There are certain things that are consistent across all the different branches of Christian Nationalism. One of these consistencies is that all Christian Nationalists struggle to find solutions to certain problems. More specifically there is a question that the entirety of Christian Nationalism struggles to answer. A question which when asked reveals the holes which dismember their entire belief system.
Why Now?
If the United States is meant to be a Christian nation, why haven’t we become one sooner? The Church has existed for over two thousand years. Why is it only now that the Church is taking up its “rightful place” and ruling over the nations? Has God’s church been a complete failure in all its endeavours?
The Founding Fathers
Most Christian Nationalists specifically argue that the Founding Fathers intended this to be a “Christian nation” and enshrined this belief in the Constitution. They also argue this is God’s intention for the church. Let’s be clear, if God commanded his Church to lead the nation, the Church would have already conquered the earth. “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) But moving past this if the founding documents and laws of the United States were written in support of the Church leading our Government, what could possibly be standing in our way? So why has it taken so long to actually happen? Why is America “now” ready to become a Christian nation when America “then” wasn’t?
The Puritans
We can go back even further than the Founding Fathers. When the Puritans created the “Massachusetts Bay Colony,” they did so intending to create a nation governed by God’s Law. In his Journals, John Winthrop the founder of the colony wrote:
“We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations , “may the Lord make it like that of New England.” For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill.” – Excerpt from the Journals of John Winthrop
The Puritans came to this country fully prepared to build the New Jerusalem and to govern according to God’s laws. Yet over time, the colony would come under the rule of the British crown, and the Puritan would fail in their mission. If they were acting out the will of God how could they fail? For not even the might of the British Empire could stand against the will of God.
There have been many “Christian Nations”
Outremer was the kingdom founded by crusaders who sought to rule the holy land in God’s name. Charlemagne’s vision of a Holy Roman Empire quickly dissolved. Rome crumbled even as the Emperor enforced Christianity as the religion of the empire. We can keep going back to this all the way back to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. Why did they all fail? What is different about us that we will succeed?
Half Answers
There are many answers Christian Nationalism presents for the failure of these previous Christian nations and why we know it won’t fail this time. The problem with these answers is that they either don’t hold up under scrutiny or they actually create more questions and problems than we started out with. These “solutions” broadly fall into two categories:
They Weren’t Ready Because of _____
Some try to argue that previous attempts fail because they were not following the proper rules for worship or their theology was incorrect. Whether it’s their ideas surrounding submersion baptism, covenant theology, etc. The first problem with this is that it creates an eschatological crisis. To put it simply, if the kingdom can not be realized until all Christians have proper theology, we are doomed. The second problem is that it creates a paradox, as most Christian nationalists argue for a “pan-protestant state”.
“A presbyterian, a baptist, and an Anglican may debate important points of theology but they can affirm each other’s Brotherhood in Christ (…) We can have a sort of pan Protestant political order where we can see ourselves as Protestants taking the Protestant faith and identifying with that as a nation together.” – Stephen Wolfe, Christen Nationalism vs. Mere Christendom?
We will cover this more at a later date. For now, the problem with this is this: God is consistent and unchanging. You can’t say “God didn’t support their Christian nation because he cares about infant baptism, but he will support ours because he doesn’t care anymore”. It has to be one way or the other.
“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
but you are the same, and your years have no end.” (Psalm 102:25 – 27)
They Were Christian Nations but they were corrupted by sin
This is the most common answer you will find. Doug Wilson is a pastor at Christ’s Church in Moscow, Idaho, and the author of Mere Christendom. In his book he makes the case that where the United States once was a Christian Nation we have fallen and become dilapidated in our old age. ““We are currently living under a form of government that our Constitution was explicitly designed to prevent.”
This answer suggests it’s not that those who came before weren’t Christian nations. Their endeavors were successful, but they allowed sin to creep in, they became corrupt, and the “Christian” dissolved from the nation. At first glance, this seems to be biblically supported. We see Israel go through cycles of Righteousness and Sinful downfall throughout their history. Fortunately for us, God’s covenant with His Church is very different from his covenant with Israel.
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29)
“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18)
If God’s intention for the church was to have authority over the nations, nothing and no one could prevent or corrode that authority. The enemy has no power over us. “No one knows when that day or time will be. The Son and the angels in heaven don’t know when it will be. Only the Father knows.” (Matthew 24:36)
The truth is the kingdom of God will be realized by God, on God’s time. Praise be this is the case! For a world where the Kingdom of Heaven is built by the hands of men is a world where Christ never returns.
Sources:
Hosmer, James Kendall, editor. Winthop’s Journal. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908.
Wilson, Douglas. Mere Christendom. Canon Press, 2023.
Wolfe, Stephen and Douglas Wilson. YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeU7dBrSRLo. Accessed 3 Sept. 2025.
