Christianity is a Vast Reservoir of Potential White Allies

Posted By Joshua Lawrence On In North American New Right | Comments Disabled

[1]2,895 words

In his Counter Currents article from May 20, 2022, “What Christian Nationalism Looks Like in Current-Year America [2],” Robert Hampton casts a critical eye on Christian nationalism. His thesis:

[Identitarians] think [Christian nationalism is] an ideology that can easily be racialized and used to defend white people . . .

In reality, Christian nationalism is an evangelical, multiracial, philo-Semitic circus that repulses young middle-class people. Its core demographic is those over 40, and it’s not the future of American politics.

Mr. Hampton may only be discussing the specific phenomenon of Christian nationalism, but in truth, American Christians in general form a vast reservoir of potential white allies. What matters most is not specific vehicles such as White Nationalism or Christian nationalism. I have no objection to these vehicles if they can protect our people, but they are not the key issue. What matters most is that we white people are able to defend ourselves by repelling attacks and fighting for our interests as white people. Following Jared Taylor, I call this white advocacy, a term more precise and less freighted with negative connotations in the minds of normies than White Nationalism. The present work seeks to show that, counterfeits notwithstanding, genuine Christianity is compatible with white advocacy.

Genuine Christianity is an ally against all of wokeness and Leftism, not just white persecution, for two basic reasons. Because of its view that the Bible is an unchanging standard and an accurate and rationally understandable description of reality, genuine Christianity teaches a comprehensive worldview that enables the Christian to accept the truth about all subjects, race relations included. And whereas the driving force behind white Leftism is psychological and spiritual pain that drives its victims to seek redemption through woke activism, Christianity heals the soul through assurance of the forgiveness of sins and through teaching the Christian believer to understand and accept the world as it is. While many Christian entities — congregations, denominations, colleges, non-governmental organizations, etc. — are distracted by unhealthy doses of un- and anti-Christian doctrine, most of Christendom retains enough respect for genuine Christianity to form a huge reservoir of potential allies.

Yes, Christianity’s compatibility with white advocacy is not clear to the man in the street. American Protestantism is often circus-like, with pastors and teachers eagerly catering to popular prejudices rather than to the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3.) And Catholicism, despite self-serving claims of unity and possession of Apostolic authority, is no better. Many Christian leaders flirt with the currently fashionable phenomenon of white persecution rather than giving it the condemnation it deserves.

But their support for Jim Snow is a mile wide and an inch deep. The actual Christian religion is not compatible with modern-style “diversity.” Widely-cited and apparently woke verses such as “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28) refer to our acceptance by God based on faith in Jesus rather than our membership in secular human categories. These verses have nothing to do with diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE). Genuine Christianity opposes white persecution as the injustice that it is, and Christian wokeness results mostly from church leaders trying to be popular. It can be defeated either by accurate appeals to Scripture and to common decency, or by a change in the cultural winds.

A brief discussion of the types of Christianity is in order. In America Christianity basically means Protestantism, although Catholicism has grown greatly in recent decades. For the purposes of the current discussion, there are three predominant types of American Protestantism. Using their conventional descriptors, they are mainline denominational, mainstream Evangelical, and Bible-believing. There are overlaps, but the distinctions are important.

Mainline denominational Protestantism was once the majority report, but thanks to its almost complete embrace of secular liberalism and Leftism, it is now in terminal decline. Mainline denominational Protestantism openly changes biblical doctrine to fit the Left-wing fads of the day and is almost fully woke. But since its numbers are minimal and it does not follow the historic Christian religion, it can be ignored here. My goal is to show that Christianity properly understood is friendly to white advocacy, and these people are not proper Christians. (But there are a few genuinely Christian congregations within the mainline denominations.)

Mainstream Evangelical Protestantism is orthodox in theory, avoiding the openly-embraced heresies of the mainline denominations, and it often teaches against Leftism and wokeness. The term “evangelical” refers to its emphasis on the gospel message of forgiveness of sins through repentance and faith in Jesus, a traditional Christian message which the mainline denominations have openly rejected. But evangelicalism has an Achilles’ heel of wanting to appeal to the masses. It is willing to denounce atheism and abortion, but increasingly it seeks accommodation with CRT and LGBTQ+ — that is, anti-whiteness and sexual perversion. The Evangelical mainstream formally opposes sexual perversion because the Bible clearly identifies it as sin. But its overall attitude toward wokeness is more “Let’s make a deal!” than “Get thee behind me, Satan!”

