Column Argues Media Apply “Christian Nationalism” Label Unevenly to Religious Left and Right

A commentary published by The Daily Wire argues that media coverage of religious language in politics has been uneven, using the November election of James Talarico in Texas as a starting point. According to the piece, Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who built his campaign around Scripture, became the first Democrat the state has sent to the U.S. Senate since 1988. The commentary says Texas Monthly afterward declared that “The Christian Nationalist Agenda Is Dead.”

The columnist writes that Talarico was one of 13 seminary-trained Democrats elected that day, alongside Kansas megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton, who won a U.S. Senate seat. Liberal Christian author Jen Hatmaker, a critic of Christian nationalism, posted on Wednesday that she had forgotten “what hope feels like” until the results came in. The commentary says she praised the new officeholders for speaking the language of the Beatitudes, Isaiah 58, and 1 Corinthians 13. The columnist states disagreement with some of the officeholders’ positions, including Talarico’s suggestion that all religions lead to God and Hamilton’s view that abortion can be acceptable.

The column contends that religious arguments on public policy are treated differently depending on their political direction. It cites Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who last year quoted Matthew 25 on the House floor in opposition to portions of a bill that would have cut some Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provisions. The piece also notes that Democrats regularly cite Matthew 7:12 and Matthew 25:35 in support of their immigration and economic policies, and that Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) quoted the Old Testament prophet Amos last summer to condemn proposed cuts to Medicaid and food assistance (Amos 5:24).

The commentary then turns to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). It says that in 2023 he told an interviewer that anyone curious about his views should “go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it,” and that the response was outrage. According to the column, Jen Psaki described him on MSNBC as a Christian fundamentalist, and MSNBC’s Sarah Posner called him the most unabashedly Christian nationalist speaker in history. The piece says Politico, Time, and Newsweek all ran headlines linking him to Christian nationalism.

The columnist acknowledges that critics define Christian nationalism differently, arguing that it concerns government efforts to impose Christianity itself, and cites the push to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms as an example of a real debate. The column states agreement that specific church-state proposals deserve criticism and comprehensive discussion. It argues, however, that the label has not been applied in that way in practice, saying media branded Johnson a Christian nationalist after he said the Bible shaped his worldview, not in response to any particular church-state policy.

Source: Read the original report