Criticizing others within the evangelical movement who don’t share his convictions, Peters said, “Some of the evangelical church — I think it is soft. I think they’re cowardly, and they’re trying to ride the fence between the left and the right. And so that’s kind of where the divide is.”
When asked about the relationship between his church’s beliefs and white nationalism, Peters said, “There are wonderful Christian Black folk, and Asian, and Hispanic. You know, Christianity is for the whole world. It’s for every race, it’s for every tribe, every tongue. So no, it has nothing to do with ‘white’ — at all. I don’t even understand how that could be considered that sort of thing. I don’t even get it.”
Thompson pressed and said that many people do see a connection between American evangelicalism and white nationalism, to which Peters replied, “I guess. I don’t. I don’t make that connection at all.”
Pastor Philip Nordstrom of Life Church Responds
Philip Nordstrom is the pastor of Life Church, Knoxville, TN. While located in the same city as Patriot Church, Nordstrom and Life Church have a very different approach when it comes to politics.
“I would say as a person of faith who’s been around church all my life that the bible belt is unbuckling,” Nordstrom told Thompson.
When asked what he meant by that, Nordstrom said, “The branding of Christianity has suffered. I think that our association with political extremism has especially turned off a younger generation toward evangelicalism. So one of the challenges we face right now is, ‘Who are we? What does it even mean to be an evangelical?’”
Nordstrom intentionally stays away from discussing politics from the pulpit on Sunday, though Thompson reported that Nordstrom is pro-life.
“The funny thing is, I’m probably personally pretty conservative. So I don’t come across as like I’m a liberal evangelical,” Nordstrom said. “But people get the feeling pretty quick that we’re a pretty inclusive church — that everyone’s welcome, that we’re trying to not fight the cultures from the pulpit.”
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Nordstrom expressed frustration with the fact that evangelicals are often associated with white nationalism. “I think the easy thing to do would be to say I’m no longer an evangelical. Or like I’m no longer a patriot,” Nordstrom said. But he went on to explain that he doesn’t want to do that saying, “No, I’m a patriot and I’m an evangelical. And I’m proud of it.”
