Dear Dr. Jeffress,
I write this open letter in response to the July 2 Baptist Press article in which you state, “If being a Christian Nationalist means loving Jesus Christ and loving America, count me in.” Shame on you, sir, for trying to manipulate every Southern Baptist who reads your words.You and I both know that that is not the definition of Christian Nationalism, and by trying to redefine the label, you have identified yourself as part of it.
As you know, Dr. Jeffress, Christian Nationalism has nothing to do with Christianity, except to manipulate it. (Billy Graham famously said this in 1982 calling it the Far Right.) Christian Nationalism, also called White Nationalism or just plain Nationalism, is an extremist movement that predates our nation’s 250 years - an extremist movement about absolute white male power. Under a Nationalist government, no one would have voting rights except white males. Women would have no rights of their own, no birth control (because being constantly pregnant is its own control), no work outside the home, and total dependence on their husbands. Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native people would have no rights and no means of climbing, but would work the manual labor jobs that support the white men for minimal pay.
We have seen Nationalists, disguised under various names, throughout our nation’s history. They are the KKK. They are the slave owners. They are the Confederates, the neo-Conderates, and the Neo-Nazis. They are the lynch mobs. They planned and carried out the massacres in Wilmington and Tulsa. They are the assassins of Lincoln, Kennedy, and King. They are the marchers in Charlottesville. They are the mass shooters. They are the January 6 insurrectionists at the nation’s Capitol. They are the men who make up names for anyone else who wants rights: feminazis, women drivers, old maids, wetbacks, chinks, coons, the N word, gooks, and more recently DEI hires, liberals, or woke, for name calling is a childish but effective means of dehumanizing and disempowering. And in the church, they are the sexual predators, the protectors of the sexual predators, and the leaders like you who keep women out of positions of decision-making and change.
And as you know, Nationalists for the past 250 years have been working strategically to gain the full control they desire, spreading their base through male-only organizations, brotherhoods, and lodges; supporting and elevating each other; and placing each other in positions of decision-making authority like judgeships and congress, and completely taking over organizations including the Southern Baptist Convention and more recently, the Republican Party. No small feats. Credit given. But, Dr. Jeffress, as you know, the movement, regardless of its success, is not of God, but rather in opposition to everything lived and taught by Jesus the Christ.
Now I say shame on you, because there are only two reasons a man of your power position would make the statement you made: One, because he is ignorant and has fallen for the lies, or two, to intentionally manipulate the trusting church-goers who don’t have the time or the means to sift through all the propaganda being thrown at all of us. If you are ignorant, well, now you owe your readership a big apology. And if, as is my guess based in part on the Dr. label in front of your name, you are intentionally using your power to manipulate and to redefine a label, then you have chosen to serve, not Jesus Christ, but the purely evil power-mongering machine that threatens to destroy our nation.
As you know, Christian Nationalism is neither about loving Christ nor loving America. It has nothing to do with love. It is power and control and whatever manipulation it takes to get there.And it is the very real threat to the survival of the merely 250-year-old experiment that is our nation. Dr. Jeffress, if Christian Nationalism means all of this, and it does, count me out. What about you? Are you still in?
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