Sin and the Christian Nationalist
How do Christian Nationalists define sin? And what it could mean for YOU (Scroll to the end to listen)
Yesterday, we shared an example of a Christian Nationalist politician blaming homelessness on a homeless person’s “sin.” When a group of Christo-fascist Republicans pen a manifesto for turning our democracy into a theocracy, their definition of “sin” will be central to how they govern.
Therefore, it’s vital to know what they mean when they use the word “sin” to describe behaviors or to assign blame for a person’s circumstances.
To help readers grasp the Christian Nationalist view of “sin” and its consequences, imagine you are a healthy 40-something woman. You’ve never had a serious illness in your life.
You wake up one morning and notice a black spot in one eye. Over the course of a week, your eye starts to water and hurt. You go to the eye doctor, thinking you have pink eye or something minor and come away with a life-changing diagnosis. You have toxoplasmosis, an incurable parasitic disease that attacks every organ in the body.
You’re lucky it has only destroyed part of one retina and caused permanent blindness. Activation in the brain leads to seizures, dementia, and death. Activation in any other organ causes death.
You start a roller coaster of chemotherapy and steroids. You change at a granular level. Reactions you don’t recognize. Dark thoughts you’ve never had.
At your lowest point, you turn to your Christian Nationalist parents, crying for empathy and compassion. Because they’re your parents, right? They’re supposed to care when you’re hurting.
And they tell you it’s your fault you have this incurable illness because you are away from God. Sin in your life has displeased him, and he’s given you this illness to get your attention. All they can do is pray that you heed his message and turn back to him before it’s too late.
What sin did this woman commit? She turned her back on her Christian Nationalist upbringing. She was brought up in a world where every conceivable thing was a sin. Here’s what that means.
Alcohol is devil-water. One sip makes a person an alcoholic. There’s no such thing as moderation. All drinking is sin.
Other vices like smoking, chewing tobacco, dipping snuff, and similar are all sins, because they teach a person to self-soothe without Bible-reading, prayer, and church attendance.
Of course, drugs are sin because they alter a person enough to open them up to demon-possession and Satanic behavior. Many legal pharmaceutical drugs get lumped into this category, because God works miracles, not man and man-made substances.
I’ve written about sex, pornography, and lust, but basically anything that makes someone like Mike Johnson think about sex is sin. Sex outside marriage is sin. Same-sex sex is sin. Open marriages, throuples, and polyamory are sins.
Cursing and taking God’s name in vain are grievous sins. Some Christian Nationalists even consider slang substitutes for course language sinful.
Failure to respect authority is a sin, unless that authority contradicts the Christian Nationalist interpretation of the Bible. (Which is how they give themselves the right to ignore federal authority and laws they don’t like.) This respect for authority would include a Republican dictator and his police-state representatives.
Wives refusing to submit to husbands is a sin. Children refusing to submit to parents is a sin.
Sporadic church attendance is a sin. I probably don’t need to say it, but not going to church at all is an egregious sin, as is going to the “wrong” church.
A failure to give at least 10% of one’s gross income to the church is a sin because not giving to God is the very definition of greed.
Physically going to the “wrong” places is a sin. Think bars, nightclubs, discos, sex clubs, liberal protests, events where one might hear other worldviews, libraries, scientific gatherings, Democrat party meetings, museums, places where LGBTQIA+ people mingle, movies, visits to sex workers, adult bookstores…use your imaginations. Almost everything that pops in your head is probably sin.
Abortion is sin. Using contraception is sin. Teaching sex education is sin because it causes kids to be curious, and curiosity leads to sin.
Addiction is sin. Mental illness is sin. Most kinds of therapy lead to sin because they aren’t rooted in Bible reading and prayer.
Divorce is sin.
Dating or being in a romantic relationship with someone who isn’t a Christian Nationalist is sin.
Questioning the Bible is sin.
A woman in leadership positions is sin. A woman speaking out like a man is sin. A woman refusing to stay in her place is sin.
I didn’t list more standard sins like “murder,” though those are all on the Christian Nationalist list of sins, too. Except when they commit them for a reason they can assign to God.
What could a Christo-fascist government with laws defined by what they deem to be sin mean for YOU?
Look at red states.
Abortion is banned or severely restricted in 26 states.
Attacks on vaccines and medical/scientific research stem from these beliefs. Florida’s surgeon general is the poster example.
Severe book bans and restrictions on libraries, followed by charging teachers with crimes for teaching “pornography” and “grooming children.”
Bans on gender-affirming care and LGBTQIA+ populations.
Restrictions on free movement for people who could be pregnant, already happening in Idaho, Texas, Alabama and attempted by several other red state legislatures.
Crushing police presences on university campuses. Godless Gen Z’ers don’t respect authority. Neither did Black Lives Matter protestors. But of course, the 6 January insurrectionists were patriots.
Is it a sin to seethe over the rise of Christian Nationalism?
I live in Texas. It is hard to maintain one’s sanity at times. But I focus on all the like minded people who are here to make this place purple. Molly Cook won. Enjoy the wins when they happen. 🥰 doing my best to stay encouraged