Last installment dealt with the error of race realism, where racial division is hard-coded based on the assertion of unchangeable, or very difficult to change, characteristics that belong by necessity to different races. Again, the assertion that there are races is not at all controversial, but the core ideas go much beyond a simple observation of difference. Race realism is a water hazard that is beyond simply controversial within the Christian Nationalist movement. It is a view which should be condemned. This installment looks at another water hazard: anti-semitism, holocaust denial, and Hitler rehabilitation.
It is important to state again that Christian Nationalism is not a monolithic movement. Not all Christian Nationalists hold to the controversial views espoused by some, and not all of these controversial positions described above are completely without any expression of truth. A person may, without any fear of contradiction from me, prefer people who look like him. A person may make observations about racial and cultural proclivities. They may even make me chuckle in the way they observe them. Such is the humor of many outstanding comedians. But when opinions and preferences are elevated to doctrine that others must follow, or there are sources of pride connected to race, or statements belittle to sacrifice of Christ who sacrificed Himself in the same way for all His people, it is time to get off the train. At times that line may be difficult to discern, but when it comes to anti-semitism it is not.
There are Christian voices who have made anti-semitic statements. For example, the same Michael Spangler who argues for Race Realism also posted the following on the social media platform X: “I used to write off those who publicly opposed Jews as wild conspiracy theorists. I was wrong. Jews are a real and present danger to Christianity and civilization. Much worse than most Christians are willing to think.”[1] One people group is singled out as uniquely dangerous. This from a man whose feet are self-consciously planted in the “Reformed Camp” of the Christian church. Others, more loosely associated with Christianity have said similar things.
Nick Fuentes, is a self-described Roman Catholic, and Christian Nationalist who has likewise blamed the Jews for a variety social ills. Coleman Hughes, in commenting on some of Fuentes’ rhetoric, isolated the following quote: “Jews are running society. Women need to shut the **** up. Blacks need to be imprisoned, for the most part, and we would live in paradise. It’s that simple.”[2] In my own conversations with people who are sympathetic to him, there is often reference made to international Jewry, or some term like that. There is a certain dark historical connection that can be made using those kinds of terms. And as is commonly said, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.
Adolf Hitler described the Jews as follows: “When thus for the first time I recognized the Jew as the cold-hearted, shameless, and calculating director of this revolting vice traffic in the scum of the big city, a cold shudder ran down my back.”[3] In Hitler, there is a sense of mystery, and universal hostility attributed to “the Jew” as a whole, which falls in line with an emphasis of immutable ethnic traits based on genetics. This observation does not mean that Fuentes or other anti-semites are the equivalent of Hitler. He has neither the power nor the opportunity to work out his political theory, so far anyway. However, it does demonstrate that some of the voices within Christian Nationalism share the same vocabulary and tones about the Jews that the National Socialists did in Germany in the 1930s and 40s. The consequences of that philosophy was extremely destructive.
Of course, there are sinful Jewish people. There are those among them who have used their positions to harm God’s people and others, promote selfish gain in finance, and exploited others in their sinful pursuits. However, and it seems almost ridiculous to write this, they are not unique in that regard. It is foolish to assert they have some kind of corner on sin, or are more likely to commit it than other people. Is the Jew the unique enemy of Christ? The enemy of Christ is linked to profession, not race in Scripture: “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”[4] Judaism is Christ-hating in that it denies Him as the Savior of the world. However, the Jewish religion is not uniquely Christ-hating. All false religions which by nature oppose the gospel fall into the category of antichrist. And you cannot be further away from Christ than being antichrist. Atrocities can be traced throughout history in a variety of cultures made up of a variety of races associated to a variety of religions. All of them mar the image of the Creator, and all of them deserve the Church’s condemnation.
One other caution to be noted in the area of anti-semitism or the language of international Jewry and those who deny or minimize the Holocaust, or who rehabilitate Hitler to some degree can be included in this category as well: Christians are not saved by an absence of anti-semitism or by historical accuracy of events that transpired in the Second World War. Perhaps these topics deserve an entire article on their own. However, suffice it to say that the eye-witness testimony from Hitler’s inner circle, personal diaries, guards, Kapos and Sonderkommando (conscripted assistants to the guards from among the prisoners), survivors, and observers[5]make it ludicrous that anyone would deny the atrocities of the Nationalist Socialist Party of Germany from 1936 to 1945. However, people may have reasons for questioning the “official” narrative about events in history. Governments and victors have at times marred the true record of certain events. However, it is necessary for the Church to urge its members to tread with caution in this area.
In reacting to certain experiences, human beings tend to over react. People lurch from one extreme to the opposite one. The safe-guard, and sometimes correction, for the Christian is found in the word of God. Whatever voices declare in the public square should be held up against the standards of God’s word. This series will conclude with some considerations of how the Church remains faithful.
Pastor Geoff Gleason
Cliffwood Presbyterian Church
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[1] Michael Spangler (@spanglermt), X, March 28, 2023, https://x.com/spanglermt/status/1831347742112625024?s=46&t=7hiGpcl9l9IilWgtZTzKJQ
[2] Coleman Hughes, “Nick Fuentes Knows Exactly What He’s Doing,” The FP | Conversations with Coleman, YouTube video, May 5, 2023, https://youtu.be/mMpUgnAWmTM?si=tZz3XK-y9SmBv7Zm. Quote starts at 5:06.
[3] Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, translated by Ralph Manheim, (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999), 59.
[4] 1 John 2:22.
[5] A great resource for eye-witness testimony is the book The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Reese.