Concerns about Christian nationalism are distracting Christians from engaging in the public square, argues author and former pastor Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr. Baucham joined author and cultural commentator Allie Beth Stuckey on her Relatable podcast in an Oct. 24 episode titled on YouTube, “’Christian Nationalism’ Sure Beats Progressive Globalism.”
“I remember it seemed like things started to get traction, right, in terms of people waking up to the problems with this whole social justice movement,” said Baucham. “People started to speak up, you know, and speak out and all of a sudden, the folks on the other side, I think, got a little nervous. And then they started going, ‘Yeah, well what about this Christian nationalism?’”
Voddie Baucham: Nationalism Is Better Than Globalism
Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr. is Dean of the School of Divinity at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia, and the author of “Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe.” In the past, he served as pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas.
Topics that Baucham and Stuckey discussed included leftism, critical race theory, diversity and whether parents should send their kids to public schools.
RELATED: ‘Woke’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means, Says Benjamin Watson
Near the end of the conversation, Stuckey asked Baucham what encouragement he could give to Christian parents. Baucham replied that it is important to remember that while this is not our home, we do live in a place that has been “incredibly blessed” by God and that “we have an opportunity to turn the tide.” Furthermore, it is important that we desire to change the culture, not just for the sake of the U.S. but also for the sake of the gospel.
“To me the greatness of the United States is the fact that the gospel has prospered here and born fruit here unlike anywhere else or any other time in the world,” said Baucham. “And so my desire is for all of those things that allowed that to happen to continue to flourish so that the work of the gospel can continue to flourish here and continue to be a blessing elsewhere.”
“But Dr. Baucham, isn’t that very scary Christian nationalism?” asked Stuckey.
“Absolutely it is,” said Baucham, joking that Stuckey had opened up “another can of worms.” He believes that “there is no clear definition” of Christian nationalism, and “so there are different people who are defining it in different ways…essentially, it was a smokescreen.”
Baucham continued, “If you don’t want Christian nationalism, what other kind of nationalism do you want? Right? Do you want, you know, secular nationalism, Muslim nationalism?…Or if it’s not the Christianity that’s the problem, is it the nationalism that’s the problem? If we don’t want nationalism, what do we want? Do we want globalism? You know, no thank you, please.”
