Doug and His Followers Are Christian Nationalists
We may not like the name of Christian nationalist, and we might want to have a word or two with the boys down in marketing, but in substance, we are Christian nationalists.
In Douglas Wilson’s own words: 6 quotes from 2023 to 2026, from Blog & Mablog, Mere Christendom and The New York Times, each cited to the source.
We may not like the name of Christian nationalist, and we might want to have a word or two with the boys down in marketing, but in substance, we are Christian nationalists. In the meantime, I am more than willing to go by this name because we can at least work with it.
If we were in the business of using red baseball caps as a way of spreading our views, we would not opt for the MAGA hat. Our adversaries are trying to fit us out for a MAC hat—Make America Christian. Our reply to this is that if we are going to say it with hats, we would come up with a MACA hat—Make America Christian Again. [...] And not only has this Christian nationalism thing been done before, it has been done in America before. If we succeed, this will not be Christian America. If we succeed, this will be Christian America 2.0.
I actually think we need limited government. The government should be significantly smaller than it is, and we need to curtail a lot of the busybodyness that we have. That’s why I would call myself a theocratic libertarian. There is a true libertarian element in this and, yet, the transcendent grounding for what we’re talking about means that we acknowledge the authority of God.
God is angry with us. And that’s my short-form definition of Christian nationalism: America should stop making God angry... It’s a term I accept and embrace. It wasn’t a term I came up with, but I prefer it to the names I usually get called... Christian nationalism is the conviction that secularism is a failed project, and that no society can function or exist without a transcendental grounding.
This issue of eschatology I believe helps untie the knot of a debate that goes on within Christian nationalist circles, and that is: is Christian nationalism brought in as a top-down sort of thing or as a bottom-up revival, reformation and revival sort of thing? What is it? Reformation, revival bubbling up from the grassroots, or is it the steely magistrate finally deciding to knock some heads and take some names? ... Eschatology, a pervasive understanding of God's promises and intentions for the world, are a key ingredient I think in bringing these two halves together. Is it top down or is it bottom up? The answer is yes.
This issue of eschatology I believe helps untie the knot of a debate that goes on within Christian nationalist circles, and that is: is Christian nationalism brought in as a top-down sort of thing or as a bottom-up revival, reformation and revival sort of thing? What is it? Reformation, revival bubbling up from the grassroots, or is it the steely magistrate finally deciding to knock some heads and take some names? ... Eschatology, a pervasive understanding of God's promises and intentions for the world, are a key ingredient I think in bringing these two halves together. Is it top down or is it bottom up? The answer is yes.