Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism

As someone who grew up in a home influenced by apocalyptic Christian fundamentalism, I admit right up front that I will not attempt an "objective" review of this book (whatever that might mean). I agreed with the premise Michelle Goldberg outlines (i.e., that there is a powerful strand of politicized Christianity in the US that holds the Constitution in contempt and that seeks absolute political control---Goldberg calls them "Christian nationalists") before she ever set fingers to keyboard. Frankly, I was amazed at the empathy and understanding with which Michelle Goldberg approached this material, and found that one of the strongest features of this book. Another of the strengths is in her willingness to let her subjects speak for themselves. Oftentimes the most damning comments come straight from the mouths of the Christian nationalists themselves, and Goldberg does a fine job of putting these quotes into an overall context that should chill anyone who still appreciates the ideals of the Enlightenment. For example, Goldberg repeatedly exposes a Manichean worldview in which the American body politic is literally divided into black and white, good and evil, with the Christian nationalists on one side and the rest of us on the other. (I leave it for you to guess which side is "good.") "Thus every political issue--indeed, every disputed aspect of our national life--is a struggle between good and evil" (p. 4). She quotes Pastor Rod Parsley: "Everyone asks, `Why is it so close?' The light is getting lighter and the dark is getting darker. These two opponents are not just opponents. This is a values situation. This is lightness and darkness!" (p. 51). As Goldberg sagaciously notes, people have a perfect right to this Manichean worldview, "yet when the United States government works this way, it turns all nonevangelicals into "the other side." The nonreligious are no longer even part of the debate..." (152). I would also note that in this view, the "wrongly religious" (i.e., those who don't accept a particular collection of tenets about God, the Bible, etc.) are also left out of the debate. Of course, though, this point is moot, because making the US an overtly Christian country, in which the nonreligious and "wrongly religious" are second-class citizens at best, is one aspect of the Christian nationalist agenda: "Among [evangelicals and born-again Christians] there is substantial support for amending the United States Constitution to make Christianity the country's official religion..." (9). Leaving us out of the debate makes sense to Christian Reconstructionist theologian R.J. Rushdoony, who denounced democracy as a "heresy and `the great love of the failures and cowards of life'" (38). Whereas many try to sugarcoat this agenda for wider consumption, the raw truth is available for the flock: "Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ--to have dominion in civil structures, jus

"Kingdom Coming" by Michelle Goldberg is a cautionary tale about Christian Nationalism and its threat to the Enlightenment values that are crucial to maintaining a modern democratic state as we know it today. Ms. Goldberg has done a superb job of surveying the movement, its leaders and its political ideals. Through her remarkable first-hand reporting and analysis, the author helps us understand that a liberal response articulating why rationality matters is urgently needed to counteract the forces of irrationality that threaten to undo our country. Ms. Goldberg explains how homeschooling has allowed superstition to be instilled in a generation of young people who are being encouraged to become politically active. Exurban megachurches provide organizers with millions of voters and activists who can be rapidly mobilized around Christian causes. The author dedicates individual chapters to discussing six areas where extremist positions have gained ground, including: revisionism of U.S. history; anti-gay rights activism; intelligent design theory (Creationism); faith-based public services; abstinence; and the U.S. court system. As Ms. Goldberg clearly shows, the Christian movement's success has been substantial and in many cases has been attributable to sympathy and support at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Significantly, Ms. Goldberg's comparative analysis shows that extremist Christian views have gained institutional support over time. For example, she compares how the Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964 shied away from the John Birch Society in order to distance itself from the admixture of militarism with religion to the Bush administration's embrace of General William G. Boykin after he had made several outlandish public statements about divine warfare. In fact, by appointing hundreds of ideologically sympathetic judges and bureaucrats to numerous positions within the federal government, Ms. Goldberg contends that the extremist Christian movement will continue to exert its influence for many years to come. Drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt, Ms. Goldberg helps us consider how fascism finds fertile ground once all objective reason has been marginalized from public debate. The author attributes a peculiar form of Christian postmodernism, in its rejection of objective truth as myths that are propagated by the so-called liberal elite onto the unwilling Christian masses, to be responsible for fomenting a paranoid fanaticism that ultimately may prove to be a catalyst to inspiring violent action against all those who are different or who may object to the Christian agenda. But such concerns are not merely theoretical; Ms. Goldberg goes on to share the experiences of herself and others who have already suffered discrimination as a result of the works of Christian extremists. Interestingly, Ms. Goldberg punctures the inflated claims of heartland moral superiority. The author points out that the "red states" where Christianity is stronge

Ms. Goldberg's book is a must-read for liberals, secularists, and mainstream Christians. I do not find her conclusions overblown or alarmist, but in fact quite astute. The facts speak for themselves, and she has done a commendable job of connecting the dots between the GOP and the dominionist movement, illuminating their goals and their processes. I do not think it is wild speculation, for it is clear that the evangelical right is making strong progress inflitrating the GOP, and there is every reason to believe that this will continue. It is a sad state of affairs, I believe, that in this modern age, this movement has acquired a veneer of legitimacy in the public discourse. The dominionist/christian reconstructionist movement is a gathering threat, and should be treated as such.