Missouri Religious Leaders push back on Sen. Josh Hawley's public embrace of Christian nationalism

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Some Missouri religious leaders are pushing back on Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley's public embrace of Christian nationalism.

Last week, at the National Conservative Convention, Hawley said in a clip that circulated online, that he is an advocate of Christian nationalism.

"Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian Nation. So I am." Hawley said. "And some will say that I am advocating Christian Nationalism. And so I do."

Christian nationalism is the belief that the United States is a Christian nation and the government should actively keep it that way.

Some religious leaders around the Missouri-area have pushed back on Hawley's speech like Rev. Molly Housh Gordon of Unitarian Universalist Church in Columbia, Missouri.

"When one limited ideology is given the authority to dictate the freedom of all the rest of us, we Americans call that tyranny, and we reject it" said Housh Gordon.

Rev. Phil Snider of Brentwood Christian Church in Springfield, Missouri says thinking like those of Hawley and Christian nationalism is dividing us.

"Christian nationalism preys on the fear and the desperation that people frequently feel," said Snider. "Christian nationalism is not rooted in love. It rooted in idolatry. It is a false gospel. It tells people their wounds can be healed not by love neighbor, but by fear of neighbor."

Christianity is extremely diverse, but Christian nationalism favors only a small sector of the religion, usually white, conservative evangelical Christians.

"There's no theological thread linking it all together," said Rev. Nathan Empsall, an Episcopal Priest who is also the executive director of Faithful America. "The thread is power and some of Sen. Hawley leaders in the movement have even said so, that they need to change their theology of the end times to become winning theologies because it's about winning first and foremost. And anything that builds power for them is the ultimate goal."