Christian Nationalism Ain’t Baptist

A sermon on Daniel, Christian Nationalism, and Baptist Resistance

I once was invited to write a sermon for a theological journal. Even though clergy journals aren’t exactly The New Yorker, I was excited about the honor of being asked to participate. At least I was excited until I realized that the particular issue I’d be involved with was all about the Book of Daniel. You see, Daniel is weird. While it’s not quite as weird as, say, Ezekiel, Daniel is half prophecy and half apocalypse. The first part reads like history, but then the book takes a sharp left turn into the twilight zone and morphs into ancient Middle Eastern science fiction.

Once I could get past the bizarre imagery, I discovered the that book spoke to the current reality of those to whom it was written, and it painted a hopeful, symbolic picture of a future yet to come, the end times. At the same time, Daniel is both cosmic and political. The political nature of Daniel doesn’t only speak to the reality of those to whom the story was written centuries ago, though. We can also see parallels into much more recent history, perhaps even to our current reality.

Nebuchadnezzer, King of the powerful Babylonian Empire, orders troops to invade Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. The mighty Babylonian army conquers the city. The troops pillage sacred artifacts from the Temple and deport many of the city’s residents.

Not long after the king’s captives are brought to Babylon, the strongest, most handsome, and brightest are selected to serve in the royal court, whether they want to or not. Immediately, the empire begins the process of assimilating them. They change the captives’ names from the Hebrew names their parents gave them to the Babylonian names of their captors’ choice. They make the prisoners learn and begin speaking the language of their oppressors. They even expect the exiles to eat their food.

Lucky for those selected to serve in the king’s court, they get to eat good food. In fact, they get to eat food from the king’s table. Many captives might find this to be a perk of their forced servitude, but Babylonian foods and wines are offered to the Babylonian gods, and they violate Jewish dietary laws.

In order to remain faithful to God, Daniel asks that he and his friends be allowed to only partake of food and drink that are inherently kosher, mainly uncut vegetables and water. The guards are nervous about this plan. If their prisoners become weak while the others thrive, the king may blame the guards and punish them. Daniel finally convinces his guards to let the prisoners try his plan on a trial basis. For ten days, they’ll consume only vegetables and water. Then the guards can compare Daniel’s physicality to that of their fellow prisoners and decide what to do long term. It works! Daniel and his friends actually become stronger than those who eat the king’s food.

Daniel and his friends resist assimilating to the dominant culture in a way that would compromise their faith, and God is faithful to them.

Decades pass. Daniel and his fellow exiles remain in Babylon. By this time, there is a new king, Darius, who becomes fond of Daniel. In effort to make sure that he doesn’t lose any portion of his empire or any of the revenue he’s due as king of the empire, King Darius sets up a new system of governing. He selects a slew of officers to govern specific territories within the empire. These officers each report to one of three governors, who are also appointed by the king. None other than Daniel is selected to serve as one the governors. It doesn’t take long for Daniel to distinguish himself above everyone else, and Darius promotes him making Daniel head over everyone.

As you can imagine, Daniel’s promotion doesn’t sit well with the other governors and officers. Daniel, a foreigner, has taken a job that they believe rightfully belongs to one of them, so they devise a plan to take him down. Or so they think.

The conspirators’ scheme exploits both Daniel’s faith and King Darius’ ego. They go to the king and tell him that they believe the king should pass a decree stating that anybody who prays to any being other than good King Darius will be thrown into a lions’ den. Darius agrees and signs the decree into law.

Since the conspirators know of Daniel’s deep devotion to God, they know it will be a piece of cake to catch him praying to the God of the Jews. Sure enough, Daniel continues to go home to pray three times a days, and his enemies catch him in the act. They immediately report Daniel to the king.

Since Darius is so fond of Daniel, he tries to find a loophole to protect him. However, Babylon is a nation of laws and so the law must be enforced. Daniel is sentenced to be executed by ravenous lions.

King Darius himself escorts Daniel to the mouth of the lions’ den. His last words to Daniel are, “May the God you have served so faithfully rescue you.” Daniel enters the lions’ den to meet his fate. A stone seals the doorway behind him. And Darius goes back to his palace where he spends the night fasting on Daniel’s behalf.

The next morning, Darius goes to the lions’ den with fear and trepidation in order to find out what has become of Daniel. He calls out to the sealed den expecting it to now be a tomb. Darius is astonished when Daniel calls back to him. He is alive! Daniel lives to tell the king of Babylon that his God protected him because of his faithfulness.

