Owen Strachan goes after Christian white nationalism: “wicked ideology”

I'm not a huge Wilson fan, but I appreciated his statements.

I would be against the ethnic part ("Whites belong; we need more whites." That type of thing.) But in addition to the Gospel, the Scriptures give views on goodness of work, respect of property, fairness of pay for working people, etc. Those values are better. They are common grace. And to promote them as a better way to build a nation is good.

What really bothers me is when people say that it is anti black to promote Christian values. I do not assume that blacks are against Christian values and I think it is racist to assume that they are. It really bothered me that during the controversy over the "Try that in a small town" song that many progressives were saying that the song was targeting black people because it spoke against criminal and violent behavior. The video for the song showed more whites than blacks doing the criminal and violent behavior. Those that assumed that a protest song against criminal and violent behavior was directed at blacks were the racist ones and many blacks were offended and are now promoting that song because they share the values it represents.

it spoke against criminal and violent behavior.

What bothered me about the song was that it spoke against criminal and violent behavior by promoting....other criminal and violent behaviors. I'm not convinced the song had racist intentions, but a better setting for the video could have been chosen.

From NPR article: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/20/1188966935/jason-aldean-try-that-in-a-small-town-song-video

But much of the criticism around the video has less to do with these clips than its setting: The Maury County Courthouse building in Columbia, Tenn., which serves as an American-flag-draped backdrop for Aldean and his band.

The landmark was the site of race riots in 1946 as well as a 1927 lynching in which a white mob pulled an 18-year-old black man, Henry Choate, from jail and dragged him through the city by car, according to several media reports, including one detailed account from The Washington Post.

Choate had allegedly confessed to attacking a 16-year-old white girl "to protect his life," even though the girl "could not positively identify him as the assailant," the Post reported.

As for Owen Strachan, while I am in a very different place than him theologically, I appreciate these warnings about Christian nationalism. In my opinion, it's one of the top issues confronting the evangelical church at this time.

Here’s what I think:

As citizens of the USA, we have the right and responsibility to push for laws that we believe are good for our nation of people.

Things that the Bible teaches are good should be what Bible believing people believe are good.

So we should push for laws that reflect Biblical values.

We should not push for mandatory belief because it is impossible to make others believe. Such “belief” would be false and therefore counterproductive to the Gospel.

Laws we promote or enact will not make anyone a Christian believer. Though Bible principles are common grace and therefore a blessing to unbelievers, even if they don’t obey from the heart. And by helping people avoid entangling sins, they might make it, in a sense, easier to believe.

Do those things mark me as a Christian nationalist?

Ken, do you consider self defense to equate with criminal violence? Is it violence for police officers and citizens to work together to hold criminals accountable? That is what happens in small towns.

As far as the court house in the video. That setting was not chosen by the singer. It is a common spot for video production companies to film at. Music videos from a variety of genres have used it. It has also been used in films. Most people had no idea of the sad and sinful racial past connected with that courthouse until some people got bent out of shape over a song and video that showed the terrible violent and criminal behavior that many on the left promoted.

Do those things mark me as a Christian nationalist?

Nope. However, if you believe that laws in America should give Christians/Christianity a privileged position in society, you would be a Christian Nationalist. If you believe that Cultural Christianity is essential for preparing Americans to submit to Jesus, you would be a Christian Nationalist. If you believe that there should be an amendment in the constitution recognizing America as a Christian Nation, you would be a Christian Nationalist. If you believe we need a "Christian Prince/Magistrate" that “who would suppress the enemies of God and elevate his people; recover a worshiping people; restore masculine prominence in the land and a spirit of dominion; affirm and conserve his people and place, not permitting their dissolution or capture; and inspire a love of one’s Christian country” (A case for Christian Nationalism, Wolfe, 322), you would be a Christian Nationalist. If you believe that “arch-heretics who are publicly persistent in their damnable error and actively seek to convince others of this error, to subvert the established church, to denounce its ministers, or to instigate rebellion against magistrates…can be justly put to death” (p. 391) you would be a Christian Nationalist.

By the way, Wilson embraces all of these points of Christian Nationalism, except for the last one where blasphemers can be put to death.

