Christ's Kingdom & The Alt-Right

'We cannot be nostalgic
for a Europe that never existed.'

For well over a year I have been focusing on the dangers that Antifa, Neo-Marxists, and the hard Left pose to free speech here in the UK and throughout the West. These ideologies aren't your average stupid. They're industrial-grade stupid and we shall continue to warn against them.

But Satan's Kingdom can be divided against itself. He is happy if we turn to the Right or to the Left so long as we are not wholeheartedly following Christ. Either pit will do. So while Globalism and Marxism are dangers, we must be aware of a danger coming from the opposite direction.

I speak of Racial Nationalism. Now the terms ‘Alt-Right’ and ‘Nationalism’ both have shades of meaning. Their usage varies a bit on both sides of the Atlantic. Yes, some non-racist people self-identify as ‘Alt-Right’ to simply identify as anti-Globalist or as Libertarian. That's fine. Some of the boys and girls in Antifa also use it as a broad slur to describe everyone who's not left of Trotsky.

But the term is increasingly wielded by many in the more specific sense of racial segregation or even white supremacy, so that's how we'll use it here. Yes, it’s true that all nations and races can be tempted to see their culture as the best. But as we discuss the Western church here, we’ll focus primarily on Caucasian racism and not the racism that exists in other races and cultures. 

Please consider the context if I’m using terms a little differently than how you’re used to.  

21^st Century European Nationalism is a reaction to a ridiculously undemocratic Globalism, immigration policies that seem to have been planned by an old pill-poping hippie, and the very real dangers of Islam. Nationalism didn't just arrive in a vacuum. It's a reaction to real problems. 

Some who see the Islamic Crescent as a threat to Liberty have picked up the weapon of Nationalism to try and defend her. But in doing so it is easy to fight against flesh and blood instead of spiritual powers. We can be tempted to see people from far off nations only as some repugnant cultural other.

Patriotic swagger is not our calling as followers of Christ. It is far easier to fight against Muslims than it is to fight against Islam for Muslims. Our highest calling is to live for God’s Kingdom and not simply to preserve Western culture.

This is not to slam European patriots or Western culture. My wife (Scandinavian) and I both cherish and respect Western, classical culture and its great achievements. It is understandable that many may want to preserve it and therefore limit outside influence. Sadly, this understandable desire to preserve the historical integrity of Western culture can often be misdirected as aggression at individual foreigners.

As Christians, we are not particularly interested in a wholesale protection of Western values. Yes, we appreciate what is good and beautiful. But not all Western values are Heaven’s values. The same continent that gave us the beauty of Mozart also gave us the beast of Marxism. It gave us both the gift of Democracy and the cancer of abortion. In the midst of all of Europe's current cancers, we cannot be nostalgic for a Europe that never existed.

As Christians, we know our final destination is a new heaven and a new earth. We are pilgrims. Countries like Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and the UK are temporary entities and excessive patriotism is a distraction from the real goal.

Yes, it is ok to love European and Western culture. I do. It is ok to love the West’s historic art, music, coffee, and food. I do too. But the Italian paintings of Michelangelo, the German music of Bach, the great Cathedrals, the American Bill of Rights, and the British Magna Carta will all one day turn to dust. It is human beings―from the well-off bank CEO in London to a refugee floating in an overcrowded raft in the Mediterranean―that lasts forever. It is them we must reach with the Gospel. 

We appreciate cultural treasures, but we have our marching orders. We are to make disciples of people from every tongue and tribe in every nation. We must keep the main thing the main thing.

The Alt-Right loves the Christendom of Europe more than it loves the Christ of Eternity. Its ultimate loyalty is not to Jesus. Race-based Nationalism is only another path to paganism. Currently, the Alt-Right are portrayed in the news as being the antithesis of Antifa, cultural Marxists, same-sex marriage activists, and others that campaign on the social or political hard Left. 

Christians could easily buy into this superficial dichotomy between the far Right and far Left. But we shouldn’t. The differences only run but so deep. The signs held up at an LGBT parade may be different to the ones held up at an Alt-Right march, but ultimately, they are travelling in the same direction.

If Christ is not the Shepherd, then your tribe isn’t headed to Heaven’s pastures. It will either be the lust for political power and patriotism that leads your group, or it will be the lust for sex and self-identification. Without Jesus, either power or pleasure will be your culture’s god. Some may dance to the beats of Sodom while others march to the rhythms of the Reich. But both bands are playing pagan poetry. Neither worship the Creator.

There is one road into Heaven. There are many roads into Hell―and by Hell, the racists have been fooled. They choose the Earthly kinship of race over and against the Heavenly kinship of Christ’s church. They primarily identify with the national race of their first birth and so they forfeit the opportunity to have a second. If your pride is based on the nation into which you were born then you will not seek to be born again. 

When calmly considered, a rational person may conclude that Islam is a threat to many Western values and treasures. There is nothing wrong with loving your European, British, or American neighbours by wanting to protect them from political policies or campaigning to reform immigration procedures that look like they were drawn up by a dumbassador from the Republic of Moron. This could be wisdom and a way of loving our immediate neighbours.

But wholesale political Nationalism, racism, or a low view of foreigners only makes sense if you're a patriotic pagan. Not if you're a Christian. If you're a Christian who is particularly drawn to politics, be careful what you fight for. You are not called to fight against secularists, atheists, or Muslims. You are called to fight for those people―fight in prayer, love, hospitality, and in the humble sharing of who Jesus is. 
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This post is an extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform