As defined by academic researchers, Christian nationalism is a cultural framework that merges American and Christian identities, wrongly and dangerously claiming that the only way to be a true American is to be a conservative Christian. Key claims include the false assertions that America is a “Christian nation” and that western civilization is founded on so-called “Judeo-Christian values.” Christian nationalism teaches that Christians should receive special legal rights and treatment not available to other Americans, and that there is no such thing as a Constitutional separation of church and state.

The Christian nationalist movement has one goal: “To gain political power and to impose its vision on all of society” — no matter who gets hurt, what institutions must be destroyed, or how many elections must be overturned. This is often done through the tactics of political fascism, including the spread of misinformation and the use of dangerous “us vs. them” rhetoric and policies that attack equal rights for non-Christians, women, the LGBTQ community, people of color, immigrants, and other exploited populations.

In addition to the repeal of equal rights and the spread of antisemitism and Islamophobia, one of Christian nationalism’s greatest threats is the spread of political violence. The failed insurrection of January 6, 2021, was inspired by Christian nationalism, shown not only in the presence of crosses, Christian flags, Bibles, and prayers at the riot itself but also in the pre-riot support of Donald Trump’s Big Lie by faith leaders like False Prophets Franklin Graham, Tony Perkins, and Joseph Strickland. Nearly two years later, these and other False Prophets, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Blake Masters, Josh Hawley, and Michael Flynn — continue to engage in heated rhetoric and bogus conspiracy theories that risk additional political violence.

Although followers of Christian nationalism are Christian, the ideology itself is not. Christian nationalism is a political movement that misappropriates religious imagery and rhetoric in order to advance a right-wing political agenda. Much like the term “white nationalism,” the use of the word “Christian” in the phrase only indicates who its adherents believe to be legitimate, full members of their chosen nation.

In fact, Christian nationalism is not only not Christian, it is decidedly unchristian, contradicting and abandoning the Gospel’s life-affirming teachings about peace, truth, power, and love.

Peace: Jesus, the Prince of Peace, taught his followers to turn the other cheek when struck and that “all who take the sword will die by the sword.” Yet it is clear that Christian nationalism values political violence more than it does peace given the movement’s ties to the deadly yet failed coup of January 6th, its ongoing defense of the convicted insurrectionists, the use of the kind of heated rhetoric and conspiracy theories that inspire assassination attempts, and the promotion of gun rights over the rights of school children to live.

Truth: From the Ten Commandments’ prohibition on “false witness” to Jesus’s proclamation that “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,” truth is a fundamental Biblical value. The same cannot be said of Christian nationalism, which is either responsible for or complicit in using Jesus’s name to spread immeasurable misinformation and debunked conspiracy theories about election results, election fraud, COVID-19, climate change, political murders, the so-called deep state, celebrity pedophile rings, Barack Obama’s birth certificate, and more.

Relationship to Power: The single goal of Christian nationalist leaders is to seize and hold power for themselves and their allies at any cost and to the exclusion of all others, even when it means abandoning democracy and turning their back on the Gospel’s values. Their quest for power resembles the ancient relationship between the violent Roman governor Pontius Pilate and local religious leaders much more than it does the example of Jesus Christ, who famously rejected the devil’s temptation of "all the kingdoms of the world.”

Love: Love is the central message of Christianity: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love is the heart of the common good, which is why Jesus — himself a childhood refugee in Egypt — identified with the poor and spent his time with the oppressed and outcast. Yet there is nothing loving about the Christian nationalist incitement of political violence to overturn elections, the labeling of opponents as “team Satan” and “the godless left,” or the enactment of hateful public policies to restrict voting rights, scapegoat people of color, hurt refugees fleeing violence, and deny millions of Americans the right to marry whom they love because of how they were born.

Jesus warned during the Sermon on the Mount, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

St. Paul provided a similar warning in his letter to the Christians in Rome, writing, "I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded."

The leaders of Christian nationalism wear sheep’s clothing by claiming to speak for Jesus Christ — yet the ways they demonize their political opponents, attack the equal rights of other communities, risk the spread of political violence, deny the reality of inconvenient facts, and drive people away from the church with their repellant behavior is surely the behavior of ravenous wolves.

Faithful America’s list of 20 false prophets includes multiple lawmakers who misuse Jesus’s name in their efforts to overturn elections and support hateful policies, as well as some of the many pastors and movement leaders who build the long-term infrastructure Christian nationalism uses to thrive in church and society. Christians need to recognize the harm that is being done in our name, and call out the misappropriation of our vocabulary and traditions.

The good news is that these False Prophets don't speak for the vast majority of American Christians. All across the country, pastors, priests, and people in the pews are speaking out to deflate the claims of a right-wing monopoly on faith. We’re reclaiming our religion and its prophetic voice for the Gospel's true values of love, truth, peace, equality, and social justice.

Faithful America’s members are leading the grassroots fight against the Christian nationalist heresy. We’re speaking out against False Prophet Michael Flynn’s “ReAwaken America Tour” wherever it goes — in Virginia, San Diego, upstate New York, North Idaho, and beyond. We’re successfully persuading cable companies and other platforms not to help right-wing pundits and televangelists like Jim Bakker and False Prophet Tony Perkins spread harmful lies in Jesus’s name on the public airwaves. We’re holding sermon drives, signing petitions, raising a prophetic voice for moral policies and equal rights, and standing together in coalition, changing the public narrative about faith in the public square from one coast to the other coast.

Beyond Faithful America’s work, some of the many additional Christian leaders who have spoken out in the news against Christian nationalism include denominational leaders like Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Lutheran Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, United Church of Christ General Minister and President Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, and American Baptist Churches USA General Secretary Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer, as well as leaders like Catholic activist Sister Simone Campbell, evangelical authors Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, and Jim Wallis, National Council of Churches USA chair Bishop W. Darin Moore, and many others. To learn more about their statements and to find resources you can use in your own church, visit the Christians Against Christian Nationalism initiative (which we are choosing to recommend but is not affiliated with Faithful America or this initiative).

Faithful America, the Christian organization running False Prophets Don’t Speak for Me, is the largest online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice. Our approximately 180,000 members are sick of sitting quietly by while Jesus' message of love and good news is hijacked to serve an authoritarian agenda of hatred and oppression. We use rapid-response digital campaigns to challenge white supremacy and Christian nationalism, reclaim our faith from the religious right, and renew Christianity’s prophetic role in building a more free and just society. We are both clergy and lay; represent every major Christian denomination in the U.S.; and live in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Learn more at faithfulamerica.org.