I grew up in Anderson, Indiana, in one of a handful of Jewish families then living in that small town. Anti-Semitic incidents were not infrequent, and when they occurred, my mother would reassure me that “a real Christian is a Jew’s best friend.” It was just too bad that there were so many faux Christians around…
In that sense, not much has changed.
Given the persistent hypocrisy and bigotry being exhibited by the Christian Nationalists who are constantly parading their faux piety, it is tempting to simply write off all people who self- identify as Christian. But that would be a mistake, because there are many Christians who take the actual words of the biblical Jesus seriously. I was reminded of their existence when I read that the Episcopal Church had refused to resettle the White Afrikaners who–alone among would-be immigrants–had been welcomed by our racist President and granted a facilitated refugee status.
According to the Religion News Service,
In a striking move that ends a nearly four-decades-old relationship between the federal government and the Episcopal Church, the denomination announced on Monday (May 12) that it is terminating its partnership with the government to resettle refugees, citing moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa who have been classified as refugees by President Donald Trump’s administration.
In a follow-up article, the News Service quoted an Episcopal bishop who characterized assisting with the settlement of the Afrikaners “a Faustian bargain.”
The head of Church World Service–one of several religious resettlement groups currently suing the Trump administration– was quoted as saying “We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement.”
By resettling this population, the Government is demonstrating that it still has the capacity to quickly screen, process, and depart refugees to the United States. It’s time for the Administration to honor our nation’s commitment to the thousands of refugee families it abandoned with its cruel and illegal executive order.
On his very first day in office, Trump suspended the U.S. refugee settlement program, stranding more than 100,000 people previously approved for resettlement. These were people who had fled war and persecution in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan. Most such refugees are nonwhite, coming from what Trump has delicately described as “shithole countries.”
The speed with which the Trump administration facilitated the immigration of Whites, while refusing to consider refugee status for people of color with far more compelling evidence, was stark and obvious confirmation of this administration’s deep-seated racism.
Not that we needed added evidence. Trump’s war against “woke” and DEI–diversity, equity and inclusion–is an obvious expression of the White “Christian” Nationalism that motivates his supporters. (The lengths to which Trumpers will go to eliminate any concern for equal treatment has led to some ridiculous results: in its zeal to redefine any effort to promote “equity” as an assault on White folks, the administration has suspended a digital equity program established to bring the Internet to underserved rural areas populated by Trump supporters. Evidently, broadband equity is racist.)
Support for my mother’s thesis that “good Christians” are neither racist nor anti-Semitic is emerging. One example is Christians Against Christian Nationalism, an organization that labels Christian Nationalism a “threat to both our religious communities and our democracy.”
Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our fellow Christians to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and to our nation.
I encourage you to visit their website, which–among other things– recognizes the overlap between Christian Nationalism’s faux Christianity and its profound and anti-American racism.
American society has come a long way since my 1950s childhood in small-town Indiana. Trump and his supporters are frantic to reverse the substantial gains made by women and minorities in American culture; the effort by Christian Nationalists to label progress toward equity and inclusion as anti-White, anti-Christian discrimination is an effort to do just that.
It’s comforting to know that real Christians will oppose them.
Can anyone please give me the names of Democrat Congressmen who has stood up and publicly called out this lie by Trump concerning White Afrikaners? Actually used the words “lie” and “racism”? Or are they all still holding back waiting for Trump to just go away?
Another pathetically horrible chapter in this new administration … But have a look at the women Trump has appointed to high office. In a practical sense it seems to be gender shaming in that people like Noem, Bondi, McMahon, Gabbert, et.al., serve more as mouthpieces for the hate-filled leader. They are all either corrupt, or so incredibly ignorant of the law, the Constitution and the people of this country .
Christian nationalism has ALWAYS been a vehicle for fomenting hate, fascism and civic unrest. If it weren’t for WW II, we may have had this current idiocy much earlier. I hope I’m wrong, but I see a major civil “disturbance” on the near horizon.
This is such a bad script from a dreadful movie, nobody could sell it to anybody worth considering. The hypocrisy and the utter stupidity coupled to the culture of hate in those “zealous” organizations may be the death knell to our democracy.
A lot of you seem to forget the part of the Bible where Jesus FED THE POOR. The “you” speaks to the Christian Nationalists addressed in this blog.
I remembered that Sheila was a neighbor of mine, although I call myself a re-transplanted Hoosier from Muncie, and more specifically, the small pearly-white town of Yorktown between Muncie and Anderson. This spring, when my daughter played soccer at the Yorktown Soccer Complex, I was reminded of my upbringing. Hundreds of kids and parents packed into six soccer fields simultaneously, with no single kid or parent of color. Not one.