I am clearly opposed to the Christian nationalism as Joel defined it. For years we called that dominion theology. Others on SI who are opposed to Christian nationalism have defined it quite differently and some have even left the impression that Christian values should have no place in politics. That is why I keep saying we need to define what we mean by "Christian nationalism." I agree with Joel's warnings about Wilson as well. If Christian nationalism is defined as Joel defines it, count me as clearly opposed. If it is defined as Aaron recently defined it, I cannot sign on to opposition to all his points.

However, if you believe that laws in America should give Christians/Christianity a privileged position in society, you would be a Christian Nationalist.

Whether I believe this depends on the wording. I would agree with many laws giving privileges to people who follow them. I would not agree with “if you register as a Christian, you get privileges.”

If you make a law prohibiting elementary school teachers from telling kids that people are born in the wrong male/female body, yes. And I would include loss of teaching privileges (job, certification) for those who violate. People might conclude that meets your above definition.

Ken, do you consider self defense to equate with criminal violence? Is it violence for police officers and citizens to work together to hold criminals accountable? That is what happens in small towns.

As far as the court house in the video. That setting was not chosen by the singer. It is a common spot for video production companies to film at. Music videos from a variety of genres have used it. It has also been used in films. Most people had no idea of the sad and sinful racial past connected with that courthouse until some people got bent out of shape over a song and video that showed the terrible violent and criminal behavior that many on the left promoted.

Your response to Ken is exactly why I cringe at the song. Do you realize that in most (not all) cities in America, police and citizens work together to hold criminals accountable? In the height of the crack-cocaine era during the war on drugs (1993-1995), I spent almost three years working with the GR Vice to shut down three crack houses on my block, established a block watch among the neighbors on my street, and started an after-school program at the local elementary school to deter fatherless/under-privileged kids from joining gangs. Do you know who helped me do this? It wasn't the conservatives because they were nowhere to be found in my neighborhood and other neighborhoods in Grand Rapids. They fled to the suburbs and small towns in the '60s/'70s/'80s when black and brown folk began moving into inner-city neighborhoods like mine, fearing their property values would radically diminish (creating a self-fulfilled prophecy based on fear, not reality). It was those from the far left, including a former hippie from the 60s... a white community organizer named Frank, whom I used to have intense arguments over Christianity, Socialism, and Marxism because he believed that the Christian faith was a radical expression of Socialism and Marxism.

Even now, since much of my neighborhood has been gentrified into a white, hipster progressive community, none of them (who all vote for politicians who support progressive policies), tolerate spitting in the faces of police, hold-ups of liquor stores, car-jacking, sucker punching old people, and the list goes on. The only thing they'd disagree on in the song is gun control and maybe flag-burning because some (not all) see it as an expression of free speech. By insinuating that many on the left promote terrible and criminal violent behavior comes across to me that you are embracing a caricature of progressives based on conservative media talking points. Do you have any relationships with the "many" on the left that you assume promote terrible and criminal violent behavior? Because among the connections that I've had to live with and deal with over the past 30+ years (including some of the most liberal politicians and social workers that you can imagine), the only ones (which are only a few) that I've ever met that promote this type of behavior are the spoiled, restless, rich, identity-politics obsessed college students that I met at one of George Floyd protests in GR.

I also cringe that you seem to justify the ignorance that so many people have of the sad and sinful racist past of the small town's courthouse. Of course, Aldean and those who created the video weren't sending a message where they supported pro-lynching or harassing black folks. Still, it does expose how much the black experience in America has been white-washed in history that a song like Aldean's, which seems to compare and contrast urban vs. rural values, doesn't show up on our historical, cultural radar, especially since much of racial violence in the south took place in small towns where everyone knew everyone which served as a guise to protect their own from being charged with the crimes of racial violence they committed.

The song as well as well as the defenses of the song, don't do much for promoting actual unity in America. This is sad because, in my 30+ years of experience living among mostly black and brown folks in my neighborhood, I have discovered that white people from small towns have the most in common with urban black and brown folks. In fact, in my ministry overseeing UTM, our volunteers that come from small towns are among our best with connecting and building long-term relationships with our students and our staff, which is mostly African-American. Both groups have learned much from their relationships with each other, including disregarding their former cultural stereotypes of each other.

