By now, you’ve undoubtedly seen news stories, memes, and other commentary, both factual and satirical, about the May 17 “Rededicate 250” event held on the National Mall. Billed as a “prayer gathering” to “give thanks for God’s providence, reflect on our nation’s story, and rededicate America as One Nation under God,” the event once again drew thousands of White Christian Nationalists to Washington, albeit in a less obviously violent fashion than those who showed up on January 6, 2021.
Regardless, I can’t help but ask why anyone should assume that dressing an event in “Christian” prayer signals an inherent departure from violence? Never mind the Christian history of crusades, settler-colonialism, genocide and slavery. Let’s just look at where we are today.
Historian and New York Times bestselling author Jemar Tisby stated in his foreword to Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry’s 2022 book The Flag and the Cross that “white Christian nationalism is the greatest threat to the witness of the church in the United States.” Further drawing on this essential work, he asserted on his Substack: “Christian Nationalism condones, sometimes even celebrates, violence. Rather than being peacemakers, they tend to favor violent tactics in pursuit of control.”
Why does Tisby say this? Because, as Gorski and Perry show through their deeply researched critical analysis of White Christian Nationalism, a theory of order, freedom and violence is unmistakable within the “deep story” of this political ideology parading as religious devotion. This deep story “includes cherished assumptions about what America was and is, but also about what it should be.”
As they point out, in our current moment in history, this age-old deep story looks an awful lot like “Make America Great Again.”
Perhaps it should be no surprise then that immediately following the “nonviolent” Rededicate 250 event funded by a public-private partnership initiated by the White House, the DOJ announced a $1.7 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who “believe they were mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department.” Read: compensate January 6 insurrectionists.
Oh, how quickly “prayers” are answered!
As some have been quick to point out, there have been no reparations granted to Indigenous peoples for the theft of their land and the state-sanctioned attempts at their genocide repeatedly throughout “our nation’s history.” (I doubt they told those parts of the story at Rededicate 250.) There have been no reparations for Black Americans whose ancestors built much of this nation under the horrors of enslavement. At the same time, the descendants of enslavers continue to reap the generational benefits of their ancestors’ inhumanity.
But under the White Christian Nationalist-bolstered Trump administration, the convicted (and now pardoned) domestic terrorists who sought to violently disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, nearly overthrowing one of the most critical tenets of our democracy—those people deserve reparations.
Jesus weeps. Or perhaps he laughs, or drinks copious amounts of water-turned-wine, over the ridiculousness of these deeply connected spectacles of White supremacist, anti-democratic, anti-Christian abuses of power (and abuses of taxpayer dollars).
Is there any way out of this mess?
Iliff School of Theology’s Institute for Religion, Politics & Culture is seeking to answer that question by developing the Values & Public Voice Network, an offering of public courses and workshops that address our current state of rising polarization, misinformation, and threats to democratic pluralism. We believe there is a need for empowered leaders to engage practical skills combined with ethical frameworks to translate democratic values into effective public communication and action.
The primary goal of the Values & Public Voice Network is to provide praxis-centered, graduate-level curriculum that equips clergy, nonprofit professionals, organizers, educators, journalists, activists and other changemakers to translate their deeply held values into tangible, justice-oriented frameworks for public impact.
On June 20, we’re launching our first program, a half-day Learning Lab on “Analyzing and Disrupting White Christian Nationalism,” featuring Jemar Tisby. This two-part interactive workshop moves from deep analysis to direct action, empowering participants to address misinformation and articulate the values of a just and equitable society.
A scholar of race, religion, and social change, Dr. Tisby will lead participants through a lecture and Q&A session focused on unpacking the roots and drivers of White Christian Nationalism and discovering counterstrategies. In the second portion, participants will have the opportunity to practice persuasive communication in breakout sessions that advance their vision of an inclusive democracy.
If you’re tired of White Christian Nationalism dominating the political conversation, Iliff’s Institute for Religion, Politics & Culture invites you to join us for this important conversation and skill-building session. The time spent together will empower more people like yourself to shift the national narrative on Christianity and politics. Invite your friends who want to be a part of shifting that narrative, too.
Registration is open now, and this is an online event, so you can join from anywhere. Only fifty spaces are available. Click here to secure your space and ensure your values and voice are part of shaping the conversation and the work ahead.
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Dr. Rebecca M. David Hensley holds a PhD in religious studies, with an emphasis in theological and social ethics. She is a member of the adjunct faculty for Iliff School of Theology and an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church.