Speaker talks Christian nationalism

On Wednesday, Nov. 2, the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning hosted, “Christian Nationalism in America: Its History and Resurgence” a presentation by Charles R. Gallagher, S.J., Ph.D.

The Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning was founded in 1969 after the recommendation of SJU President Fr. Colman Barry ’42. Today, the center hosts events for the CSB+SJU community as well as the public. The center works with the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas to encourage dialogue, understanding, friendship and civic engagement. John Merkle, director of the center since 2009, discussed how Gallagher was selected to speak at SJU.

“Gallagher was brought to my attention from a colleague and after reading his book, and out of concern for the current state of the world, the invite was issued to him last spring,” Merkle said.

He also discussed the importance of this event and how it can relate to CSB+SJU students and the overall community.

“It is an important issue for everyone, and it is a national issue, especially when in the gospel of Jesus preaches love, peace and inclusion and Christian nationalists spew hatred and the message of exclusion,” Merkle said.

Merkle also discussed how he looked forward the event and how Gallagher could discuss a relevant topic and its history.

“Gallagher is providing a good background and putting what is happening today into a historical context, which is helping to combat the forces of Christian nationalism,” Merkle said.

Gallagher discussed multiple topics varying from the history of Christian nationalism to how we view it in present day. He also discussed the threat nationalists have on Christianity and the direction they are taking it and the unwritten history of Christian nationalism.

“On the concept of Christian nationalism, it’s a newish tag. This new ideology is expansionistic—it’s moving from east to west and it’s a completely new ideology which is a threat to Christianity itself,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher brought up how the term Christian nationalism is new and how there is not much written about it in history. However, there are similarities found in history that relate to Christian nationalism and its elements. He talked about how history has seen this before, but it was not given a name.

“Today, you can’t really find many books written on Christian nationalism, but what you do find in these books is a lot of these elements. In my view as a historian, basically this Christian nationalism, we’ve seen it before. It’s been around—there’s not too much that’s new here, you’ve got to kind of be [an] archivist to figure it out,” Gallagher said.

Additionally, Gallagher discussed the importance of studying the history of Christian nationalism, the best way to do so, how religion can be a motivation for people politically, what actions they take and the relevance in today’s society. He discussed how history has repeated itself and how we have seen these elements of Christian nationalism in past history.

“Religion can motivate personal action, and it can motivate personal political action symmetric, or asymmetric, and you have to understand the religion first before you can put a name on the action. If you really want to write this history, historians have to know the bible. Historically speaking, I think it still resonates,” Gallagher said.

Students attending the event found it helpful and informative regarding the current day concerns with Christian nationalism.

“The event and historical analysis was accurate and helped make sure you don’t only look at the past, but how it is also effecting the present,” said Ben Greshowak, SJU first-year.

Additionally, students found it extremely informative, especially on a topic they don’t know about. CSB senior Maria Lindsay thought the event was important to learn about.

“I did not know much about the topic, and it was good to see where [Christian nationalism] started up and its resurgence and ultimately seeing history repeat itself.” Lindsay said.