{"id":12188,"date":"2022-09-08T20:28:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T10:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=12188"},"modified":"2022-09-09T09:59:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T23:59:18","slug":"is-christian-nationalism-being-written-out-of-the-6-january-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/08\/is-christian-nationalism-being-written-out-of-the-6-january-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Christian nationalism being written out of the 6 January story?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When they entered the Senate chamber on 6 January 2021, a group of insurgents <\/span>stopped and bowed their heads in prayer<\/span><\/a> to consecrate the building and their cause to Jesus. When the Senate reconvened later, its chaplain, retired Navy Admiral Barry Black also prayed but called the insurgents\u2019 actions a \u201c<\/span>desecration<\/span><\/a> of the United States Capitol building.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Both sides appealed to the Christian God as the authority for their actions and values.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside, at the rally that preceded the <\/span>attack on the Capitol<\/span><\/a>, there was a similar focus on God, in the form of <\/span>Christian nationalism<\/span><\/a>, which frames the US as a Christian country whose politics and institutions should be guided by Christian principles.<\/span><\/p>\n

As <\/span>cultural<\/span><\/a> anthropologists<\/span><\/a> who study politics and religion, we attended the 6 January rally, which some called \u2018<\/span>Save America<\/span><\/a>\u2019 and others called \u2018<\/span>Stop the Steal<\/span><\/a>\u2019, because we were interested in observing the symbols on display and in talking with the people there. Having <\/span>studied political demonstrations before<\/span><\/a>, we wanted to document this event and what it meant for its participants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the people we encountered were peacefully expressing their own political views and were not part of the insurrection. But they nevertheless expressed longstanding ideas that were ultimately echoed and amplified in their most extreme form by those who did engage in violence at the Capitol.<\/span><\/p>\n

Focus on violence<\/b><\/h3>\n

Maintaining social order and a functioning democracy requires <\/span>holding people responsible<\/span><\/a> for their actions. That\u2019s why much of the public focus on the insurrection has \u2013 rightly \u2013 been on the <\/span>violence and the political conspiracy<\/span><\/a> behind it, through which then-President Donald Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, as the <\/span>congressional hearings on the insurrection<\/span><\/a> resume, they will most likely focus on the <\/span>violent minority<\/span><\/a> and the conspiracy of which they may have been a part. The committee\u2019s goal is not to understand the tens of thousands of people who attended the rally to express their collective identity and their solidarity with what they saw as a just cause: maintaining America\u2019s political and religious heritage. The focus will be on Trump as Jesus fades into the background.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research on the events<\/span><\/a> of that day reveals that most of the attendees at the rally \u2013 even those who were later arrested for their actions \u2013 were ordinary Americans, people committed to what they believed were the true results of the election. <\/span>Most of them were not members<\/span><\/a> of organised groups such as the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers or the Three Percenters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ordinary citizens<\/b><\/h3>\n

What we observed at the rally was an optimistic occasion where the people gathered expressed pride in their collective identity. The atmosphere was celebratory, even <\/span>carnivalesque<\/span><\/a>, perhaps like a <\/span>tailgate party<\/span><\/a> preceding an American football game. When we arrived we were greeted by a woman who called out, \u201cWelcome to the party!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The people we saw there were expressing their concern for American democracy and the ideals of law and order. We saw them <\/span>answering the call of a president<\/span><\/a> and seeking to protect the integrity of the American political system. Most strikingly, we saw proud Americans standing up for Christian values.<\/span><\/p>\n

Expressions of identity<\/b><\/h3>\n

Anthropologists have long known<\/span><\/a> that public displays are a common way of crafting identities. In the US, this is evident in <\/span>ethnic and holiday parades<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>museum<\/span><\/a> exhibits, popular <\/span>demonstrations<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>highly orchestrated<\/span><\/a> conferences.<\/span><\/p>\n

On 6 January, the images and slogans deployed by the crowd included a wide variety of American flags and recycled Trump 2020 campaign gear, as well as pointed insults toward his opponents. Gun rights were a major theme. Flags with images of assault rifles read, \u201cCome and Take Them!\u201d Other signs focused on individual freedom by refusing COVID-19 restrictions. American flags with a central blue stripe indicated support for law enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian symbols were pervasive<\/span><\/a> throughout the rally. People took pride in Christian identity and often conflated Jesus and President Trump as figures of national salvation, \u2018<\/span>Chosen Ones<\/span><\/a>\u2019. <\/span>There were: flags<\/span><\/a> and t-shirts proclaiming, \u201cJesus is my Savior and Trump is my President\u201d; posters showing a white, blond, blue-eyed Jesus wearing the Trumpian MAGA hat; and a wide variety of other flags and banners bearing Christian themes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the Christian displays were <\/span>starkly militant<\/span><\/a>, such as a flag depicting a raging fire with both a bald eagle and a lion roaring \u2013 symbolising both the United States and a militant Christ. Significantly, such militant themes in <\/span>broader Christian culture<\/span><\/a> are not restricted to evangelical Protestants, who are often perceived as primary drivers of religious participation in US politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

God and nation<\/b><\/h3>\n

Despite their professed devotion to God and nation, from the very beginning the Capitol insurrectionists and those at the earlier rallies on 6 January were labeled \u2018<\/span>extremists<\/span><\/a>\u2019. That term suggests a moral flaw causing people to act in unacceptable ways, such as <\/span>attacking members of the Capitol police<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>calling for the vice president to be hanged<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But \u2018extremism\u2019 can also be understood as a more intense or committed version of what is otherwise ordinary. As scholars of the cultural politics of religion, we suggest this ordinariness is actually more alarming than its extreme expressions, because it\u2019s harder to notice. Political theorist Hannah Arendt called this \u201c<\/span>the banality of evil<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Arendt and her generation of scholars were concerned about <\/span>how totalitarianism could emerge<\/span><\/a> from the very principles we think make us free.<\/span><\/p>\n

People don\u2019t need to break windows or bones to erode human rights, endanger democracy or form a basis for authoritarianism. Instead, they can ignore what had been expected social behavior because they find a <\/span>personal or political advantage<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>formulate or assent to unjust laws<\/span><\/a>. In Arendt\u2019s view, these people are avoiding the human responsibility \u201c<\/span>to think<\/span><\/a>\u201d from others\u2019 perspectives and to interrogate commonly held ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was precisely the ordinariness of most of the rallygoers that day that caught our attention. We met people who were real estate agents, firemen and retired construction workers, as well as grandmothers with their children and grandchildren. They seemed familiar to us, as though they could be our Christian neighbors.<\/span><\/p>\n

People arrived in Washington in carpools or buses with friends or family members. They wanted to take personal responsibility for the political health of the republic and the country\u2019s Christian European heritage and freedoms. They came to uphold <\/span>the country\u2019s founding myth<\/span><\/a> that injustice can be met by the popular unity of mass rebellion. As one handmade sign read, \u201cLet\u2019s 1776 this place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They were relentlessly deceived by their leaders through media owned by wealthy corporations that <\/span>reaped huge profits<\/span><\/a> from those lies<\/span><\/a>. But that does not change their motivations. Instead, it raises questions about the manipulation of democratic and Christian values and highlights the problem of whether people can <\/span>think for themselves<\/span><\/a> in the face of such an overwhelming barrage of lies.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article was co-authored by Gregory Starrett, Professor of Anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

This article was originally published in <\/i><\/b>The Conversation<\/b><\/a>. It is republished under Creative Commons.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Photo by <\/i><\/b>Tyler Merbler<\/i><\/b><\/a> on Flickr.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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