Deconstructing and Leaving? Or Leading?

For nearly a decade, there has been a cultural shift in Christian spaces that gets labeled “deconstruction.” Generally speaking, this is the process of moving from the faith tradition that one grew up into something else (the destination can be anything). Many people have focused on the fact that people have deconstructed their faith and moved more progressive or liberal. However, it would be just as accurate to say that just as many people moved more conservative. And often, that deconstruction is often triggered by the concerted effort to influence people toward Christian nationalism.

For example, I voted for Trump in 2016. I honestly debated whether or not I should vote for anyone in that election, but I had always been a Republican and thought “at least he’s the Republican candidate, what’s the worst that could happen.” However, over the course of 4 years, I grew as a person, saw the harm that conservatism has done to people, the way Christianity had been used to justify evil, and how Trump could literally do whatever he wanted and he would still be praised by evangelicals. All of this, and a lot more, led me to move more progressive in my politics and my faith. 

However, on the flip side, I had an older relative tell me during the election that he did not like Trump, but thought a “strong Christian like Pence” would help keep him in line if he became president. Fast-forward to 2020, that same relative would call Pence a traitor as he believed Trump had won and it was against God’s desires for Pence to certify the election results. 

Here’s my point: We both deconstructed our faith, but we went in different directions. 

But wasn’t the far-right movement always in evangelicalism? 

Yes and no. The seeds to move “right or left” were always there. 

For me, I was given everything needed to make me a Christian nationalist. I was taught that there was only one correct “Christian worldview,” only people with the Holy Spirit could know “real truth,” attacks on “biblical marriage” are attacks on God, persecution would come to the Church if liberals were in charge, and only conservative Christians could truly tell between right and wrong. 

However, I was also taught that loving my neighbor meant all people, caring for the needs of others was a Christian value, and living a moral life was a requirement for leadership. 

Ultimately, it was the latter list that helped contribute to me choosing to leave evangelicalism and become more progressive. But, that wasn’t the case for everyone. A lot of people decided to move further into far-right Christianity to the point where we are seeing people openly support people with fascist tendencies in our world today. 

Hasn’t evangelicalism always been far-right? 

Yes, there have always been far-right people in evangelicalism and evangelicalism has always been rather right politically, especially since Reagan’s presidency However, the issue for this article is not necessarily the political starting point, but the beliefs that people had let go to embrace the path toward Christian nationalism. 

One major example of this was when Desiring God, the organization founded by John Piper, released an article in 2019 calling some empathy (i.e. loving your neighbor) a sin. The elements were always there to create a situation where people reject loving their neighbor, but this would have seemed outrageous to many of us when we were younger. 

Deconstructing and Leading 

It is important to note the similar movements of deconstruction because there is a false narrative that people are “deconstructing and leaving the church,” while ignoring the fact that people are deconstructing the opposite direction and leading the church. 

Even though things like racism and queerphobia have always been a staple for evangelicalism, the consolidation of religious and political power and influencing people to let go of their last hold ups to join Christian Nationalism has been part of the way the movement has been growing. 

Organizations, like the Heritage Foundation, put money toward influencing people toward Christian Nationalism through education, policies lobbying, and partnerships with religious universities, while movements like the growing New Apostolic Reformation continue to push the idea that Christians need to be “recapturing the positions of influence over culture.” These efforts reward those who fall in line by putting them in positions to lead others, thus incentivizing and rewarding people who give up values like empathy. 

In essence, there is a large push to create deconstruction in evangelical spaces for the hopes that people will let go of the parts of their faith that would cause them to reject supremacy in government and become more radical in their far-right positions. 

If deconstruction goes both ways, why do evangelicals only focus on those leaving? 

It is easy to see that evangelical leaders are afraid of the type of deconstruction that leads people to leave their movement. The Gospel Coalition even has an entire topic section on deconstruction and how to prevent people from deconstructing. 

However, by focusing on those leaving and, presumably, becoming more liberal or progressive, many of the organizations who are making the push toward Christian nationalism are able to maintain the narrative that their extreme views were always the norm. This way people do not notice the shift in their faith that has allowed them to become more sympathetic to “fascist tendencies” since they are not one of the people leaving. By focusing on others, they are able to sidestep self-reflection. 

Deconstruction, or the letting go of parts of your faith and seeking a new path, is just as much a part of the current Christian nationalism movement as it is for those leaving evangelicalism.