{"id":48717,"date":"2021-02-05T15:59:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T22:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/christian-imagery-on-display-during-riot-sparks-new-debate\/"},"modified":"2021-02-05T22:59:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T22:59:01","slug":"christian-imagery-on-display-during-riot-sparks-new-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/christian-imagery-on-display-during-riot-sparks-new-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian imagery on display during riot sparks new debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A man holds a Bible as Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol in Washington. The Christian imagery and rhetoric on view during Jan. 6\u2019s Capitol insurrection are sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of melding Christian faith with an exclusionary breed of nationalism.<\/span>John Minchillo\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rioters who breached the Capitol, leading to federal charges against more than 130 people so far, included several people carrying signs with Christian messages, and video showed one man in a fur hat and horns leading others in a prayer inside the Senate chamber. They also included multiple current or former members of the U.S. military or law enforcement, as well as a West Virginia state lawmaker.<\/p>\n

The rise of what\u2019s often called Christian nationalism has long prompted pushback from leaders in multiple denominations, with the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty forming the Christians Against Christian Nationalism coalition in 2019. But in the immediate wake of the insurrection, other Christian leaders spoke out to denounce what they saw as the misuse of their faith to justify a violent attack on a seat of government.<\/p>\n

Russell Moore, president of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that when he saw a \u201cJesus Saves\u201d sign displayed near a gallows built by rioters, \u201cI was enraged to a degree that I haven\u2019t been enraged in memory. This is not only dangerous and unpatriotic but also blasphemous, presenting a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ that isn\u2019t the gospel and is instead its exact reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dwight McKissic, a leading Black Southern Baptist pastor who has publicly criticized the denomination\u2019s leaders\u2019 handling of racial justice, urged them in a tweet to also \u201cdenounce this flagrant display of White Christian Nationalism\u201d by insurrectionists.<\/p>\n

\"Supporters
Supporters of President Donald Trump, including Jacob Chansley, center with fur and horned hat, are confronted Jan. 6 by Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the U.S. Capitol. A video showed Chansley leading others in a prayer inside the Senate chamber.<\/span>Manuel Balce Ceneta\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

To tamp down what both liberal and conservative clerics view as a misappropriation of their faith, however, they must first tackle the challenge of defining Christian nationalism for a broad audience. Christians Against Christian Nationalism describes it as an ideology that \u201cdemands Christianity be privileged by the state and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a virtual panel the coalition held last week, one prominent leader underscored that love of country and God can coexist without making a person a Christian nationalist.<\/p>\n

It is \u201cvery important to understand we are not condemning being patriotic,\u201d said the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, who leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Christians \u201ccan still be active participants in the public square\u201d while staying true to their faith, she said.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, sounded a similar note in an interview, citing the corrosive effects of \u201ca convergence of a nationalist identity and a Christian identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, I love our country, and as the son of immigrant parents I am deeply grateful for the hope this nation represents,\u201d Kim said. \u201cBut as a Christian, my highest allegiance is to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet some supporters of former President Donald Trump say that denunciations of Christian nationalism are a way of attacking them politically. Former Rep. Allen West, now chairman of the Texas GOP, said on a panel with several other religious conservatives sponsored by the group My Faith Votes that the term is used against those who \u201cdon\u2019t conform to a progressive, socialist ideological agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President
President Donald Trump supporters, including Doug Jensen, center, confront U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington. QAnon conspiracy theory believers were front and center at the Jan. 6 rally in support of Trump&#x2019;s baseless claims of widespread election fraud as well as the riot that followed.<\/span>Manuel Balce Ceneta\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Another wrinkle in efforts to steer Christians away from an overtly nationalist projection of their faith is QAnon, the conspiracy theory whose believers were front and center at the Jan. 6 rally in support of Trump\u2019s baseless claims of widespread election fraud as well as the riot that followed.<\/p>\n

In the video shot by a New Yorker <\/em>reporter during the siege, the fur-hatted Jacob Chansley \u2013 known as the \u201cQAnon shaman\u201d for his alignment with the conspiracy theory as well as his self-described spiritual leanings \u2013 delivered a prayer thanking God \u201cfor allowing the United States of America to be reborn.\u201d While Chansley spoke, other rioters fell silent in apparent participation.<\/p>\n

Robert Jones, CEO of the independent nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, said QAnon centers on a \u201cvery apocalyptic, good-versus-evil\u201d set of false assumptions that connect Trump\u2019s party to godliness and Democrats to heathendom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we saw QAnon, white supremacy and white Christianity all carried together in a violent attack on the Capitol means that particularly white Christians have got some real soul-searching to do,\u201d said Jones, author of two books about white Christianity in America.<\/p>\n

Christian author Jemar Tisby said via email that the elements of Christianity present at the riot signal that \u201cviolent nationalists have developed ways to deploy such religious symbols in service of their malevolent ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians who want to divest of Christian Nationalism may find themselves leaving their churches because the ideology is so deeply ingrained that meaningful change is not on the horizon,\u201d said Tisby, CEO of The Witness, a Black Christian organization.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Moore said he has begun speaking with pastors about quelling QAnon\u2019s potential influence within congregations and plans to do more to provide resources to that end.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the barriers to speaking to these conspiracy theories is many pastors and leaders rightly recognize this stuff as crazy, so they assume it doesn\u2019t need to be spoken to,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we live in a crazy time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A man holds a Bible as Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol in Washington. The Christian imagery and rhetoric on view during Jan. 6\u2019s Capitol insurrection are sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of melding Christian faith with an exclusionary breed of nationalism.John Minchillo\/Associated Press file The rioters who breached the Capitol, leading to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[407],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-48717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-religion-and-belief"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48717"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=48717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}