The United States is a Christian nation and should have laws and regulations that abide by Christian theology, said senior pastor of Christ Church Douglas Wilson at an organized talk held in the University of Idaho Administration Auditorium titled, “What to expect from a Christian nationalist church” on Thursday, April 9.
The talk also included Jared Longshore, associate pastor and undergraduate dean at New Saint Andrews College, and Toby Sumpter, senior seminary at King’s Cross Church, in conjunction with the Collegiate Reformed Fellowship at the University of Idaho. The event was centered around a question and answer format between the audience and the speakers.
Questions pertained to topics including LGBTQ+ rights, women’s voting rights and freedom of religion.
On the topic of gay marriage, Wilson suggested bringing back the anti-sodomy laws of the 1960s and 1970s to prevent the public showing of gay partnership and culture.
“The way it was enforced is the way I think it ought to be enforced, where they would use the law to shut down a gay bar,” Wilson said.
Wilson mentioned the Stonewall Riots of 1969, where queer Americans fought back against government-sponsored persecution of sexual minorities. These were a major turning point for what became the gay rights movement in the United States.
“But I would not want a sexual Gestapo,” Wilson said. “Pride parades, pride month, all of that, there will be no public ceremonies, no government support.”
He suggested laws particularly with divorce that would radically discourage homosexuality, as he put it.
As for the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote, Wilson has become known for arguing against it, in favor of a system where votes are cast by household. Multiple questions were asked about his continued stance on the matter.
“I’m not trying to reverse the 19th Amendment right this minute. What I would like us to do is model and explain what we do in our church elections, which is what I think is closer to what we used to do,” Wilson said.
Longshore said that, in this system, women would not be completely excluded from the voting block, and could vote for themselves if they were unmarried or living alone.
“[The idea is] basically recovering the family as the fundamental unit of society,” said Longshore.
Freedom of religion is one of the main tenets of the United States as enumerated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, to which the question was posed what protections should be given to non-Christian communities, despite the claims that the United States is a Christian nation.
All three panel members, Longshore, Wilson and Sumpter, agreed upon there being protections for minority religions in the concept of a Christian state. While the state would not endorse or allow other religions to promote or convert people within a Christian state, they would be free to practice the religion privately.
They elaborated that their ideal state would not allow for religious institutions or buildings outside of the state mandated religion, Christianity. In other words, there would be no room for mosques, synagogues, temples or any other place of worship outside of the Christian church.
As for other sects of Christianity, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Saints or the Catholic Church, they said
that the mission of this Christian nationalist state would be to work with the Catholic Church to find common ground between the two sects of the religion.
This however does not extend to the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints, who Wilson said would be treated as another minority religion within the Christian Nationalist state he envisions. He believes that their doctrine is not sound and is a hybridization of new age mythology and Christianity.
“We see ourselves as being directly commissioned by the Lord in the great commission to disciple America, baptize her and to teach her to obey everything Jesus taught,” Sumpter said.
Dale Fussell can be reached at [email protected].