Christian Nationalism is a stance that Christian beliefs should be at the forefront of the United States’ laws, culture and way of life. Advocates will argue that because America was founded as a Christian nation it should remain in that position, and if it is not currently that way, then it needs to be brought back to that way of governing.
The Presbytery of Northumberland does not agree with this political view. And earlier this year the mid council made that opinion public. At its February stated meeting, the presbytery renounced the ideology of Christian Nationalism, stating that this stance doesn’t align with the principles of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
It may come as a surprise to hear that a religious organization isn’t falling in line with those who believe that Christian values and beliefs belong in running the government. For Northumberland Moderator the Rev. Stephen Shirk, who spent more than two decades in the pulpit, his first-hand experience leading a church revealed some things to him.
“I have learned over my years of ministry that gaining that kind of political power is not the way and actually very quickly corrupts the faith,” said Stephen, who is retired after serving the First Presbyterian Church of Milton for 26 years. “What Christianity has always been stellar at is being subversive. We want to call the political elite to account, we want to point to where government is not working in the best interest of the people.
“The problem is it’s always a certain brand of Christianity that gets the power. I’ve been an Evangelical all my life, but about 15 years ago I realized that the term had totally morphed into something, almost the opposite of what I believed. Today many Christians use their political strength to oppress those who disagree. They believe our country would be better if the government was Christian.
“But what brand of Christian government do you want? Who are you going to give the power to, and what are they going to do with that power? I think what we’re seeing now in our country is that it’s being used as a cudgel to oppress lots of people in the country and really bring down the name of Christ and the Christian faith into the mud because of what that group of people stands for – or stands against, particularly – right now.”
The idea for the Presbytery of Northumberland to take a stand against Christian Nationalism came from Bob Andrews, who was a long-time pastor at Grove Presbyterian Church in Danville. In the fall of 2024, he brought the suggestion to Northumberland’s general commission, which approved the idea and brought it before the entire presbytery in late February for a vote, which was unanimous.
“I was surprised that there was no discussion and nobody felt differently,” Stephen said of the lopsided margin. “Our presbytery is smaller than it used to be and therefor not as diverse, but at least amongst the people who came to presbytery, there was nobody who wanted to push against this. We had a lot of unity, which is always nice.”
Reasoning behind the need for the presbytery to have a position on Christian Nationalism accompanied the vote.
“Some of the explanation was that the people who founded this country were running from Christian Nationalism,” Stephen said. “Churches in Europe said that ‘Our way is the only way, and we have political power to enforce it.’ People settled here to find religious freedom.
“Historically, when the church has gained political power, it has become corrupted. We feel that the Christian Nationalist movement in our country now is really corrupting the Christian faith and can actually push people away from Jesus and our beliefs because it’s so divisive.”
By overwhelmingly renouncing Christian Nationalism, Northumberland has taken a step forward in this movement.
“The goal is to show that Christians in our country disagree with this whole thrust,” Stephen said. “We do not want one group of any religion applying handpicked rules to govern by. We have a constitution to protect us from that.
“I want people to know that this is not the goal of Christianity to work its way up to have political power. That’s a bad idea. We want to say we’re against this movement, and we think it’s disastrous.
“The Gospel is getting clouded and disgraced by a lot of what’s happening in our country right now. I’m an old-fashioned Evangelical. I want people to get to know Jesus, and this is putting up a roadblock. When Christians behave badly, it’s about the worst roadblock to the Gospel that you can put up.”
By approving this stance, the presbytery has united its congregations into one mindset regarding Christian Nationalism, which can only be a positive thing going forward.
“The message of Jesus came out to the poor and the people who were disenfranchised, not that there weren’t political leaders that followed him – there were. But, for the most part, it was the people who were being oppressed that Christ spent the most time with, people on the edges of society. Once Christianity gains its power in the government, it seems like those people begin to be marginalized and that’s exactly what we’re seeing today.
“We don’t want a national governmental religion. No kings and no government religion. Let the Gospel be free and let the Spirit do the work.”