Introduction to Cristian Nationalism

Today Easter Sunday, I want to use the atmosphere to talk about something you’ve likely noticed on your Instagram feed: Christianity is trendy again

But more than a sudden collective awakening is rather the surge of a political movement called Christian nationalism. Already big in the U.S. and LatAm, this phenomenon is slowly coming to Europe too. Its followers believe liberal democracy (the current system) is a failed experiment and that the solution isn't reform, it’s scrapping the model entirely for something new

To understand it we must remember what liberal democracy actually is: the Western gold standard of politics. Under this model, success is measured by how closely a country resembles Norway while any shift toward authoritarianism is viewed as a failure

Christian nationalists argue this system is a fraud: 1) They claim modern liberalism’s "do what you want" mantra leaves people devoid of purpose, turning freedom into a meaningless desert 2) They argue that prioritizing individual rights has detonated social bonds, leaving only isolated individuals 3) They contend that subordinating everything to the free market has made us slaves to consumption

Faced with this "failure of modernity" they propose a shock plan. They want the State to abandon neutrality and use its power to incentivize "the good" and punish "evil" based on Christian morality. They want the State to nudge you toward virtue, whether you like it or not. It includes a replacement of elites and seizing control of universities and media. Economically they propose protectionism where the market is secondary to the nation. And they dream of a transition from pluralistic democracy to an identitarian theocracy: a country as a spiritual unit with a single, mystical identity

This isn’t sci-fi, it’s already here. JD Vance, the current U.S. Vice President, is the movement’s most visible face. This brand of politics has caught many off guard and even alienated traditional Christians, who watch as these nationalist proposals clash head-on with the original idea of faith

As a European I find it surreal to see our shared heritage of Judeo-Christian faith, Greek reason, and Roman law hijacked to legitimize Christian princes and new aristocracies. In their view, the Bible should be civil law and Christians have a divine mandate to exercise dominion over the earth

Personally I share the need to reintroduce values into a system currently buried in nihilism. However, we must not confuse the "faith warriors" who are dogmatic and use religion to build walls, exclude others and dominate their neighbors, with what I call "conscious warriors" that use values to break oppressive structures and defend the invisible: the soul, nature and fundamental human rights 

In any case brace yourself, because the coming decade will be defined by "State-sponsored holy wars" and I don’t want you to be caught off guard while scrolling through your feed thinking these are just pretty pictures of people praying