A former truck driver, Pentecostal pastor, faith healer, alternative medicine advocate and former popcorn salesman, Emas said business has been tough since he started the store. Few tourists seem to be enthusiastic about stopping by the store, whose shelves are lined with flags and pro-MAGA messages.
During an interview, Emas was dressed in a red, white and blue T-shirt that depicted the cross, a crown of thorns and the American flag gripped in Jesus’ hand.
Ruth Braunstein, associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut and director of the Meanings of Democracy Lab, said there has been a great deal of pushback on the criticism of Christian nationalism — the idea that America is at its core a nation for Christians — from more conservative Christians who believe in what they see as a more inclusive vision of America.
“There really is a much more sort of common and almost moderate seeming way of thinking about the United States that talks more broadly about something like Judeo-Christian values or the idea that, you know, why can’t we all just be, you know, good Americans and proud of the country and the flag,” Braunstein said.
But that more nostalgic view can also exist side by side with more extreme views of Christian nationalism, which claims that Christians are the only true Americans or that the country is less great because of pluralism or diversity, said Braunstein.
“Both views use religion as a marker of American belonging and power,” she said.
David Law, an Oregon native who moved to Branson after college to work at a nearby Christian camp, said the MAGA message doesn’t fit the image the city wants to present. Law, who now works in the hospitality industry and is a volunteer leader at his church, said many of his fellow transplants come to Branson out of a sense of nostalgia.
“I’ve met several people from Oregon or California who said they wanted to get back to ‘good old America,’” he said over coffee and eggs at Billy Gail’s, a popular eatery.
Law said he used to think that kind of God and country patriotism was a harmless fiction — more like Harry Potter or Star Wars than a faith based on the teachings of Jesus. He’s seen that change in recent years.
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“I viewed it almost as fiction — a kind of make-believe world that never existed but people want to exist,” he said. “If it’s viewed as fiction, then I think it’s fine. It’s entertainment. The problem is, I don’t think a lot of people take it as entertainment. I think they take it very seriously.”
This article originally appeared here.
