God, Christian Nationalism and Denial in the Face of Clear Harsh Reality

 

“The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else . . .

to overcome it by denying it in some way is the final destiny for man.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning anthropologist Ernest Becker

“Therefore, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Jesus in Matthew 22:21, ESV

The problem with denial is that it can be addictive, a fallback when reality slams you in the face. It’s not surprising that conspiracy theories and denial are soaring during a period in our nation where there is a large, powerful segment of our society aiming to make Christianity the official national religion (albeit, interpreted with an evangelical flare). This would subordinate all other faiths, and perhaps, politely, allowed to exist… or not. One of my prime examples is how people can simply experience one “natural disaster” after another, with frequency and intensity clearly linked with rising temperatures, and deny the causation or the pattern.

Three senior university academics, professors of psychology, Jamie Goldenberg, Joshua Hart and Emily P. Courtney, focused on American regions decimated by two “once in a hundred years” hurricanes filled with climate change deniers, in the November 3rd FastCompany.com: “As TVs across Florida broadcast the all-too-familiar images of a powerful hurricane headed for the coast in early October 2024, people whose homes had been damaged less than two weeks earlier by Hurricane Helene watched anxiously. Hurricane Milton was rapidly intensifying into a dangerous storm, fueled by the Gulf of Mexico’s record-breaking temperatures.

“Many residents scrambled to evacuate, clogging roads away from the region. Officials urged those near the coast who ignored evacuation warnings to scrawl their names on their arms with indelible ink so their corpses could be identified… The two hurricanes were among the most destructive in recent memory. They are also stark reminders of the increasingly extreme weather events that scientists have long warned would be the consequence of human-driven climate change… Still, many people deny that climate change is a worsening threat, or that it exists at all. As its impacts grow more visible and destructive, how is this possible?

“… In the 1980s, social psychologists developed ‘terror management theory,’ showing the lengths people go to deny death. Hundreds of experiments have tested its implications. In a common method, participants reflect on their own death, while control groups consider less threatening topics, like dental pain. The key question: What does death awareness do to people?

“After writing about death, people tend to quickly move on, pushing thoughts of it from consciousness with distractions, rationalizations, and other tactics. Healthcare professionals see this every day. For example, people often dodge screenings and diagnostic tests to avoid the frightening possibility of discovering cancer… But here’s the rub: Terror management theory suggests that when people are not thinking about death, it nevertheless holds influence. The unconscious mind lingers on the problem even after people have used strategies to quiet the fear by pushing it from awareness…

“Terror management theory predicts that individuals whose ideologies conflict with environmental concerns may ironically double down on those beliefs to psychologically manage the existential threat posed by climate-related disasters. It’s similar to how mortality reminders can lead people to engage in risky behavior, such as smoking or tanning. Hurricanes may reinforce denial and commitment to a worldview that rejects climate change.”

Human beings like to think that if they believe powerfully enough, along with enough others, those who do not share those beliefs threaten the very axioms by which they explain life. To justify their beliefs, they often denigrate those who do not share those “realities.” Writing for the November 6th The Foreward, Asaf Elia-Shale explains: “For an energetic subset of supporters, the promise of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement centers on increasing the influence of Christianity in American life and returning the country to what they see as its founding Christian ideals… Scholars say that through their devotion to Trump, these Christian nationalists have claimed a prominent, mainstream place in Republican politics — a phenomenon that has alarmed Jews and other religious minorities.

“And regardless of the result of the presidential election, they aren’t going away, said Julie Ingersoll, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida… ‘One of the reasons they’ve been successful is they focus on the long-term. To give just a couple of examples: It took them 49 years to overturn Roe v. Wade and they’ve been working on dismantling public education for the same length of time. We can see the impact of that effort all over the country,’ she said.

“Christian nationalists left their fingerprints all over Project 2025, the controversial proposed 900-page blueprint for a second Trump administration published by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups. They also run for office at every level of government, turn out in large numbers for campaign events, and are proving to be a powerful voting bloc in many places. A little more than half of Republicans are ‘adherents or sympathizers’ of Christian nationalism, according to a survey of 22,000 Americans in all 50 states that was carried out last year by the Public Religion Research Institute.

“Opposition to the separation of church and state, abortion and LGBTQ rights are among the principles that unify the Christian nationalist movement, but it has no central leadership or theology… As the movement grows more confident about the prospect of a Christianized America, leaders representing different streams have made some specific proposals. Some want to shutter the Department of Education, seeing it as an obstacle to religious schooling, while others target the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because they see vaccines as a danger. To crack down on abortion, some suggest using the death penalty as a deterrent. At least one pastor suggested repealing the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

“In contrast to these concrete plans, Christian nationalists have spoken more vaguely about what would happen to Jews and other religious minorities if they were given the chance to enact their vision for the United States, according to interviews with scholars who track the movement.” But only a nation founded on a single religion, or one where an autocracy elevates one supreme belief system, can hold one religion above all others. Thus, there is a fundamental attraction for such Christian nationalists in a leader willing to take that autocratic lead. God, they reason, trumps any contrary policies or teachings.

Notwithstanding the separation of state inherent in our First Amendment and the above Biblical admonition, there is a growing chorus of legal and religious scholars who suggest that neither that amendment nor that citation preclude Congress from declaring Christianity to be the state religion… and, by suggestion, that the Bible trumps the Constitution.

I’m Peter Dekom, and history is rife with stories where one religion rises above the rest… and that non-believers must be persecuted, tortured and/or killed… think the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Holocaust.