Since no country is defined or guided entirely by its "Christianity" or its "whiteness," trying to glue the term "nationalism" to either Christianity or whiteness is just a childish attempt to create more criteria to be used to incite division and hatred.
This is lightly dismissed by everyone outside college classrooms and media chat-groups.
Every time I come across some lament or bemusement about how certain sects of Christians are anything but Christian, I can't help thinking that that's because the "Christian" religion has from the early days been more Pauline than Christian, and the Pauline Epistles are actually more central to Christian doctrine than the Gospels ever have been. That explains the patriarchal tendency of "Christianity" and the paranoid tendency, since Paul was writing advice to communities who were persecuted minorities at the time, two thousand years ago, even if that hasn't been the case for over a thousand years by now.
The Pauline Epistles are greatly misunderstood in my opinion. They were primarily for non-Jewish people (so basically EVERYONE), and they staunchly emphasized faith over works or deeds. Worrying about what you do is very different than worrying about what you believe. This is significant because most Christians are "religious" but not believers.
Religion is a rule book used to judge others. It's an external guidance system that is basically set of rules that MUST be followed. If you don't follow the rules, you're an offender, meaning you are against the religion.
Faith is the exact opposite. It's an internal set of rules for each individual to judge themselves, not someone else.
The Pauline Epistles emphasize worrying about what you yourself BELIEVE.They do NOT emphasize what you DO. You operate by your internal faith and you worry only about what YOU do yourself.
The Gospels (and basically everything outside of the Pauline Epistles) emphasis worrying about what everyone DOES and by extension necessarily put you in conflict with anyone that doesn't follow the same rules.
Since no country is defined or guided entirely by its "Christianity" or its "whiteness," trying to glue the term "nationalism" to either Christianity or whiteness is just a childish attempt to create more criteria to be used to incite division and hatred.
This is lightly dismissed by everyone outside college classrooms and media chat-groups.
Every time I come across some lament or bemusement about how certain sects of Christians are anything but Christian, I can't help thinking that that's because the "Christian" religion has from the early days been more Pauline than Christian, and the Pauline Epistles are actually more central to Christian doctrine than the Gospels ever have been. That explains the patriarchal tendency of "Christianity" and the paranoid tendency, since Paul was writing advice to communities who were persecuted minorities at the time, two thousand years ago, even if that hasn't been the case for over a thousand years by now.
Agree!
The Pauline Epistles are greatly misunderstood in my opinion. They were primarily for non-Jewish people (so basically EVERYONE), and they staunchly emphasized faith over works or deeds. Worrying about what you do is very different than worrying about what you believe. This is significant because most Christians are "religious" but not believers.
Religion is a rule book used to judge others. It's an external guidance system that is basically set of rules that MUST be followed. If you don't follow the rules, you're an offender, meaning you are against the religion.
Faith is the exact opposite. It's an internal set of rules for each individual to judge themselves, not someone else.
The Pauline Epistles emphasize worrying about what you yourself BELIEVE.They do NOT emphasize what you DO. You operate by your internal faith and you worry only about what YOU do yourself.
The Gospels (and basically everything outside of the Pauline Epistles) emphasis worrying about what everyone DOES and by extension necessarily put you in conflict with anyone that doesn't follow the same rules.
The two couldn't be more different.