Documentary looks at rise of Christian Nationalism
Rob Reiner was one of the producers behind the film released in February
A new documentary looks at how Christian Nationalism came to dominate Republican politics.
God & Country, a documentary crafted by the reputable duo of Dan Partland and Rob Reiner, presents insightful interviews with esteemed scholars, ministers, and religious figures. They delve into the role of extreme religious interpretations in sparking civil unrest.
Near the beginning, we see footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at Congress. One expert said Christian nationalists were the chief architects of it.
The film then discusses the origins of Christian Nationalism, which author Katherine Stewart defines as the belief that America was founded on Christian principles and that political decisions should be based on the Bible.
One of the interviewees put for the troubling hypothetical defining Christian Nationalism. If America has a special place in God’s plan, and democracy is an obstacle to making that plan come true, then does democracy also have to go?
As most people in the abortion debate know, there is tons of money within antiabortion politics. The film estimates that Christian nationalists spend $1.6 billion a year on advocacy and grassroots campaigning. While this constituency is a small minority of the electorate, they have a disproportionate impact because they are so well-organized, and much of it is done through churches.
The filmmakers delineate a difference between Christian Nationalism and antiabortionism. Many people within Christianity can hold antiabortion views, but that doesn’t necessarily make them nationalists. What does is a valorization of power and the willingness to use extreme means to reach those ends.
Author Andrew Seidel, who wrote The Founding Myth, explains in the documentary the secular principles that drove the founding fathers to form the American government. It was a strict belief in the separation of church and state, which one Christian Nationalist had disputed earlier in the movie.
At one point, the filmmakers explain a bit of the history–talking about the rise of Jerry Falwell and others during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Author Kristin Kobes Du Mez, who wrote Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, discusses how vital abortion was within that earlier movement.
Though abortion has been portrayed as the founding issue of Christian Nationalism, it was a protest of desegregating private schools that drove the formation of the political constituency. Conservative historians often brush over that. That is discussed in the movie.
Partland looks at the rise of Donald Trump, who was initially viewed skeptically by white evangelicals. However, through his appeals to Christian nationalism, he turned that tepid support into rabid enthusiasm for his candidacy.
It’s a timely documentary. It’s available in the Apple store and on Amazon Prime.