Frankly, it's been difficult for Christians to cheer the Biden administration with its push for abortion, its embrace of LGBTQ policies that go against God's design for families and marriage, and its hostile response to Christians who speak out to support those very things.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why former President Donald Trump was cheered as he addressed the National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville Thursday night. But there were other reasons, because as president, Trump advanced many Christian positions – and even though on Thursday he was preaching to the choir, the choir hasn't heard such preaching since he left office.
"They want to tear down crosses where they can, and cover them up with social justice flags," Trump said. "But no one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration, I swear to you."
"Remember, every communist regime throughout history has tried to stamp out the churches, just like every fascist regime has tried to co-opt them and control them. And, in America, the radical Left is trying to do both," he said.
The NRB attendees cheered his message as opposed to the defensive nature many believers feel today when they see and hear legacy media use the phrase "Christian nationalism."
What exactly is that?
One liberal Hollywood producer defines Christian nationalism this way: "It's the idea is that America was born as a white Christian nation, and these people are virulent about returning to that, and they'll do it by any means necessary up to and including violence, and we saw this happen on Jan. 6," Rob Reiner said in a video promoting his documentary on the subject.
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins told Washington Watch viewers Thursday that the Left's co-opt of the phrase has two very specific purposes: to intimidate Christians into silence and to discourage them from voting.
"They want you to go silent about your faith, and guess what happens? When you go silent, other people don't hear. It has eternal consequences," Perkins shared. "They want to intimidate you into not acknowledging that you are a follower of Christ who actually believes the Bible."
He continued: "They want you to feel embarrassed about the fact that you believe the Word of God is true and that it gives guidance to our lives. They find that offensive. They want you go to silent about your faith. Jesus said if you deny me before men, I'll deny you before the father who's in Heaven."
More than intimidation, it's about the election
But there's more, according to Perkins. Likely, the bigger part of the plan is to ease the path of election for anti-Christian policies. Clearly, he said, they want to discourage followers of Christ from voting.
"That's the nationalism part. 'You're a Christian Nationalist.' That just sounds eerie. If you vote upon biblical values … [if you believe] life is sacred, marriage is between a man and a woman, and sexual relations are designed for that relationship just described, then you are a Christian Nationalist
"If you believe public schools are indoctrinating children with the Left's godless propaganda, then you're a Christian Nationalist. At least that's what they want you to believe," he said.
Perkins said "legacy media" are the tip of the spear in a coordinated effort to achieve these goals. He cited a recent story by The Associated Press headlined, "What does it mean to claim the U.S. is a Christian Nation, and what does the Constitution say?"
Perkins then supported America's Christian founding with excerpts from Plymouth colony governor William Bradford, George Washington, John Adams and others.
"They weren't all Christian. [But] they had a Judeo-Christian ethic, a worldview, to a certain degree, and you can see it in their writings," Perkins argued.
