There is a difference between loving a country and asking Christianity to rule it. We need to recognize it because the cross can be carried into public life as a sign of self-giving love, or raised over public life as a claim to power.
That is not an abstract concern. A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 17% of U.S. adults now favor declaring Christianity the nation’s official religion, up from 13% in 2024. At the same time, 79% say churches should not endorse political candidates.1Rotolo, C., & Smith, G. A. (2026, May 14). How Americans feel about religion’s influence in government and public life. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/05/14/how-americans-feel-about-religions-influence-in-government-and-public-life/ Those numbers reveal a tension many Christians feel: we want faith to matter in public, but we do not always agree about what faithful public witness looks like.
I want to be clear about my own conviction: the gospel has public consequences. Following Jesus should shape how we treat migrants, queer and transgender people, racial minorities, people in poverty, religious minorities, disabled people, prisoners, and every neighbor whose dignity is treated as negotiable. The church should never be silent when people are harmed. But Christian witness is not the same thing as Christian control.
Christian faith is not Christian nationalism
Christian nationalism fuses Christian identity with national identity and treats political dominance as a way to defend or restore the faith. It tells a story in which “real” citizens belong to a preferred religious and cultural group, while others are tolerated only on unequal terms. Recent PRRI research found that support for Christian nationalism is intertwined with authoritarian attitudes and “replacement” fears about immigrants changing the country’s cultural identity.2Public Religion Research Institute. (2026). Mapping Christian nationalism across the 50 states: Insights from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas. https://prri.org/research/mapping-christian-nationalism-across-the-50-states-insights-from-prris-2025-american-values-atlas/
That is not the same as believing that faith should inspire public service. Christians have every right, and often a responsibility, to advocate, vote, organize, protest, serve, and speak. The question is not whether our faith enters public life. The question is what kind of power our faith teaches us to seek.
Jesus refuses the politics of domination
When Jesus’ disciples reached for status, he pointed to the rulers who “lord it over” others and said, “But it is not so among you.” Greatness in his community would be measured by service, not domination (Mark 10:42–45, NRSVue). Before Pilate, Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world” (John 18:36, NRSVue). He was not saying that God is unconcerned with this world. He was exposing the difference between God’s reign and the violent machinery by which empires preserve themselves.3National Council of Churches. (2021). New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (Mark 10:42–45; John 18:36). Friendship Press. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
The cross makes that difference impossible to ignore. Jesus does not conquer by forcing others to submit. He absorbs violence, forgives enemies, restores outcasts, touches those called unclean, and gives himself in love. Any political theology that needs fear, exclusion, humiliation, or coercion to succeed may use Christian words, but it is moving in the opposite direction from Jesus.
Open and Relational Theology gives us language for this conviction. God’s power is not best understood as unilateral control. Divine love works relationally by calling, luring, healing, empowering, and opening possibilities without erasing creaturely freedom.4Oord, T. J. (2015). The uncontrolling love of God: An open and relational account of providence. IVP Academic. https://ivpress.com/the-uncontrolling-love-of-god If we proclaim a God whose love is noncoercive, the church cannot credibly demand coercive privilege for itself.
Our baptism gives us a different public identity
Episcopalians already have a public theology in the Baptismal Covenant. We promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, love our neighbors, strive for justice and peace, and “respect the dignity of every human being.”5The Episcopal Church. (1979). The Book of Common Prayer (p. 305). Church Publishing. https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/book_of_common_prayer-pages-297-314.pdf
Every human being means the Christian and the Muslim, the believer and the atheist, the citizen and the undocumented neighbor, the conservative and the progressive, the gay teenager and the transgender adult, the person we understand and the person we do not. Baptism does not authorize us to rank their dignity. It binds us to recognize it.
In 2024, the General Convention of The Episcopal Church formally acknowledged religious nationalism as an urgent and deeply rooted problem, lamented its harm to marginalized communities, and urged Episcopalians to educate themselves and oppose associated violence and intimidation.6General Convention of The Episcopal Church. (2024). Resolution 2024-A081: Combat rising religious nationalism. The Archives of The Episcopal Church. https://digitalarchives.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2024-A081 This was not a rejection of public faith. It was a call to practice public faith without turning Christianity into an instrument of domination.
Prophetic witness is not partisan possession
The answer to Christian nationalism is not a silent church. Silence can bless injustice just as surely as religious propaganda can. The church must be able to say that dehumanizing immigrants is not Christ-like; treating LGBTQ people as threats is not Christ-like; suppressing truthful accounts of racism is not Christ-like; using Scripture to sanctify cruelty, revenge, or unquestionable political authority is not Christ-like.
Those judgments should not depend on which party holds office. Our allegiance to Jesus requires us to tell the truth about every leader, every movement, and ourselves. Prophetic witness names conduct and consequences in the light of the gospel. It does not declare a candidate to be God’s chosen instrument, excuse cruelty because it advances our preferred agenda, or confuse electoral victory with divine approval.
A love of country that can tell the truth
Christians can love their country. But mature love does not require mythology. It can give thanks for what is beautiful, confess what is sinful, repair what has been broken, and make room for neighbors whose beliefs differ from our own. Religious freedom is not a consolation prize we grant to others after securing power for ourselves. It is part of the dignity we defend for everyone.
The cross is not a flag, and the gospel is not a campaign platform. The church loses its soul when it trades the vulnerable power of love for proximity to coercive power. Our calling is harder and more hopeful: to serve without controlling, to speak truth without dehumanizing, to seek justice without making an idol of the nation, and to trust that the Holy Spirit can work through freedom rather than force.
In a season when Christianity is being recruited for competing political projects, perhaps our most faithful public declaration is also our baptismal answer: We will, with God’s help.
References
- 1Rotolo, C., & Smith, G. A. (2026, May 14). How Americans feel about religion’s influence in government and public life. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/05/14/how-americans-feel-about-religions-influence-in-government-and-public-life/
- 2Public Religion Research Institute. (2026). Mapping Christian nationalism across the 50 states: Insights from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas. https://prri.org/research/mapping-christian-nationalism-across-the-50-states-insights-from-prris-2025-american-values-atlas/
- 3National Council of Churches. (2021). New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (Mark 10:42–45; John 18:36). Friendship Press. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
- 4Oord, T. J. (2015). The uncontrolling love of God: An open and relational account of providence. IVP Academic. https://ivpress.com/the-uncontrolling-love-of-god
- 5The Episcopal Church. (1979). The Book of Common Prayer (p. 305). Church Publishing. https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/book_of_common_prayer-pages-297-314.pdf
- 6General Convention of The Episcopal Church. (2024). Resolution 2024-A081: Combat rising religious nationalism. The Archives of The Episcopal Church. https://digitalarchives.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2024-A081
