We embark to give a historical perspective on the complexities of religious nationalism and how similar tactics are alive today to seek to establish religious/Christian nationalism in various pockets around the world including the United States of America. We'll travel back to the colonial era, exposing how religion was weaponized as a tool of control and exploitation. Our exploration will reveal the detrimental effects of religious nationalism when it descends into intolerance and exclusivity causing societal upheaval.
We dissect the manipulation of religious nationalism to stoke fear, isolationism, and a sense of superiority. We shine a light on the tragic outcomes, including racism, ethnic intolerance, and an opposition to diversity. Despite these challenging realities, there is a silver lining. We delve into the transformative power of faith and the potential for individuals and communities to foster positive change. Listen in as we discuss the role people of faith can play in advancing social justice, education, medical equity, and more.
#religiousnationalism; #christiannationalism
#abovethenoise24
# faith
#reconciliation
#race
racialreconciliation
Stay in touch:
Podcast art by Mario Christie.
We embark to give a historical perspective on the complexities of religious nationalism and how similar tactics are alive today to seek to establish religious/Christian nationalism in various pockets around the world including the United States of America. We'll travel back to the colonial era, exposing how religion was weaponized as a tool of control and exploitation. Our exploration will reveal the detrimental effects of religious nationalism when it descends into intolerance and exclusivity causing societal upheaval.
We dissect the manipulation of religious nationalism to stoke fear, isolationism, and a sense of superiority. We shine a light on the tragic outcomes, including racism, ethnic intolerance, and an opposition to diversity. Despite these challenging realities, there is a silver lining. We delve into the transformative power of faith and the potential for individuals and communities to foster positive change. Listen in as we discuss the role people of faith can play in advancing social justice, education, medical equity, and more.
#religiousnationalism; #christiannationalism
#abovethenoise24
# faith
#reconciliation
#race
racialreconciliation
Stay in touch:
Podcast art by Mario Christie.
Welcome to Above the Noise, a podcast at the intersection of faith, race and reconciliation, and I'm your host, grant Lee Martelli. Welcome back to Above the Noise. I want to address today this topic of religious and Christian nationalism. Christian nationalism didn't begin in the United States of America. It didn't begin with Donald Trump or the Ayatollah. It has been embedded before colonialists landed on many shores.
Grantley:The pilgrims, as they were called, did not seek out a new land from Great Britain to be benevolent explorers of the New World. They left to seek a place to practice their religion freely. That religion had nothing to do with the inhabitants of the new lands. It only had to do with the pilgrims' selfish desires to practice their religion without government intervention or oversight. Because of the narrow and parochial and culturally modified views of what it meant to be followers of Christ, the pilgrims had little tolerance or intent to include the native inhabitants of those lands into their faiths, unless the natives were willing to abandon their national identity and emulate Europeanism. It must be remembered that the British were not the only purveyors of this taught and practice. The French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Belgians and the Dutch all approached their people and others in foreign lands through these lenses of religious nationalism, classism, racism and brutality. So when they branched out to the New World in pursuit of either religious freedom or the desire to acquire new lands and resources in the name of the crown, their intent and their actions were guided not by true biblical brotherhood, but by cultural and religious nationalism that they brought with them. One of the main differences that occurred in the New World was that now the lower classes of Europeans, who were seen as second or third class citizens in their homelands, had the opportunity to see other groups of people as Lorden themselves and began to act as the higher class countrymen had, treated them with this din and harassment. The same applied to the Dutch and British settlers who occupied South Africa and other peoples who occupied other parts of Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean. Why begin with this underlying historical perspective?
Grantley:Within each of these systems, national structures and global expansion, religion was used as a tool to mask the ungodly and unholy intent of its proponents. The terms in the name of the church, in honor of the pope, in the name of the king, in the name of the king of England, who is the head of the church, portraying large crucifixes mounted on poles and hanging around the necks of religious leaders. Religious nationalism became the standard of power and world domination. On the other side of the globe, the rise of Islam, hinduism and other religions also found fodder in establishing a religious nationalism that promised peace, serenity, control of classism and blissful utopianism. Not to mention that vision came up, the cause of elevated masculinity, diminishing women and girls, poverty for the working classes and extreme wealth for religious superiors who ruled with iron fists, open brutality, proliferation of illiteracy and law and order by public beatings and executions.
Grantley:Religious nationalism meant to be like us, act like us, believe like us or die. Religious nationalism is always dangerous when it is built on principles of intolerance and exclusivity. These two ingredients, when combined in large proportions, always react with explosive dysfunction and chaos. That's why the biblical writers remind us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to or than we should, and to treat others like we would like to be treated, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Religious nationalism holds to none of these principles. Colonialists and Christians combined to become distinctly non-Christ-like in their actions when their national, social, cultural and political views become more important than biblical teaching.
