By DON ROLLINS
The stately lawn on the edge of town has sprouted a giant cross draped in a to-scale American flag.
The rusted pickup at the rest stop sports a pristine bumper sticker: “Real Christians Don’t Vote Democrat.”
The billboard towering above the interstate features an airbrushed Trump, overlaid with a tortured version of a biblical passage: “Unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.”
Assuming you have enough scratch for overpriced gas and over-brewed convenience store coffee, today’s Great American Road Trip is an eye opener for anyone still in denial about the reality and reach of 21st century Christian nationalism. Indeed, so vast is Trump’s cultish influence, even highways within traditional bastions of liberalism are subject to signs and symbols depicting him as God’s chosen ruler in exile.
Worse yet, if the many lawns, bumper stickers and billboards dotting today’s roadscapes are any indication, Christian nationalism — the toxic meld of hard-right politics and perverted Christianity sprawled our roadways — is here to stay.
There are at least three reasons this “alt-right Christian nationalist” phenomenon has such stamina. First, because it serves the Republican meta-narrative of religious persecution. The unholy alliance of the GOP with Christian fundamentalists begun under Reagan was grounded in religious and political victimhood — a durable, self-reinforcing worldview for present and future Christian nationalists.
Second, because Christian nationalism is a populist movement within a populist moment. What Christ-and-country theology dismisses by way of critical thought or multiple answers to the same question, it more than makes up with tribalism and singleness of purpose.
Third, because Christian nationalism is flatout working. The Proud Boys, QAnon, the Oath Keepers — ambassadors all for once fringe groups that have now found their way into national conversations about things like COVID restrictions, voting laws, school curricula and guns. Truly no serious Republicans can discount the Christian nationalist vote, no GOP-driven legislation is beyond Christian nationalists’ “input.”
Clearly Christian nationalism is neither. The lawn signs, stickers and roadside advertisements supporting that empty gospel represent a vapid, harsh belief system unworthy of faith or country. Those clear, public messages are reminders just how much power Christian nationalists wield.
And that’s why road trips aren’t nearly as fun anymore.
Don Rollins is a Unitarian Universalist minister living in Hendersonville, N.C. Email donaldlrollins@gmail.com.
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