"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries."      -James Madison

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind."  -Thomas Paine

We explained Christian Nationalism above in its most simple terms, but a lot of the dirt is in the details. It is true that the right to a religious identity is enshrined in the Constitution, but it is referred to as "religion." It does not specify Christianity. Christian nationalism is un-democratic at its core. It is the errant notion that this country was founded for Christians alone. John Adams dispelled that myth.

"The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

It is also a clear and present threat to the separation between church and state. While Ron DeSantis, the authoritarian governor of Florida, is training teachers that it's a 'misconception' that the Founding Fathers wanted that separation, the words of Thomas Jefferson prove him to be a poor authority on the subject.

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law."

Christian nationalism is also an affront to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prevents the establishment of state-sponsored churches.

Christian nationalism is a religion of exclusion designed to take down our pluralist democracy and establish a theocratic form of government. Its ideology allows bigots, racists and homophobes to use 'religious

freedom' as a means of eliminating nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, women, religious minorities and non-believers alike.

We must also not forget that there is an intersection between Christian nationalism and white supremacy that cannot be denied even though it often remains unspoken. The roots of the religious right, the forefathers of Christian nationalism, were firmly entrenched in segregation. To ignore this makes it even more virulent a threat to our democracy.

The election of Barack Obama, our first black president, threw the white supremacists into a frenzy. Obama was followed by Donald Trump and his hateful "replacement theory" rhetoric that espoused anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-black Make America Great Again sentiment. His embrace of violent, white supremacist militias like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, while his followers falsely accused Black Lives Matter and antifa of violence, galvanized the white Christian nationalist cause.

The right-wing media and pundits repeatedly and falsely accused BLM and antifa of disguising themselves as MAGA rioters who set-up Trump's supporters and carried out the insurrection. In fact, it is Christian nationalists who were the driving force behind The Big Lie and the insurrection.

Janice McGeachin with her Bible and her gun. Thankfully, she lost her primary, but she's not going away.

Learn about the role played by Christian nationalists in the January 6 insurrection by downloading the special report by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Christians Against Christian Nationalism, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (below).

We now know there were indeed firearms and other weapons at the insurrection. We also know that a gallows was erected as a threat to Mike Pence if he didn't deliver for Donald Trump and his minions. Five people died on January 6, 2021, and more died of suicide in the ensuing weeks and months, all former Capitol police officers.

Some of those who survived that day were also veterans of war, who said they were more frightened at the Capitol insurrection than they were in actual combat. But no matter, because these violent insurrectionists were carrying out the will of God. At least that's what they want you to believe.

God did not send the insurrectionists to Washington so that America could be "reborn." Donald Trump called them to Washington in an effort to keep himself in power. It's as simple as that. The violent mob that day was not doing God's will, in spite of the fact that Jacob Chansley, otherwise known as The QAnon Shaman, stopped their destruction in the Senate chamber long enough to offer a prayer to the Lord (see below).

"Thank you, Heavenly Father, for gracing us with this opportunity … to send a message to all the tyrants, the communists and the globalists, that this is our nation, not theirs. Thank you for filling this chamber with patriots that love you and that love Christ. Thank you for allowing the United States of America to be reborn."

In fact, they weren't even doing the will of their revered Founding Fathers, who knew that our democracy was fragile, an experiment that could someday under the right circumstances, could be undone. Donald Trump almost brought us there. He left us on the precipice.

The right wing also lies for convenience. The Founding Fathers did indeed support the separation between church and state. The right wing will deny that, but there's something about the Founding Fathers that the right cannot deny, nor do they want to. In fact, it is the real reason they continue to invoke their names.

The Founding Fathers, for all their wisdom, were self-serving elites. They were rich, white men who owned human beings. Some of them, whether the right wing likes to hear this or not, even fathered children with their slaves. The right wing loves the Founding Fathers for all the wrong reasons.

The America of 1776 is what the Christian nationalists want to bring back so that they can do it over the right way under authoritarian and theocratic rule and eliminate the liberal mess the rest of us have made here.

Back in the day of the Founding Fathers, many could not vote because they did not own enough land. That ensured the poor had no voice. Slavery was in vogue. That ensured that the people of color would be kept in check. Women certainly were afforded almost no rights back in their day. Let's add to that the fact that they had already slaughtered many of the indigenous people who actually were the true owners of the land. That's what the right wing and the Christian nationalists consider making America great again.