from Christian Concern
Tim Dieppe responds to the Theos report on Christian nationalism out this week
A hot topic
Christian nationalism is a hot topic these days. It seems like hardly a week goes by without some news item related to Christian nationalism. Last week, I was on BBC Sunday Morning Live discussing the question. This week, a detailed 135-page report by Theos was released on the subject.
Up until recently most of us had never really thought much about Christian nationalism before. It wasn’t even a widely-used phrase.
Gone are the days when everyone understood that Britain was a Christian nation. But many people are now wondering whether that is a good thing or not. Was it not better to be a Christian nation – whatever that means? Have we lost something that was valuable somehow? Hence, the current discussion about Christian nationalism.
The problem of definition
The newly released Theos report is titled: Beyond “Christian nationalism”: Measuring attitudes to Christianity and Britishness today. It is based on a survey of 1,765 UK adults about their attitudes to Christianity and Britishness.
Every time this is discussed, people raise the question of definition. What exactly is a Christian nationalist? Who counts as a Christian nationalist?
The Theos report agrees that defining Christian nationalism is difficult:
“As we said at the outset, Christian nationalism is a contestable, unhelpful and possibly even meaningless term. It has strong American connotations, implies a coherence and unity that it presupposes rather than demonstrates, and obscures possible differences relating both to Christianity and nationhood.” (p107).
Nevertheless, as Theos notes, Christian nationalism “is the phrase that is currently in use, and for that reason if no other, we should start with it.” I tend to agree that we can’t avoid the phrase. It is part of our cultural vocabulary. But it is important to clarify what is meant if we possibly can when discussing it.
Theos defines Christian nationalism as the belief that the two terms “Christianity” and “the nation” are “somehow coterminous or co-dependent.” So, in their view, a Christian nationalist believes that: “to be truly British (or American . . .) you need, therefore, to be a Christian.” (p14).
I don’t agree with this position, and I don’t think I know any Christians who do. It’s a rather odd position to take in my view. Nevertheless, this is the definition that Theos uses so at least we can be clear what they are talking about.