Christina Littlefield on the Fallacy of Christian Nationalism

Motivated by the ongoing protests against racial injustice, Seaver College associate professor of communication and religion Christina Littlefield wrote to her church community on “The Fallacy of Christian Nationalism.” After associate professor of communication Roslyn Satchel shared the piece it caught the eye of Reverend Andre Johnson, University of Memphis associate professor. On June 7, 2020, Johnson republished Littlefield’s piece on his blog, “Rhetoric, Race, and Religion.”

“Over the last 18 months, I’ve watched Christians in my local community become radicalized by Christian nationalist material, so I wrote the post to help my church members understand why I view this material as dangerous and how it promotes white supremacy,” Littlefield says. “It was widely shared and many people told me it helped them understand currents they were seeing.”

In the piece, Littlefield, informed by her 18 years of research into church history, American exceptionalism, and more, deconstructs the ideology of Christian nationalism. When juxtaposed with American history and biblical text, Littlefield argues the ideology is both factually flawed and dangerously unbiblical. She encourages Christians to recognize and speak out against Christian nationalism if they want to tackle the sin of racism in their churches.

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