To the Editor:
Re “What We Get Wrong About Christian Nationalism,” by Molly Worthen (Opinion guest essay, Dec. 29):
As a Christian believer who has worshiped in Baptist, Presbyterian and Anglican churches — including in Durham, N.C. — I share many theological convictions with my charismatic brothers and sisters. But I am deeply troubled by how Christian nationalism exploits those convictions to wage a culture war.
Christian nationalism distorts the Gospel. Christ calls us to embody the justice, mercy and love that transcend tribal identities, not to conflate church and state so that opponents are cast as demonic and constitutional limits are treated as expendable.
This movement also rests on thin theology. It promotes a false narrative about “real Americans” under siege while neglecting core doctrines: All are sinful and need grace, all are made in God’s image and no earthly nation is the kingdom of God.
A church that remembers its own vulnerability should be slow to sacralize a political platform or treat its neighbors as enemies.
I fear the consequences when the church trades the humility of the Gospel for the false security of political power.
American Christians do not need a stronger Caesar. We need a clearer Christology.
Joshua Tran Durham, N.C.
To the Editor:
Molly Worthen is knowledgeable about the nuances of “New Apostolic Reformation” thinking and the other flavors of Christian activism she writes about.
But she misses the reason there is such widespread fear of all flavors of Christian nationalism: These are people who want to force everyone in society to live according to their beliefs.
The simplest, clearest example is their effort to enact a total ban on abortion. That’s not about partisanship or any other nuances of the political system; that’s authoritarianism. And we’re not getting anything wrong when we fear it and fight it.
Ted Weinstein San Francisco
To the Editor:
The issue Molly Worthen fails to address in her essay on Christian nationalism is that evangelical Christians are exercising an outsize influence on our politics given their minority status.
The Pew Religious Landscape Study, conducted in 2007, 2014 and 2023-24, makes it clear that the United States is becoming less religious. In 2007, 78 percent of Americans self-described as Christian, with 26 percent as self-described evangelical Protestants and 16 percent saying they were religiously unaffiliated.
In the 2023-24 survey, 62 percent of Americans self-described as Christian, with evangelical Protestants at 23 percent and the religiously unaffiliated at 29 percent.
Speaking as a religiously unaffiliated (raised Catholic) citizen, I think we would all be better off with less religious influence in our politics, as our nation’s founders prescribed.
Patrick Navin Evanston, Ill.
To the Editor:
This is a remarkable essay by Molly Worthen. Instead of the knee-jerk demonization of charismatic Christianity so often seen in these pages, it is a sincere attempt to understand and analyze a branch of Christianity that is most different from modern secular culture.
Professor Worthen is correct in pointing out that it can often turn into a lamentable political idolatry. But she sees it can also be a force for compassion and reconciliation. Her most poignant line: “Every believer struggles to keep the paradoxes of Christianity in balance.”
Amen.
Scott Stephenson Lansing, Kan.
After a Therapist Dies
To the Editor:
Thank you to Richard A. Friedman for “What Happens When Your Therapist Dies?” (Opinion guest essay, Jan. 12):
I lost my psychologist to cancer 10 years ago. I was emerging from a major depression that almost took my life, and my therapist had helped me pull out of that death spin and regain my health.
I affirm what Dr. Friedman says: Losing a therapist is particularly painful because the loss is often “unacknowledged by a patient’s social network.” It is often not understood even by those closest to the patient.
I was fortunate to eventually find care with someone whose own therapist had died during her treatment. She shared with me that she has facilitated one-time group grief sessions for clients of therapists who have passed away.
These sessions give the clients a chance to say goodbye to the therapist and to share about a person who has meant a great deal to them. I would have appreciated an opportunity to attend such a session myself.
Cheri Andes Millbury, Mass.
The post The Troubling and Paradoxical Nature of Christian Nationalism appeared first on New York Times.
