Christian Nationalists in Power

Christian nationalists believe that it is the will of God to create a country that is strictly run by their own Christian beliefs and values and Goldberg states that the only thing in the way of this happening is by destroying the courts which is their main obstacle. Christian nationalists already believe that America is a Christian based nation and because of this they feel the need to get rid of secular values and laws that clash with their own religious values and beliefs. The only way for them to achieve this is to destroy or take over the power of the courts (Goldberg, 155). By destroying the current judiciary powers and using their organized religious groups and leaders to take over, Christian nationalists would most likely create new laws that supported their religious values and destroy ones that contradicted it. With this being said we can see that many of our current rights could very well be destroyed because of the fact that it goes against someone else’s religious beliefs. With their strong objections to homosexuality, “unholy sex,” abortions and birth control, we see only a portion of what they want to change. It is not just the act of “unholy sex” or sex out of marriage that they are wanting to criminalize, but the act of monitoring these things to be sure that they don’t happen even within one’s own home would be taking away people’s right to privacy. Goldberg states that Rick Santorum shared his beliefs that there is no right to privacy because “…it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that’s antithetical to strong, healthy families" (157). Again, this is an example of how the Christian nationalist would push their extreme values on the rest of the country. In a reader called, Culture, Society, and Sexuality, there is a chapter by Gayle S. Rubin about some of the politics of sexuality. Rubin stated that in the 1940s through the early 60’s “erotic communities” and homosexuals were persecuted due to their activities and lifestyles that went against those of the government at that time (145). “Congressional investigations, executive orders and sensational exposes in the media aimed to root out homosexuals employed by the government. (Rubin, 145). Rubin even stated that the FBI became involved until the 1970s through “systematic surveillance and harassment of homosexuals…” (145). This is just an example of how Christian nationalists would attempt to go about carrying out their religious laws that they so strongly believe in. Again, even if one is heterosexual, this would not mean that they are safe from having their privacy destroyed. Homosexuality is just one of the many things that Christian nationalists would want to destroy. Because they want to be sure that no acts of “unholy” sex would occur they would intrude into people’s privacy. Furthermore, to help them end “unholy” sex they would probably attempt to destroy any influence of sex or anything related to values that they think are sinful. If there is a host of a TV show who was a homosexual does this mean they would take his/her show off the air? If people were fired once before for simply being homosexual then this situation would be no different. It is one thing to use your remote to change a channel when you don’t like what is on but it is completely different to destroy it because it goes against someone’s religious views. If Christian nationalists have issues with people who do not share the same values of sexuality how then will they act towards someone with a completely different religion? If they plan to push their values of a “correct” or “holy” sexuality on people then why would they hesitate to push the religion that influences this idea on the people as well. With so many different religions in America it’s obvious that this would be a problem. We all have a choice because of our rights to freedom and by ever letting Christian nationalists break and take over the judiciary powers we would jeopardize these rights.

References:
Edited by: Richard Guy Parker, Peter Aggleton. Rubin, Gayle S. "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality." Culture, society and sexuality: a reader. Edition 2 1999: 144-154

Goldberg, Michelle.Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007.