are seen as outside the norm of what it means to be American, are in some way suspect and have a worldview that is secondary in the formation of laws,” Braune said. 

This would include a state run by progressive Christians, too, she added.

Sutton concludes “Chosen Land” by asking another question: “Does the recent rise of a new form of Christian nationalism mark the dawn of a new theocracy — or Christian nationalism’s last desperate grasp?”

He writes, “As we search for answers, one truth remains: the conviction that the United States is God’s chosen land — and Americans his chosen people — has shaped our nation from the beginning. It continues to shape it now. But will it shape our future?”

You must keep one foot in the sanctuary even while going out to war; and you must go out to war even when your heart yearns to remain in the sanctuary.

The post The Book and the Sword appeared first on Jewish Journal.

(RNS) — On Saturday (May 16) in Bakersfield, California, volunteers are planning a community festival, offering attendees food, haircuts and household goods.

“It’s in one of the most impoverished parts of our community,” said Wendell Vinson, president of CityServe International and co-senior pastor of an Assemblies of God megachurch in Bakersfield. “The church is really going to their neighborhood, and then we’re mobilizing churches from that neighborhood to really get to know their neighbors better.”

The event is one example of how nonprofits and volunteers are coming together for Good Neighbor Day America, a nationwide initiative on Saturday supported by America250, the Congress-created nonpartisan organization marking the 250th anniversary of the country. School and community beautification projects involving religious and secular volunteers are among the events expected to occur in more than 1,500 sites across the nation, accompanying a “kindness challenge,” an initiative that began in recent months to encourage small acts of kindness.

“We want to empower everyone to be a good neighbor and do good,” said Gabe Bahlhorn of Love Has No Limits, a secular charity that works in the public sector and with private organizations to support families in crisis. “People basically have been challenged to just do random acts of kindness, just randomly, bless somebody, buy their coffee, open the door for someone, tell them that you appreciate them — this is large and small.”

RELATED: How faith-based support is helping Scouting America stabilize

The National Association of Evangelicals, the Assemblies of God, Love Has No Limits, and CityServe, a Christian organization that works with churches to help the people who live in their neighborhoods, are among the organizations encouraging community service on Saturday.

Vinson said the day will include churches working with other nonprofits and individuals of faith and no faith to help people in their neighborhoods.

“We like to invite non-Christians in because they have a heart for the community,” said Vinson. “They care about people that are hurting in the community, but it gives them also an opportunity to connect with Christians and to get to know people from the faith community.”

Vinson hopes Good Neighbor Day America will be a “catalytic event” that encourages more local involvement by churches and, with it, provides a different impression of what they do in their communities, he said.

“The church really can accomplish a lot more if we’ll lead with what we’re for,” he said. Sometimes, he added, “we’ve not led with what we’re for. We lead sometimes with what we’re against.”

In an announcement about Good Neighbor Day America, organizers noted some participants may be eligible for prizes — from two tickets to the FIFA World Cup Final to access to a Formula One box suite if they post on social media about their volunteerism.

“Every post is an entry, and every entry is proof that kindness is contagious,” stated an April 22 news release about the day.

Bahlhorn, an evangelical Christian, said the random prizes are an additional incentive to move people off their phones and into their neighborhoods.

“We want to be able to gamify doing good and not gamify doing bad,” he said.

Bahlhorn, whose organization also helps organize Good Neighbor Day events most Saturdays in May and November, said he hopes that the one-day event will lead participants to more neighborhood volunteerism in the future.

“The goal for us would be to kind of funnel this energy and this goodwill,” he said, “and begin to move them into a more ongoing action of doing that with greater frequency.”

RELATED: Faith-based volunteers show up to help after Mississippi tornadoes