The term is broadly used these days to describe a version of conservative evangelism in the U.S. that has a powerful influence on MAGA believers. And therefore on the state of the nation.

I have been curious to have it explained.

Then on a recent Friday, a friend at the weekly ecumenical meditation group I often attend, showed me a book she was excited about. It is called “Star -Spangled Jesus,” by April Ajoy.

Published in 2024, it is the author’s witty account of growing up in an evangelical family in Texas and fully embracing its outlook and way of life. Her father was an itinerant preacher, intent on returning the U.S to, as he saw it, its original conception as a “Christian” country. But “Christianity” comes in many forms, and is claimed for many causes.

Especially when combined with political views, it can turn a secular state into a theocracy. Such as Iran.

All the more reason the phenomenon should be the subject of critical study at all stages in society. Only one daily newspaper in Canada has a reporter assigned to investigate the religions: the Winnipeg Free Press. The reporter, John Longhurst, finds it a fascinating beat. It is one of those hidden influences for good or evil, on a society’s development and its social cohesion.

As a child, Ajoy once sang her own song on the Jim Bakker TV show. Among her childhood friends were those who asked, “Are you ready for the rapture?” In the rapture, the teaching says, Jesus comes back and brings Christians to heaven with him without their needing to die. The “rapture” is followed by seven years of tribulation. There is often a biblical quote to underlie teachings.

A Christian nationalist is highly judgmental and uses the “false prophet” phrase to denounce others. He asserts that God chose Donald Trump to save America. The United Nations is highly suspect, full of people who have different beliefs.

Ajoy was a faithful and conforming right-wing member, until the day, Jan. 6, 2021, when her world changed. She watched on television the violent revolt at the Capital. The mob was egged on by failed candidate Trump, using warlike words. She saw with horror the hate-filled faces of his followers, several of whom she knew.

These people wanted to take back, what they believed had started out as a blessed Christian nation, but had changed and become false to Christianity. Baptists, gay-positive congregations such as the United Church of Canada and Catholics needed to be converted. Anybody who advocates for abortion or same-sex relationships is evil.

For the next couple of years, Ajoy wrote of her journey away from what she calls “Christian nationalism.” She details her personal experience in what she terms an ideology. “We were all groomed to become warriors for the kingdom, not citizens of this world,” she says.

Here, politics and dark theology merge. Republican ideas are closest to godliness, and Democrats are sinister. Schools, courts and culture have been subverted by Satan. “Too many questions lead to doubt,” said Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, in 2016. He urged voters to “vote Biblically.” Megachurches, especially in the American south, dominate the landscape.

“Prosperity preachers have stolen our more liberal faith,” writes one reader of Ajoy’s book.

The movement is founded on firm tenets, one of which is that America is the best in the world. It is the “city on the hill.” The church makes heavy use of fear. Everyone is watched and monitored by heavenly account-keepers, and all will be totted up at the end. Hell figures largely in the credo of the Christian Nationalists, and the morality code has no room for choice, especially in matters of sex.

Inclusion, tolerance and democracy play no part. Nor does forgiveness. I learned a lot from reading “Star Spangled Jesus.” None of it was reassuring.

© Peterborough Examiner