WHAT MAKES THE parable of the good Samaritan so iconic and powerful? There’s a lesson about helping others in need, sure. But as Jesus taught a few chapters earlier, everybody helps those in their inner circle or who can pay them back (Luke 6:32-34). No, the point of the good Samaritan parable (Luke 10:25-37) is that really “loving our neighbor” looks like tangible service, at some cost to ourselves, even when it’s someone outside our ethno-religious group. “Good Samaritans” are the sorts of people Jesus wants to present to the world to say, “These are my representatives.”
These days, there’s tremendous concern about the rise of “white Christian nationalism,” and with good reason. I’ve spent nearly a decade documenting the impact of this ideology — the belief that America has been and should always be for “Christians like us” — on Americans’ political views and behaviors. The results are alarming. But one potential risk of our being genuinely concerned about the real threat of Christian nationalism is that young Christians can feel like any political participation is tainted or suspect — we wouldn’t want to be Christian nationalists, after all. On the contrary, Christian political involvement can be a tremendous witness when we think about what it means to be good Samaritans today.
Americans who subscribe to white Christian nationalism think in terms of in-groups and hierarchies. They believe their group made the nation prosperous and that their cultural and political power is being threatened by ethnic and religious outsiders, such as immigrants, Muslims, secular persons, LGBTQ persons, and those who challenge the racial status quo like Black Lives Matter. Because of this, the political goals of white Christian nationalism are fundamentally anti-pluralist and anti-democratic. The goal isn’t to include more voices; the goal is power for “us.”
This is the key difference between Christians who subscribe to white Christian nationalism and those like me who want to truly apply Jesus’ lesson of the good Samaritan: The former group seeks power for itself, to privilege itself. The latter seeks to serve others who are often outside our ethno-religious group, at some cost to ourselves.
Within the past several years, hundreds of election laws have been passed around the country, often with the clear intention of making it more difficult for certain populations to vote. Laws that reduce the number of polling places, eliminate opportunities for mail-in ballots, or require strict voter identification all disadvantage those with less time and opportunity to drive to polling places, wait in line for hours, or produce a photo ID. These people tend to be younger, Black, or Latino — who not coincidentally tend to vote Democrat. I’m not young, Black, or Latino. And often the policies that would most benefit these groups would rarely benefit someone like me. But fighting for their vote is my Christian witness, not because it makes America “more Christian,” but because it makes me more Christ-like.
Christian nationalism isn’t about “religious liberty” any more than the Massachusetts Bay Colony was about “religious liberty.” It’s about religious freedom for people like “us,” freedom to privilege our religion over others, and freedom to discriminate in public policy against those who violate “our” beliefs about sexuality and gender.
Given the current state of American politics, it’s understandable for young Christians to be skeptical about their own ability to change things politically. But we have to remember that this sort of nihilism actually plays into the hands of demagogues and hurts the people who most need our solidarity. Authoritarian leaders and their regimes intentionally flood the media with lies and conspiracy theories, not necessarily so that people will think they are truthful but so that citizens will give up on truth itself and either check out of political involvement altogether or simply vote with fear and tribal anger. Either way, the result is subverting democracy and entrenching authoritarian power.
There are reasons the representatives of white Christian nationalism continue to sow conspiracies about “voter fraud” or “stolen elections.” One of them, of course, is to justify passing restrictive voter laws. But the other is to discourage young people and those who already tend to be skeptical of institutions from democratic participation itself. If it’s all corrupt, what’s the point?
But those conspiracies are lies. My political participation matters. Fighting against Christian nationalism matters. Not to enforce my own liberal version of Christian nationalism. But because I want to love my fellow citizens — my neighbors — as Christ taught. And that requires defending the rights of those who don’t think or look like me to exercise their constitutional rights to have a say in shaping a nation that works for them too.
Samuel L. Perry is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma. He is co-author of the award-winning books Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States and The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy.
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