By insinuating that many on the left promote terrible and criminal violent behavior comes across to me that you are embracing a caricature of progressives based on conservative media talking points. Do you have any relationships with the "many" on the left that you assume promote terrible and criminal violent behavior?

My response is based on conversations I had with those on the left in small towns who refused to condemn the actions of the burners and looters in 2020 while we on the right were quick to condemn the actions of those who broke doors and windows in the Capital.

I am not at all surprised by this statement either and I agree with it:

in my 30+ years of experience living among mostly black and brown folks in my neighborhood, I have discovered that white people from small towns have the most in common with urban black and brown folks. In fact, in my ministry overseeing UTM, our volunteers that come from small towns are among our best with connecting and building long-term relationships with our students and our staff, which is mostly African-American. Both groups have learned much from their relationships with each other, including disregarding their former cultural stereotypes of each other.

It was very clear during the riots, burning and looting that those who lived in those areas were not pleased with what was happening. Many of the rioters, burners, and looters did not even live there and were actually white and preying on the black community. It is sad that the progressive politicians were unwilling to step in to protect those communities more. In the small town conservative areas there were also protests, but the violence was quickly stopped. You have to acknowledge that difference. Why was it okay to let the violence continue in black communities to advance a political movement and why isn't that considered racism? My heart breaks for the inner city black communities and how they continue to be taken advantage of, but you can not blame that all on us from the small towns. You need to also blame it on the officials that have been elected in those large cities.

JD Miller: Ken, do you consider self defense to equate with criminal violence? Is it violence for police officers and citizens to work together to hold criminals accountable? That is what happens in small towns.

JD, I know what happens in small towns as I grew up in one. I find the lyrics of the song to sound much more like vigilantism than self defense and police officers and citizens working together.

JD Miller: As far as the court house in the video. That setting was not chosen by the singer. It is a common spot for video production companies to film at. Music videos from a variety of genres have used it. It has also been used in films. Most people had no idea of the sad and sinful racial past connected with that courthouse until some people got bent out of shape over a song and video that showed the terrible violent and criminal behavior that many on the left promoted.

I'm not sure that who chose the location or whether it's been used for other videos has a lot of bearing on whether a better location could have been chosen. While I don't have any reason to believe there was racist intent in the song/location, it's also not unreasonable for that combination of song and location to suggest something different to a black person than it might to me me as a white person. Would you disagree that a better location could have been chosen given the history of that courthouse? Should I be telling those people who have slavery and lynchings in their history to just choose to not get "bent out of shape" and that there's no basis for them to be bothered?

As for the riots, I think there's a tendency for people to assume that all the protests were violent when in reality it was a small fraction, and that all left/liberal people were fine with the violence when again it was only a small fraction. I don't know of any of my liberal friends who supported the the violent protests. I do, however, have numerous fundamentalist friends who support what happened on January 6th.

As for the riots, I think there's a tendency for people to assume that all the protests were violent when in reality it was a small fraction, and that all left/liberal people were fine with the violence when again it was only a small fraction. I don't know of any of my liberal friends who supported the the violent protests. I do, however, have numerous fundamentalist friends who support what happened on January 6th.

So very true. In fact, of the 2,681 protests that took place during the 8 years of the civil rights movement, 11% of these contained property damage. Of the 12,839 protests in 2020, only 4% contained property damage. During the 1960s civil rights protests, 6% of the police were injured. Only 2% of the police were injured in 2020. How both conservative and progressive media handled the riots of 2020 reminded me of Francis Schaeffer's Mass Media Manipulation clip from How Then Should We Live? series. Both sides slanting their stories to fit their political party's narratives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8qMi_VIuX4

However, I do have to say that among my many small town Christian friends, none of them supported the riots on January 6th. One of our rural supporting churches even had 20 of their people in Washington DC for Trump's speech on January 6th, but none of them walked down to the Capitol building. All of them were against the riots/destruction of property/attempted insurrection that happened at the Capitol.