Kinzinger has been an outspoken critic of Christian nationalism, tweeting his condemnation of the ideology on multiple occasions and rebuffing calls by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that the Republican Party become the “party of Christian nationalism.”
Raskin, for his part, told Religion News Service in May 2021 he had taken a personal interest in the “marriage between Donald Trump and fundamentalist Christianity.” He said the tie was a source of “bafflement” for him, but that he had begun reading books such as Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s “Jesus and John Wayne” — a book cited by many scholars who study Christian nationalism.
Just last week, Raskin heard testimony on the subject on Capitol Hill from Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and founder of Christians Against Christian Nationalism.
“Christian nationalism helped fuel the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, uniting disparate actors and infusing their political cause with religious fervor,” Tyler told the House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which Raskin chairs.
Christians Against Christian Nationalism co-produced a report on Christian nationalism’s role in the Jan. 6 riot but declined to comment on the report’s release on Friday.
The precise reason for Christian nationalism’s general absence from the report remains a mystery. A recent Washington Post investigation into the document’s drafting quoted Jeremy Adler, a spokesperson for Rep. Liz Cheney, who sits on the committee, as saying the Wyoming lawmaker “won’t sign onto any ‘narrative’” regarding Jan. 6 that “suggests every American who believes God has blessed America is a white supremacist.”
This article originally appeared here.
