The Absurd Nazi Label on American Christians; How critics turn faithful Christians into fascist foes.

 American Spectator 

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"James Wood’s recent essay in Plough sets out to warn against the dangers of Christian nationalism but reads more like a sermon looking for sinners than a work of careful theology. The tone is lofty, the language charged, yet the argument falters under the weight of exaggeration. His central move is to enlist the French Jesuit theologian Henri de Lubac as a weapon against Christians today who express loyalty to nation or culture. But in doing so, Wood reveals less about de Lubac and more about his own unease with contemporary Christianity.

"From the outset, Wood chooses caricature over clarity. He suggests that Christians who raise questions about immigration, demographic shifts, or cultural cohesion are, in effect, crypto-Nazis hiding in plain sight. This is not analysis but alarmism. To equate ordinary believers concerned about preserving traditions with fascistic forces is reckless. It trivializes genuine historical evil while demonizing those trying to grapple honestly with complicated social realities. Even commentators outside the church would hesitate to draw such wild associations.

"This tendency is on display in his historical comparisons. Wood draws a line between French Catholics under Vichy and American Christians today. The analogy falls apart on first inspection. Vichy collaborators were complicit in genocide; evangelicals advocating border enforcement or celebrating cultural heritage are engaged in politics, not mass murder. One was a moral catastrophe, the other a contest over policy. To fold the two into a single tale of Christian failure is not only absurd, it cheapens the memory of real victims while insulting those who hold legitimate concerns about the present.

"His theological case suffers from the same lack of balance. Wood insists that because Christians are destined for a supernatural end beyond this world, any strong sense of national or cultural belonging is necessarily idolatrous. Yet the Bible tells a richer story. Revelation describes a multitude gathered before the throne, drawn “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” Distinctiveness is not erased but embraced in redeemed form. Christianity does not require the rejection of cultural loyalty; it requires its reordering. Earthly ties are not ultimate, but neither are they meaningless." . . .

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