Grantley:Within the heart of humankind, it seems that there's a natural desire to see ourselves as better than. We have media and tabloids that are built on highlighting the failures of others, as if gloating in someone else's troubles will make our lives better, safer or richer. Another flaw of this kind of thinking is that our religion, being superior to all others, hence, must always rule. We must be in power, we must have laws that govern our religious values and govern by our religious values. Our schools and our communities must reflect our flawed religious philosophies, and our children must be protected at all costs so that they cannot be exposed to these hedonistic ideas, and they must only be taught our stuff. Religious nationalism, Christian nationalism or whatever package it is wrapped in, must always live at the extremes. In order to thrive and in order to gain followers, it must have an enemy, even if that enemy does not exist in reality. Therefore, we see groups and their leaders spreading fear, isolationism, and superiority, because the boogeyman is outside the gates, lurking to come in. Who is the boogeyman, it doesn't matter, just give them enough time and they'll make one up. The only way for religious nationalism to thrive is for there to be someone or some philosophy to fear that threatens to destroy a particular way of life, a way of life that may indeed be a need of change, especially if it needs to bend towards justice and equality and equity.
Grantley:Another characteristic of this practice is rage. Proponents may call it righteous indignation. In fact, it is simply rage that manifests itself in anger and in fits of violence where people who, outside of having been brought up within the cesspool of lies and half-truths, would be rational human beings, now they find themselves either doing or having to defend actions, expressions and philosophies that, prior to this, would have been considered absurd and dehumanizing. But once they're bought into these philosophies become the norm and become something that needs to be defended, regardless of the country or the religious affiliation. We see flags, we see weapons, we see angry demonstrations seeking out opponents to attack and to destroy, whether verbally or physically, Leaders who, while proclaiming to defend their country, identity, lifestyle, heritage and traditions, are gaining exorbitant wealth at the expense of the otherwise ordinary people who are propping up their fallen houses. Take the January 6th insurrection in the United States after the elections, and it's a perfect example. As we look at the world, we see places where religious nationalism has taken root. We see the carnage that is being left in its wake.
Grantley:One question that has plagued my mind is why does religious nationalism seem to eventually turn to become racist, ethnically intolerant and staunch opponents of diversity? Why does it seem to land on the side of monoculturalism, isolationism, ethnic and racial priority? Why do women, girls and marginalized people usually seem to suffer and be treated as inferior? Take Malala, the young lady who had acid throat in her face and was left to die on the side of the street simply because she wanted to learn, simply because she wanted to be educated. And the gang rapes and killings that we read about in India over and over again?
Grantley:The biggest challenge we have today is to be human, human beings. We want morality, integrity, social strong values, financial security, national pride, sanctity of life and religious freedom. There's nothing wrong with any of these universal values, but can we remain human and act in kindness, humility and inclusivity to give value to each person as a uniquely created creature created by a Creator? Or do we have to degrade into human depravity because we do not trust our creator to know how to relate to and how to manage his creation? Whenever human beings try to assist deity or become deity in regulating human behavior, greater humanity always seems to suffer. We are simply not good at being self-exalted human beings.
Grantley:Now, does this mean that Christians or people of faith should not be involved in the public square, in the political arena or community activism? No, it doesn't. We should be involved. However, christianity is not about Christian nationalism. It is about the person of Jesus Christ. It is about introducing people to Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and his work, his love for them and how he can transform individuals and, by transforming individuals, transform communities and nations. Christianity is inclusive. It is united people across nations, across races, across ethnicities under the banner of Jesus Christ. People of faith should be involved in the political arena.
Grantley:There are many things that we need to be working on things like legal and justice reform so that all people, regardless of race or color or creed, have access to justice and are not discriminated against because of where they're from or their social or ethnic upbringing or their social class. We should be working on things for educational access for all so that, whether you're from a poor community or from a rich community, you have the ability to have access to education and to preschool and to learn the things that we need to thrive and become the people God created us to be. We should be concerned about medical disparities, where some communities have better outcomes than others because of access to medical care, and in this modern day and age, people should be able to get the care that they need at affordable prices. We should be concerned about feeding the hungry, eliminating homelessness, livable wages for people who work hard every day and still cannot make it out of poverty. We should be concerned about human trafficking and how we can use political systems and international rules and policies to try to prevent modern day slavery. We should be concerned about corruption, whether it be political or financial corruption that destroys the fabric of our societies. We should stand for justice. We should stand for equality for all, regardless of race or ethnicity, religion or language. We should be concerned about eliminating poverty. There is enough resources in this world that everyone should have access to food and shelter and clean water and clothing and a place to live in peace, without fear.
Grantley:This world is not our final home. We are here temporarily. We're here on a mission, and part of that is to make the world a better place. We're called to be salt and we're called to be light. We're called to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We're called to represent the kingdom of God and His kingdom. Jesus said many times, it's not of this world, it is bigger. But while we're here, we engage with those around us and we engage in order to create a community that is inclusive and uniting and where neighbors can live in peace with each other. We can have unity, we can see patience and kindness and gentleness All these things that make our community a better place. Remember to subscribe and leave us a rating. Ratings are very important to helping our podcast succeed in the podcast universe and helping it become known to other people. Email us your comments at abovethenoise24 at gmailcom. Abovethenoise24 at gmail. com, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at abovethenoise24. Thank you for listening. Please share this episode with a friend.