“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”(James 1:27)
Religion is supposed to help us grow closer to God and closer to one another. At its best, faith teaches us to be humble, kind, forgiving, generous, and loving. It reminds us that every person matters to God.
But sometimes religion stops looking like Jesus. It happens when faith is used to scare people, control people, shame people, or push people away. Instead of pointing people to God’s love, religion can become a weapon. It can divide families, churches, communities, and even nations.
That is one of the concerns many Christians have with Christian nationalism. Loving your country is not wrong. Being thankful for where you live is not wrong. Praying for leaders and wanting justice in society is not wrong. The problem comes when following Jesus gets mixed with political power in a way that says one nation, one party, one race, or one group of people is more favored by God than others.
When that happens, Christianity can start looking less like Jesus and more like empire. The cross can get wrapped in the flag. Grace can be replaced with control. Love can be replaced with fear. People begin to ask, “Are you one of us?” instead of asking, “How can we love our neighbor?”
Faith
Faith means trusting God. It does not mean trusting human power, political movements, or national pride to save us. Jesus never said God’s kingdom depends on winning control of a country. He taught that God’s kingdom grows through mercy, repentance, service, and love.
Christian nationalism can tempt people to put their deepest loyalty in a nation instead of in Christ. But for Christians, our highest loyalty belongs to Jesus. Our true citizenship is in God’s kingdom.
Hope
Christian hope is not based on fear or on trying to take the country “back” for God. Our hope is in Christ, who is already Lord. That hope does not need enemies in order to feel strong. It does not need anger to survive.
True hope gives us courage to do good, speak truth, and work for justice without hating other people. It helps us believe that God is still at work, even when the world feels divided.
Love
Jesus said the greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbor. He did not say our neighbor only includes people who look like us, vote like us, worship like us, or come from the same country. In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus showed that real love crosses boundaries.
Whenever religion is used to shame, exclude, threaten, or dehumanize people, it is moving away from the heart of Jesus. Jesus welcomed the overlooked, touched the untouchable, fed the hungry, forgave sinners, and called his followers to be peacemakers.
Truth and Justice
Truth matters to God. Justice matters to God. The prophets spoke out against leaders and nations that used religion to hide greed, violence, dishonesty, and oppression. Jesus also challenged religious leaders when they cared more about status and rules than mercy and people.
A faith that ignores the poor, mistreats immigrants, excuses racism, or protects power at the expense of vulnerable people is not following the way of Jesus. Truth also means being honest about history, honest about harm, and careful not to twist Scripture to support hatred or domination.
A Better Witness
The church is called to be a light, not a loudspeaker for fear. Christians can love their country and still remember that no nation is the kingdom of God. We can participate in public life without turning politics into an idol. We can speak truth without cruelty. We can seek justice without hatred. We can disagree without forgetting the image of God in other people.
When religion is used to divide, it becomes smaller than the gospel. But when faith is shaped by Jesus, it becomes a bridge. It points us back to faith that trusts God, hope that refuses fear, love that embraces neighbors, truth that tells the whole story, and justice that protects the vulnerable.
That is the kind of faith our world needs: not a faith that asks who belongs at the top, but a faith that asks how we can serve, heal, welcome, and love in the name of Christ.
Minister A Francine Green, August 2026