Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Avoid Christian Nationalism: Be A Little Bit Sectarian

Avoid Christian Nationalism: Be A Little Bit Sectarian

Last updated on: June 2, 2025 at 10:00 am by Lisa Clark Diller

0 Comments

Avoid Christian Nationalism: Be A Little Bit Sectarian 2025-06-02T10:00:00-04:00 Lisa Clark Diller

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When the End of Time comes, it’ll be other Christians who do the persecuting during the Time of Trouble before Jesus’s Second Coming. And the United States will be the nation that helps make this happen, providing the political power for the spiritual force known as the Anti-Christ. This is the story that sums up much of the traditional apocalyptic story for my denomination, the Seventh-day Adventists.

There are more nuanced ways to lay out Adventist eschatology and Biblical interpretation than this, and you can explore those here. But growing up, and now as an adult Adventist, this is still the origin story for my view of the relationship between church and state. It is a story formed by a church coming of age within the United States and assuming many of the political and cultural realities of this country. It is a reminder to me of the chastening effect small, apocalyptic sects can have on Christian dominion dreams and the seduction of cultural and political power. Sectarianism can give useful correctives to Christian nationalism.

Within the British world, demand for political tolerance of smaller Christian communities (never mind non-Christians at this point) became the foundation of religious pluralism. English Catholics, for instance, argued that they could be loyal citizens even though the Protestant state insisted that the pope’s position as head of the church prevented them from committing fully to the English nation. The Christian nation was defined in such a way that excluded them. These Catholics were among the first to insist on parental rights—that they should be allowed to raise their children in their faith without losing custody of them, even though the state disagreed with that faith. While Catholics aren’t often defined as sectarian, within the early modern British world they behaved in a similar fashion to such groups.

Chris Beneke tells the story of religious pluralism moving Beyond Toleration in the territory that became the United States in the eighteenth century. He lays out the way that smaller Christian groups insisted on being treated with more than just basic legal allowance. They didn’t want to be disrespected nor called rude names in the papers. These Christian sectarians wanted inclusion and to be accepted, not just tolerated. It was these small and often quirky groups who forced the United States, still predominantly Protestant, to develop a culture that could handle pluralism.

Small and odd religious groups can help a nation realize that behaviors and ideas they think of as weird and unnecessarily difficult can be integrated into the political community without disintegrating civil society. My own tradition, the Seventh-day Adventists, keep Saturday as Sabbath. We refrain from work/employment, unnecessary commerce and chores, among other activities that vary between individuals and cultural groups. Sometimes this means not competing in sports on Saturdays, not taking exams or doing professional growth on Saturdays, and this is really inconvenient for our colleagues or employers or coaches and teachers.

Adventists who want to be very careful to keep Saturday as a “holy Sabbath” can hear appeals to please not be so difficult or so legalistic or to just adjust to the larger good. This can be painful for those who want to be part of a community and good citizens, but whose conscience does not allow them to participate with what most Christians are doing.

Adventists anticipate a Christian nation enacting worship laws, requiring people in the United States to refrain from work on Sundays, with concomitant punishments for those whose Saturday rest day required them to violate the collective worship time. In fact, in the late nineteenth century, some Adventists were arrested for farming on Sundays due to having taken Saturday off.

When people argue for a “Christian” nation, some of us wonder how one could even define Christianity in a way that could be agreed upon. The entire project of religious toleration was formed because Christian states were enforcing a Christianity that some so-called “difficult” and often annoying (to the majority) small groups could not agree were in fact basic Christian practices or ideals. Core or basic Christianity can be both theological and cultural/ritual, and both have challenges.

As soon as communities decide to write down and define their faith in words they want everyone to agree on (the theological definition), immediately we run into the difficulty of not all expressions working for everyone, and the resulting fights have frequently formed new communities. Concomitantly, if what makes us Christian is a set of agreed-upon practices or cultural assumptions, such as not drinking or dancing, or celebrating Christmas (nor not!!), or having certain sexual practices, then we have challenges extending that faith beyond a particular culture and socio-economic group. The issue can be seen in the United States today around Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints. Are they Christians? Their practices and culture align with many Christians in this country, to the extent that folks can be really comfortable with them. But if/when theological ideas are put front and center, some US Christians resist the idea of defining their group in a way that includes Mormons

The sociologists Malcolm Bull and Keith Lockhart pointed out that Adventists have such a strong set of theo-praxis, especially around Sabbath (although sometimes our health practices also stand out), that we have traditionally been deeply diverse culturally. This is in contrast to most denominations in the United States that are held together by culture, which allows them to assume many elements as being part of their faith that are primarily socio-economic.

When we say something should be Christian in the United States, we think we know what that means. We get frustrated that the Christian part of Christmas isn’t being recognized—without realizing how little our current Christmas celebrations have to do with how Christians practiced their holidays in the past. Many Christians today don’t even celebrate Christmas. Are they not “good” Christians, are they undermining the “traditions” of Christianity and the larger community?

These conflicts are part of why many smaller sectarian Christian groups have looked to the separation of church and state, and even secularism, as a boon to spiritual thriving. Each smaller Christian group has the ability to define its own practice and the parameters under which it will ally with other Christians without the state taking on the promotion of some sort of generic Christianity which turns out to be not so generic after all.

I want to make it clear that I believe in the thriving of other religious and non-religious individuals and groups outside of Christianity, and I like belonging to a nation that allows that. But as a Christian I have found it necessary to explain why I wouldn’t want my government to promote my faith. My church’s heritage in the Radical Reformation and the confrontation with Christian state power is the reason. Seventh-day Adventists aren’t perfect, but we do have a strong arm of advocacy regarding religious liberty and freedom of conscience, and not just for Christians. We consistently argue for the idea that separation of church and state is best for spiritual flourishing. So in an era when Christian nationalism and conservative theology are often appearing to go hand in hand in the USA, I just want to alert the wider world to the sectarian Christian roots for resisting such religious nationalism.

Adventist

Uncategorized

Christian nationalism

Previous Post

February 6, 2025

Rediscovering A Classic American Satire Of War And Empire

Next Post

February 10, 2025 Religion or Ethnicity, Part 2: Evangelicals and Questions

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I love horror but would have to acclimate back to Lovecraft and especially Machen. Have ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"Very good point about MacDonald.I am certainly a Machen fan!"

philipjenkins

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"The Scottish author George MacDonald integrated fairy world into his fiction in a way that ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"I like the idea that we can have different streams. The coffee analogy is genius."

Lisa Clark Diller

How Do You Take Your Evangelicalism?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet was swallowed by a great fish?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Moses Ezekiel Jonah Elijah