I always get a kick out of the woke Neo-Anglicans who rail against "Christian Nationalism". Somehow it has escaped their notice that Anglicanism itself, and the prayer book they pray, are products of English Christian Nationalism. Even in Africa, the conservative Anglican churches are arranged along national(istic) lines, just as the Orthodox Churches are. They may be Anglican, but they are the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Uganda, etc., which things are a testimony, yes, to nationalism, but also to the universality of Anglicanism. At the end of the day, we are just the Catholic Church. Even Rome cannot escape Christian Nationalism. There are the English, the (execrable) Germans, and the Poles.
The following is something from the Facebook page of the Neo-Anglican priest I have used here before as an example of Neo-Anglican pathology:
At the Stop the Steal March the other day a lady who took the stage is quoted to have said, “We have to align our spirituality to our politics.”
It's exactly that sort of thinking, which is a misalignment of priorities, that has brought Christianity to a point of crisis in America. A point where a significant chunk appears to heeds the beckon call of nationalism, instead of the gospel message.
Beth Moore said it best, "...I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism. This Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it."
Move back we must.
We are to be disciples of Christ only.
Our allegiance is due to him, and him alone.
The priorities and policies we devoted ourselves to should always align with kingdom values, demonstrating kingdom ethics.
We can love our country and engage in it's (sic) system, but as believers and subjects of King Jesus we can't risk becoming lost to the political idolatry of America.
So if you must engage, know that your politics must always be subservient to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Heh, heh, he said "Beth Moore." But I digress.
One might conclude from this priest's comment that he is committed to an Anabaptistic view of political engagement, but really he is not. When you read between the lines of his copious comments on that matter, as I have, you will know that he is a liberal-leftist whom I suspect votes Dem most of the time.
But enough of him. Comes Orthodox political writer Srdja Trifkovic with this new article in Chronicles Magazine about Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban on the relationship between Christianty, liberty and the nation. Some salient excerpts:
Christianity has created nations in this part of the world. If we Hungarians had not followed Christianity for a thousand years, we would have disappeared; so we must also protect the nation. But we also have to protect religious communities and the Church. To summarize, our task is not to protect theological principles, that is the mission of the Church; but our mission is to protect the great Christian achievements of our civilization.…
The Westerners have chosen to live in a post-national and post-Christian world, and we respect that. But they want even more. They want us to live that way too. For this reason, if any spirituality emerges in regional cooperation that includes the protection of national Christian cultures, ideological attacks immediately follow – a left-liberal attack that stems from Brussels but which is linked to American liberal and economic powers. They don’t want us to be free, they want us to be free only in the way they would like us to be.…
We Central Europeans are in favor of preserving our nation-states because we believe that democracy can only be achieved within national frameworks. Western Europe, on the other hand, wants an empire based in Brussels. This is our key difference with Europe.
Said Neo-Anglicans should start staying in their lane and learn some humility about just how ignorant they are. And not only ignorant, but also dangerous.
And arguably heretical. Acts 17:26.