Mainstream Evangelicalism is genuinely Christian on paper and includes many biblically-faithful congregations, but is often misled by its desire to be hip and trendy.

The difference between mainline and Evangelical is not one of denomination. There are Lutherans, for example, in each camp: the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is evangelical; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is mainline and liberal. (The confusing terminology results from “Evangelical Church” being Luther’s preferred name for the church he founded.)

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You can buy Greg Johnson’s White Identity Politics here. [4]

The true difference between the mainline denominations and mainstream Evangelicalism is that when the Bible contradicts wokeness, the former says the Bible is wrong while the latter is prone to reinterpret Scripture. Mainstream Evangelicalism holds the Bible to be an inerrant standard, but sometimes creates new interpretations that are more in keeping with the spirit of the age.

The third main Protestant group calls itself Bible-believing. Like Evangelicalism, it holds the Bible to be inerrant and therefore an unwavering standard, but is aware of the danger of desiring to please the masses. The Bible-believing churches do better at holding the line against modernity.

A cynic might say that Protestantism contains so many denominations, and so many other divisions, that generalizations about Christianity such as the one discussed here are not valid. Christianity to the cynic seems a hodge-podge and a mélange, with no clear defining characteristics.

The cynic is wrong. All sectors of Evangelical and Bible-believing Christianity affirm a very large “common core” of historic Protestant beliefs, most of which are also shared with (non-liberal) Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox (EO). The differences tend to be more interesting and accordingly get center stage, but backstage the much larger set of common beliefs make Christianity (including based Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) compatible with white advocacy.

There is also an important rift concerning justification by faith alone which separates Protestants from Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, and there is another rift between the Roman and the EO churches. But these rifts do not touch white advocacy.

How, then, is Christianity compatible with white advocacy? Rather than presenting a comprehensive case, I will paint with broad strokes. Christianity does not affirm the modern mainstream view of race relations; it affirms that families, tribes, and nations should seek their own good as far as it is compatible with justice, and it calls on rulers to rule with (non-woke) justice.

The modern view of race relations is, of course, that whites have an unforgiveable “original sin” called whiteness which inexorably drives us to persecute non-whites, and therefore whites are to be brought low and non-whites are to be exalted. But this contradicts the genuine biblical appraisal of mankind that all have sinned and fall short of the gory of God (Romans 3:23), and that all mankind needs the remedy of forgiveness through the ministry of Jesus Christ. Those who are faithful to the genuine Christian religion cannot accept “another gospel” such as wokeness (Galatians 1:8).

Christianity also describes human society as it should be, with mankind divided into families, tribes, and nations according to the plan of God: “. . . [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, . . .” [Acts 17:26]. Christianity also charges families and nations with seeking the good of their own people: “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” [I Timothy 5:8].

Christianity opposes wokeness by calling on rulers to rule with justice and not to favor either the great or the lowly:

You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired worker are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a person who is deaf, nor put a stumbling block before a person who is blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord. You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not show partiality to the poor nor give preference to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. [emphasis added] You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people; and you are not to jeopardize the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may certainly rebuke your neighbor, but you are not to incur sin because of him. [Leviticus 19:13-17]

For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. [Romans 13:3,4. Expressing the ideal, if not always the practice, of the civil ruler.]

Christianity also opposes wokeness by undercutting its foundations. The woke understanding of the world holds reality to be indeterminate, with each person coming into existence through random processes and bearing no allegiance to his people or their ways. In this scenario the best for mankind is for each individual to actuate his desires in a way that maximizes harmony and minimizes friction, and the root of all evil is a few selfish persons (mostly whites and men) wickedly discriminating against their fellow man in the name of outdated ideologies. It is a self-contained and self-consistent package deal — a spell, if you will — that cannot be broken by arguing piecemeal against its parts. The spell can only be broken by a radical act of recognizing the foulness of the woke system and repenting of one’s participation therein. Christianity defies the woke person’s smug self-righteousness (“I am righteous because I am non-white / female / LGBTQ+ / an ally / you name it”) by declaring that God pronounces him a sinner, and it offers salvation based on believing in God and His biblical message.

This deep act of repentance is essentially the same act that Christianity calls on each person to perform: to transfer his loyalty from a popular but wicked world system to the divine System, and to its Master.

If its pastors and teachers do their job, Christianity teaches the neophyte the truth about the world and human society. The new Christian begins learning how to take his place in a serious order and play a role based on love of God, love of neighbor, and respect for the reality that God created. In the Christian way of life, there is no time for woke foolishness.

