WSJ Op-Ed: The Smear Campaign Against ‘Christian Nationalists’

Wall Street Journal Op-Ed:  The Smear Campaign Against ‘Christian Nationalists’, by Ralph Reed (Founder & Chairman, Faith & Freedom Coalition):

House Speaker Mike Johnson stared down anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University last month and affirmed the nation’s support for Jewish students. His remarks were sharp and unequivocal, a welcome contrast with university officials’ hand-wringing and the Biden administration’s feeble response to the antisemitism sweeping across the states.

Yet rather than give him credit, Democrats and the press for months have fixated on Mr. Johnson’s background as a “Christian nationalist.” ... A survey by the PRRI in February found that “three in ten Americans qualify as Christian nationalism adherents or sympathizers.” National Public Radio warned that what was once a “fringe viewpoint” has gained a “foothold in American politics.” It is difficult to imagine a more benign constituency than people who work hard, read the Bible, pray regularly and attend church weekly. Yet according to the liberal narrative, there are millions of them, faithful Christians, disposed toward authoritarianism and political violence. ...

[T]he slandering of evangelical Christians is more than a campaign strategy or proof of secularism’s triumph. Stripped of its academic jargon and pretense, it is a fashionable but insidious bigotry that seeks to marginalize and disqualify from our civic discourse tens of millions of Americans who take their faith seriously. ...

Nearly every social-reform movement in U.S. history has been animated by faith and fueled by a sense of right and wrong. As historian Bernard Bailyn documented, the church pulpits that flamed with rebellion during the American Revolution contributed to the ideology of independence. The antislavery movement blossomed in the “burned over” soil of the Second Great Awakening, its uproarious revivals winning converts to Christianity and abolitionism. The pious women who led the temperance and suffragist movements smashed saloons, marched on state capitols, and sought the right to vote as part of a spiritual mission to defend their families.

Like their forebears, today’s conservative Christians make Americans grapple with vexing moral issues. We’re a better nation for their doing so. These faithful men and women don’t threaten our constitutional republic; they play a vital role in its survival and renewal. Rabbi Joshua Haberman was right when he observed that “the Bible belt is America’s safety belt.” It has always been so, and always will be.

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Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• New York Times (David French), What Is Christian Nationalism, Exactly? (Mar. 3, 2024)
• Law & Liberty (D.G. Hart, Hillsdale College), Rethinking the "Danger" of Public Christianity (Jan. 28, 2024)
• New York Times, The Christian Faith Of Speaker Of The House Mike Johnson (Nov. 5, 2023)
• Wall Street Journal (D.G. Hart, Hilldale College), Christians Err If They Give Up On America, Especially On The 4th Of July (July 4, 2023)
• New York Times (Ross Douthat), The Americanization Of Religion (Jan. 29, 2023)
• FiveThirtyEight, How Much Power Do Christians Really Have In The U.S.? (Nov. 6, 2022)
• Wall Street Journal (D.G. Hart, Hilldale College), How Christianity Became More Conservative And Society More Secular (Oct. 9, 2022)
• New York Times (Esau Macaulley, Wheaton College & Katherine Stewart), What's God Got To Do With It? The Rise Of Christian Nationalism In American Politics (Aug. 7, 2022)
• Robert Vischer (President, St. Thomas), Christian Nationalism and the Rule of Law (Apr. 3, 2022)
• Wall Street Journal (D.G. Hart, Hilldale College), The Flag And The Cross: Defining Christian Nationalism (Apr. 3, 2022)
• Symposium, Is This a Christian Nation? (Oct. 17, 2021)