The Afrikaner transplants came from Musk’s insistence. Musk is quickly becoming the most hated person in the world. He may be the first person to break the myth that “all publicity is good publicity.”
I read about the recent meeting with the South African leader where Trump shared one lie after another about the “genocide of white farmers.” I’m sorry, but Trump is participating in and funding a real genocide against brown Palestinians, yet he could sound concerned about white South Africans. He didn’t even flinch. I can only assume that the Nazi, Stephen Miller and Elon Musk, fed him the lies he spewed in front of Ramaphosa. It was an ambush.
A black South Afrikaner who grew up outside of Musk’s childhood mansion had this to say in The Guardian which is spot on:
“The ambush of Ramaphosa is therefore not just spectacle. It is illumination. It underlines and emphasizes that Trump’s US is a fact-free, science-free, reality-television production lot whose leader daily defies court orders, alienates supporters of democracy, and tries to dismantle key practices such as the right to due process. It is an ugly place in which facts mean nothing and lies reign supreme.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/23/trump-ramaphosa-south-africa-meeting
That black SA comment is truly spot on, and one that many on this blog share. It saddens us all that in such a short time, all this bile as become manifest without restraint.
Will any of us here live long enough to repair the damage done in such a short time?
I am Christian. Christians follow Jesus and his teachings to love thy neighbor.
Christian Nationalists are nationalists with false identity who follow Trump and love only themselves.
Unlabel me.
When will Christian Faith based communities- mainstream chip and their members Substatively confront what is done in their name? Similarly when will Privileged white men- substantively confront the threats to women and girls moving beyond Reproductive Justice to birth control and routine healthcare? As long as collectively We wait- because We Specifically aren’t in immediate Danger- the fear and hate Will usually win out. Genocide in Gaza- starvation is Highly Visible…..
The real return of prejudice slipped its camel nose under the tent disguised as the war on “woke” and anger on “reverse discrimination, the concept that the majority had a right to mistreat all minorities). Having aged out of mainstream fashion by then, I missed that upcoming danger signal. After all, in a country of rugged individualists who discriminates?
That’s when I learned that rugged individualism had been taken from us by the tide of pervasive entertainment that had washed over us.
Now we are drowning and there are too few rugged individuals left to come to the rescue.
We are lucky to still have a few here. The person who comes first to mind is js.
We may have had a few rugged individuals in our history, with The Marlboro man, and Ronald Reagan playing his version thereof furthering the myth.
Trump, on the other hand is a vapid man whose sickness has infected so many, and drawn so many other diseased persons to his side.
That he can pull off this maneuver with the Afrikaners without the legacy media running headlines like “WTF?” is a very sad thing, but, then, Bezos, and others like him are not “newspaper men.”
Thanks for informing us about Christians Against christian Nationalism. It’s good to know that some real Christians have organized to push back on the fake ones.
I’m an Episcopalian and I’m proud of my church for two recent events. The first was Bishop Budde’s homily when Orange Jesus (OJ) was in the house and the second was when they announced that they wouldn’t resettle the white Afrikaners. (I was actually surprised that the church didn’t catch fire when OJ walked through the door.)
I’m old enough to remember the civil rights movement. One of the things I remember is that there were a good number of white clerics in the crowds. Where have they all gone? Have the churches forgotten their obligation to fight for justice for all?. The white Christian Nationalists insist that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited in schools every day. It’s as if they stop the pledge at “under God” with complete disregard for “with liberty and justice for all.”
I sincerely hope that the good folk at Zionsville Christian Church are the real Christians Sheila is talking about. We will be showing the movie “Bad Faith” about the Christian Nationalist movement on Tues. June 17 at 7 p.m. at the church. Andrew Whitehead is speaking on Christian Nationalism at the church on Tues. July 1 at 7 p.m. He is the second speaker in our speaker series – Sheila was the first. These events are free and open to the public. See https://zionsvillechristianchurch.org/speaker-series/
Ya’ll come!
seems we forgot to mention Johannasburg,also.. are we headed for our goverment to shoot first ask questions later? truly a black eye what trump did to an invited guest to our country.
Thanks, will look the anti-nationalism site.
At least two Democratic Senators grilled Sec of State Rubio about this hypocrisy. And the NY Times has covered it extensively. Again, I don’t think we can blame the media. Trump is destroying democracy so fast, who can keep up? And Christian nationalists in the last 50 years have mostly been evangelicals. Mainstream Christian denominations such as Disciples of Christ, Episcopal, UMC are seen by evangelicals as “woke” and in decline because they aren’t fundamentalist and bibliolaters.
