Brother David, a content creator on Substack, published a lengthy piece recently taking on Christian Nationalism using the bible to decimate the flawed positions of Christian Nationalism. He says that faith looks more like resistance than power. He mentions Leviticus 25 where the poor are given land, Deuteronomy 15 where debts are meant to be forgiven…not repaid, but forgiven, and he quotes Exodus 22 which calls for the welcome of immigrants.
He specifically lifts up the prophets: those who name the sins of nations and call nations to repent. The sins of exploiting the poor and mass incarceration, the sin of militarism, and war crimes are addressed by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos, respectively. The prophetic tradition calling for economic justice, compassion, hospitality, and warning against excessive military buildups, the terror and cruelty of mass incarceration (and we could add mass deportation) and the unsustainability of classist systems where a few thrive and most others struggle are all antithetical to the Christian Nationalist movement, which is of course White Supremacy disguised as religion seeking political power.
The biblical prophets sound similar to modern-day Queer prophets: Carter Heyward, Troy Perry, Harvey Milk, Bayard Rustin, Audre Lorde, Harvey Fierstein, Marcella Althaus-Reid, Janet Mock, Daayiee Abdullah, Jean O’Leary, and Keith Haring. The prophets have always called societies and nations to repentance and always to treat the poor and disadvantaged better, to become more loving and compassionate, more generous and honest. The prophets, including the Queer prophets of our time, are calling us to resist the ugliness of nationalism.
