The GOP: Merging flag and cross

The Trump administration views its “political agenda as a cosmic battle against the forces of evil.”

(Image credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

Under President Trump, the U.S. is veering “toward Christian nationalism,” said Zachary B. Wolf in CNN.com. Since January, a growing number of the administration’s actions “have blurred the lines” between church and state. Trump has created a White House Faith Office, as well as Justice Department task forces charged with targeting “anti-Christian policies” and “threats to religious liberty.” His budget office has said workers can now “bring religion into the workplace,” while his IRS has said churches can endorse political candidates without sacrificing their tax-exempt status. This embrace of Christian nationalism was on stark display at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth evoked “the blood of Jesus” and spoke of “a spiritual war” underway, and Trump aide Stephen Miller said the administration is “on the side of God” and will defeat “the forces of wickedness.” The clear message, said Stephanie McCrummen in The Atlantic, is that the administration views its “political agenda as a cosmic battle against the forces of evil.”

What we saw at Kirk’s memorial wasn’t Christian nationalism, said Rich Lowry in National Review, it was religious faith, expressed at a Christian’s memorial service. Christian nationalism means establishing a religious state “to impose Christian values by law,” and “no one of any consequence favors that.” Saying the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation “doesn’t count,” nor does trying to elect Christian leaders or trying to legislate “based on Christian morality.” Progressives have long disdained the religious right, but there is “nothing wrong, or theocratic, about mixing politics and faith.” Just ask former President Joe Biden, who often spoke of God and quoted the Bible.

Yes, Christianity and politics have been intertwined in the U.S. since the days of the Founders, said David Brooks in The New York Times. They believed that religious institutions were key to maintaining the “shared moral order” a healthy democracy requires. Throughout history our leaders have brought “their faith to bear on public questions,” to positive effect. But that wasn’t the sentiment on display at Kirk’s memorial. The speeches were short on morality and “rich in the language of triumph,” promoting the assumption that being Christian and Republican “are basically the same thing.” It was an unsettling reminder that “unrestrained faith and unrestrained partisanship are an incredibly combustible mixture,” and that people of faith can “wander a long way from the cross.”