The fallacy of modern day Christianity, proves that it has morphed due to unChristian leadership that began after the death of Christ and his disciples. Part of the problem of many who pine for truth and justice, don’t believe that there really was a Jesus Christ. That he was a fictional character, with fictional abilities. Some even confuse Jesus Christ knowingly and unknowingly with his father whose name has been deleted from scripture for the most part. The King James version of scripture, was one of the first translations to eliminate the name of God. And substitute the name Lord instead. Purposefully obfuscating who is actually being referred to in scripture. And that’s sad because people refuse to research what they read.
So when you have a fake and untruthful take on Christianity, those that follow that untruth find it easier to lie about the meanings behind Christ and Christianity. Why there was even a Jesus Christ. And why, is the name of his father removed from certain biblical translations.
Mostly it’s about the ability to mislead the masses, remember, people were put to death for trying to learn how to read by using some of the original translations of the old and New testament. Branded as heretics, they were subject to severe torture and modes of death by church leadership.
This was used effectively by Roman emperor Constantine, who never gave up his pagan beliefs. And he died a pagan. The crusades, were another misdirectional lie fest! And in all actuality, the Jewish Sanhedrin and it’s refusal to use God’s name for some odd reason, we’re complicit in all of this. Because they removed the name of God from the Mosaic law after the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
in all of the original scriptural teachings. Especially in the Torah. There are several original Hebrew translations that actually use the name of God. But modern Judaism does not. Originally, Muslims were aware of God’s name but choose to use the generic Allah which just means God.
There was an agenda for all of these things. Basically those individuals in all of the major religious groups wanted to have power and authority for themselves. This was actually discussed in early prophetic writing and records starting in the Mosaic law and later after the death of Christ.
Henceforth, The churches became the de facto legislative branches of all governments and kingdoms. Even those who claim to be unreligious, covered their bases just in case. They allowed orthodox offshoots to take the reins of legislation as extremely powerful consultants. Islamic, judeo, and Christian.
Conveniently, religion was manipulated to represent the prejudices and the desires of power and authority reflected by leadership, of The church / religious consultancy.
This was unfortunate because going back to the original Mosaic law, and later the law of Christ, whom of course was Jewish and fervently quoted Jewish scripture, it started to be demonized to those who recognized The hypocrisy and a pattern of deception.
Because of the astronomical amount of deception and evil done in the name of God, people were starting to be completely turned off concerning religion. Also, those religious practices were not part of original teachings but invented to control the population. And now those misdeeds are catching up at a breakneck speed. It doesn’t bode well for those caught in the bird trap so to speak.
Very good points Pete! I like the mention of the camels nose parable. And what happened once the camel got his nose under the tent? Eventually the camel was sleeping in the master’s bed and the master was sleeping outside! Kind of sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Just out of curiosity: If there is indeed genocide of white Afrikaners, why are they not clamoring by the thousands to escape, begging for asylum? Why only 59? (BTW, none of them looked traumatized.)
Why have the stories of those white refugees not been reported? We, in the world, need to know the terror they endured, the repression, how their properties and rights were stripped, and their lives in peril; why they needed refuge. The world needs to know the horrors of white life in South Africa.
And furthermore, how much were these people paid to come here, claiming asylum (that was more than likely unwarranted).
So many questions…🤔
Trevor Noah mentions that if black South Africans could go back in time and kill one person, Cecil Rhodes would be a top choice before Hitler, highlighting the negative impact Rhodes had on South Africa, establishing the Afrikaners, laying groundwork for the apartheid system, and virtual slavery in the diamond mines.
The Afrikaners are reportedly being driven from their long-held farms. Is this a struggle that began in the 2020s, or with Rhodes’ 1880 establishment of the De Beers Mining Company, backed by Queen Victoria and British government charter?
Authoritarian Religion or government or the combo of both is a problem. Freedom of the soul to advance/mature and for the citizen to have agency and choice over their life is vital to Christian and democratic principles. Encroaching on these principles is in direct violation of US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Rose,
It’s also a violation of human rights! Being a free moral agent allows a person to be who they are as long as it does not interfere with others agency. So yeah, I agree with that. In civil society, being a free moral agent is a right everyone should be able to enjoy. It also shows individuals you want to be around, and those you want to steer clear of.
Sheila, those who comment on your blogs are the best! I read every comment at the end of today and I felt as if I could begin the day again. Their perspectives, their eloquence in presenting them, the experiences they draw from and their willingness to share them….. What a refreshing balm to the bs we encounter daily.
Thank you for what you do to prompt the comments!!
Thank you Sheila and others foe sharing options and community.