What Is It about Christianity and White Nationalism?

To paraphrase Brian Zahnd, Christian Nationalism is just Nationalism, using Jesus as a mascot.

It is the same White Nationalism that we see at work in the Klan.

It is the same White Nationalism that we saw at work in the Nazis and see at work in the neo-Nazi movements.

And yet, it does seem that Christianity, and especially White Christianity, is particularly susceptible to embracing White Nationalism. It is somehow still too easy for us as White Christians--

not just in the fundamentalist, Evangelical, and nondenominational branches, but also in the mainline Protestant and Catholic branches--

to believe that Black and Brown and Asian and Indigenous people, or foreigners; people who are Muslims and Jews and Buddhists, Sikhs, and Hindus and people of other religious traditions; people with disabilities; people who are poor, hungry, and/ or homeless; people who are left-leaning or liberal university students or teachers, writers, artists, musicians, or community organizers or activists, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or any variety of queer--

that these people are somehow less equal and less worthy of existence on our earth; and less worthy of being treated with dignity and respect and love as our neighbors.

This susceptibility to White Nationalism persists even though it flies in the face of the Gospel of Jesus and everything Jesus taught about love of neighbors that were from widely different parts of society even in Biblical times.