When the new Christian understands that his sins are real but forgiven in Christ and that God created the world as a very good realm (Genesis 1:31), he cannot but reject woke madness, including white persecution.

To be sure, many Christian leaders do not do their duty to God, and one result is a plague of wokeness in the churches. But non-woke Christianity is more prevalent than most non-Christians know. There are a lot more of us out there than is generally believed. (I am one of the Bible-believers.)

Some white advocates believe that the Christian understanding of evolution entails the notion that those who accept evolution are prone to embrace “white supremacy.” Therefore, rejecting evolution allegedly leads the Christian to embrace the modern notion of racial equality. For this reason, some white advocates hold that acceptance of the mainstream understanding of evolution is necessary for the race realism that is the antidote to the poisonous doctrine of white racism being the cause of non-white underachievement. But this is a red herring. Before the second half of the nineteenth century, only a few kooks and visionaries believed in human evolution, but everybody acknowledged natural human inequalities. One can reject fully atheistic evolution (as I do) and also embrace race realism: Whether they evolved that way or were made that way by God, the races have natural differences. Christianity enables one to think clearly about race relations.

Non-Christians sometimes fear that Christianity promotes an emotional and foolish way of life. But genuine Christianity teaches its followers to live in the real world and master it to the best of their abilities. There is, to be sure, a supernatural world that is ultimately the more important realm. But genuine Christianity encourages people to be practical and effective, studying the world as it is and operating within its parameters. They do not get very much publicity, because the powers-that-be prefer to publicize the bizarre in order to demean Christianity, but sober Christians exist in great abundance. These people are potentially natural allies of white advocacy.

Savvy Evangelical and Bible-believing Christians understand that the Ruling System hates them because they are Christians. They are hated because of who they are. Jesus taught his followers to expect it:

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11,12)

It is only a small conceptual step from there (but a psychologically large step) for savvy white Christians to understand that the same Ruling System also hates them because they are white, and they then become sympathetic to white advocacy.

I conclude by commenting on some other points made by Mr. Hampton:

Besides Israelite LARPing and bad aesthetics, there’s also the lack of any racial awareness . . . They’re in a spiritual struggle to make America Christian again . . . This is not a euphemism for making America white again. The central identity they want for Americans is the Christian faith, not the racial identity of the men who built this country.

It is not the proper business of the Christian church to advocate for any specific political or social order, other than that it should be just and God-fearing. The church does not need to openly push for White Nationalism in order to do us good. But there is also no inherent conflict between Christianity and an order that is white nationalistic.

And about that LARPing: Much of Evangelicalism has an unhealthy fascination with Jews and the contemporary state of Israel. They believe, on biblical grounds, that God made an eternal and unconditional covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:1-3), and that in the future the Jews will come to faith in Christ (Romans 11:25-29). That makes the Jews — in the eyes of some Evangelicals — still people of God.

The Scriptures cited seem clear to me. But many Evangelicals fail to note how most Jews today are enemies of Christ and of Christians. And once again, the Bible supplies the remedy. Romans 11:28, speaking to Christians, says: “ . . . In relation to the gospel [the Jews] are enemies on your account . . .” In the Old Testament, those Jews who had true faith in the Lord were the people of God. In contemporary times some individual Jews believe in Jesus and are saved, but as a nation they have rejected the Messiah. The New Testament as a whole identifies all who reject Christ as enemies of God needing to be converted regardless of how meritorious their works may be. Genuine Christianity books no Israelite LARPing.

I’ve argued many times that it’s unwise for identitarians to become explicitly religious . . . Ours is a primarily secular struggle to preserve our people. A lot of what fundamentalist Christians believe doesn’t align with our struggle, as in for example their worship of the state of Israel and their strange fixation on adopting non-white kids.

Identitarianism is secular, independent of — but not necessarily in conflict with — any specific religion. It depends on the nature of the religion. Israel-worship and trans-racial adoption are passing fads. Genuine Christianity is supportive of white advocacy or nationalism. White identitarians can be Christians.

We’re not yet in the business of creating a mass movement, so there’s no need to pretend we’re clowns to win over evangelical boomers. It’s much better to try to win over smart, disaffected young people — and they’re not going to be won over by an Old Testament LARP in a strip mall.

Agreed. But genuine Christianity has a lot to offer smart, disaffected young people.

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