Pastors: Christian Nationalism Is Everything but Christian | Opinion

When billionaire Elon Musk described empathy as “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” he sparked an international conversation on the merits or dangers of empathy. Musk’s sentiments have been seconded by a number of prominent Christian voices, arguing that empathy can be manipulated by those with evil intentions and is somehow “toxic” to the Christian faith. While this argument is confounding to those familiar with the teachings of Jesus, it is an obvious step for the project of Christian nationalism, policies such as Project 2025 which it spawned, and efforts to pervert Christianity for the ends of those hungry for power.

In contrast to the self-emptying, service-oriented way of the cross, this ideology values power to impose societal control above all else. From this perspective, an attack on empathy is inevitable, especially among the evangelical subculture most susceptible to Christian nationalist propaganda. If compassion can be written off as weakness, then the exercise of power cannot be rebuked for the suffering it causes.

But the inconvenient truth for Christian nationalist apologists is that to reject empathy is to reject the fundamental teachings of Christianity. All major world religions proclaim that our joys and sufferings are inextricably linked to the experiences of others.

Of all the teachings of the Bible, the most repeated are to serve the poor, care for foreigners, and make no idols. The first two commands direct us to practical expressions of the moral imperatives of empathy. The third exposes the attacks on empathy as idolatry, because they are based on the worship of power.

The command to serve the poor has been violated by sweeping attacks on effective anti-poverty programs. Medicare and Medicaid protect our poor and aging populations from having to choose between essential health care and other basic needs, but this administration is pushing cuts of $88 million per year, which will strangle the nation’s ability to meet the health care needs of the working poor, elderly, and children.

Deep cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the elimination of the Department of Education debilitate the nation’s capacity to recover from such draconian, poverty-increasing measures. They are antithetical to Jesus’ reminder in Matthew 25 that whatsoever we do to even the least of the people, we do to Jesus himself. This administration, despite its surface claims to being Christian, leaves Jesus abandoned, hungry, and sick.

The command to care for foreigners has been violated more aggressively. Cuts to foreign aid and to refugee settlement grants are hamstringing nonprofit organizations at home and abroad.

The U.S. PEPFAR anti-HIV program has saved 26 million lives in the last two decades, but is now being targeted. The U.N. estimates that U.S. funding cuts could cause an additional 6 million deaths in the next four years.

Extrajudicial abductions of legal U.S. residents by ICE are ripping apart families and reflecting disdain for our Constitution. Such glorification of might over compassion and white supremacy over inclusion characterizes Christian nationalism, but it is the antithesis of the teachings of Jesus Christ, who echoes other parts of scripture (like Deuteronomy 10:18-20) when he commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, not limiting the concept to those living next door. As Rabbi Joachim Prinz said, “Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept.”

And the command to make no idols is violated by Christian nationalism itself. An idol can be understood as anything elevated to be above or equal to God; anything that demands to be of one substance with one’s faith.

The political ideology of Christian nationalism attempts to merge Christian and American identities and to justify the worship of power as the means of enforcing this merging. This is anti-American.

The constitution clearly states that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

This merging is also anti-Christian. Jesus made this clear with the statement, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” showing the two were distinct and should be kept separate. Jesus was willing to die rather than use his power to forcibly remake the world, but Christian nationalism does not seek to be Christlike; it seeks to be powerful.

No one can serve two masters—We can serve the Musk/Trump idolatry of power, or we can serve God; We cannot do both. From Palm Sunday through Good Friday, the way of Jesus is taking up our cross of suffering. The way of Jesus does not make one wealthy, does not claim or wield power, and does not say “me first” nor “America first.” It is the way of self-sacrifice, humbleness, and love above all. It embodies empathy. Empathy rather than the idolatry of power will actually make our nation strong.

Rev. Serena Rice is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church serving in Northwest New Jersey.

Rev. Matt Schultz is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA serving in Anchorage, Alaska.

The views expressed in this article are the writers’ own.