Then the king sends a message to every person who dwells within his empire. This message is this: All people who live under my rule ought to tremble before the God of Daniel. This God is a living God who will endure forever. This God’s kingdom will never be overthrown, and this God’s reign will know no end. Daniel’s God saves and rescues those who fear him, for this God rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Daniel lived within an empire. In fact, he literally worked for the government. Even with that, Daniel refused to assimilate to the empire in any way that might compromise his values, his faith, or the reputation of his God.

Contrary to the soundbites you hear coming from some prominent Baptists, we come from a long heritage of faithful people who have resisted empire in order to remain faithful to God. Here are a few examples, most of which come from an essay “Freedom Fighters: Baptist Defenders of Religious Liberty” written by my friend Dr. Pam Durso.

One of the two Baptist founders, Thomas Helwys died in prison because of his appeals to King James concerning issues about the legitimacy of the papacy and need for religious liberty for all.

Obediah Holmes, a colonial Baptist preacher broke the law when he and some colleagues preached in Massachusetts, where the Catholic Church was the established church. The men were arrested and fined. Holmes refused to pay the fine, though, on a matter of conscience. As punishment, he was taken to the town whipping post and beaten so badly that he supposedly had to rest on his hands and knees if he wanted to try to get some sleep.

Then there was Esther White, an elderly widow who was a Baptist living in Massachusetts. She was imprisoned for refusing to pay a ministerial tax that would go to the established church’s minister in her town. She spent thirteen months in jail before town leaders became so embarrassed about locking up an old widow that they dropped the charges against her.

Right here in Virginia Gowan Pamphlet was an enslaved Baptist preacher who preached to both free and enslaved black people in Williamsburg. Pamphlet founded a church, but his church had to meet in secret because preachers of color were banned from the local Baptist association. In 1793 Pamphlet earned his freedom. At the time of his death in the early 1800s, his church, which no longer had to kept a secret, had 500 members.

We all know that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, a Baptist minister, was compelled by his faith to challenge the empire for equality for black people and all poor people and for an end to the Vietnam War. During his life, Dr. King was arrested 29 times. We also know that he was assassinated because of his resistance.

We come from a long tradition of faithful Jesus followers who, like Daniel, refused to assimilate to the empire in any way that might compromise their values, faith, or reputation of God.

Of course, we haven’t always gotten it right, though.

John Leland, another Virginia Baptist, is most known for his role in getting James Madison to include religious freedom in the first amendment. For much of his adult life, Leland also championed the emancipation of slaves. Toward the end of his life, he backpedaled on this issue and began to speak against abolitionists. It seems that Leland realized that wealthy white southerners were less likely to attend their local Baptist church when it’s leaders threatened the institution of slavery, so he compromised the Baptist principle of freedom for ideologies of white supremacy and dominance.

The Southern Baptist Convention, from which our own denomination (The Alliance of Baptists) comes, split from the American Baptists over the issue of slavery.

Mike Huckabee championing Kim Davis’ right to deny same sex couples a marriage license; Robert Jeffress saying inhumane immigration policies are okay because even heaven will have a wall; and Jerry Falwell Jr dismissing sexism, racism, and sexual assault allegations against our nation’s top leader are all examples of Baptists compromising their values, their faith, and the reputation of our God for the sake of cozying up to the empire in the hopes of gaining power for themselves and for like-minded Christians.

Christian nationalism equates the American flag with the cross. It replaces freedom of religion with Christian privilege. It depends on order and hierarchy, usually reserving the highest rungs of the hierarchical ladder for straight white Christian men. Christian nationalism seeks power for itself; even though, Jesus’ life and death models the giving of oneself for sake of others, mainly for those who have no social power. Ultimately, Christian nationalism is idolatry. It certainly ain’t Baptist.

Our churches today need to learn a lesson from Daniel. A church rooted in deep faith in Jesus will be radically countercultural to any empire. Its members will refuse to assimilate to the dominant culture in any way that compromises its values, faith, or the reputation of God, no matter what kind of power Christians may gain from doing so. It will reject Christian nationalism in order to embrace the ways of Jesus. This kind of church is radical. It stands out in its community because this kind of church is so very countercultural. It creates what civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis calls “good trouble”. This kind of church, like Daniel, can change the dominant culture. It takes courage, but we can be this kind of church. It’s in our Baptist DNA.