Addressing former president Donald Trump’s claim during Holy Week 2024 that Christianity is under attack in this country, three pastors from Gamaliel affiliate MICAH-Milwaukee recently spoke with CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan. During the interview, Rev. Joe Jackson, Rev. Dennis Jacobsen, and Rev. Richard Shaw described the dangers of Christian Nationalism, an egregious form of authoritarianism that is sweeping the nation.
For the last few years, Gamaliel has been actively engaged in a movement of national organizing networks working to address authoritarianism—currently one of the most significant threats to our democracy and political plurali —through effective community organizing.
In December 2022 at Gamaliel’s 4 th Biennial Race and Power Summit held in Baltimore, Gamaliel’s National Religious Leaders Caucus hosted Jim Wallis to learn more about the threat of Christian Nationalism. (Wallis is the inaugural holder of the Chair in Faith and Justice at the McCourt School of Public Policy and founding Director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice, and the author of The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy.)
Since the Race and Power gathering, Gamaliel affiliates around the network have launched robust campaigns to begin addressing the threat of Christian Nationalism. MICAH—Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope—launched the “We All Belong” campaign in August 2023. Their mission is to “Protect Democracy, Reject ‘christian’ nationalism, and Build the Beloved Community.” They are educating congregations and communities about the dangers of Christian Nationalism, in addition to organizing them around Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Beloved Community—a society in which all people are valued and respected, and prejudice, oppression and greed are replaced with friendship and goodwill. In the Beloved Community, care and compassion drive political policies, and the intrinsic worth of all people is embraced. (You can learn more about the “We All Belong” campaign here.)
We congratulate MICAH on the CNN interview which has the capacity to reach a wide audience about the very real threat of Christian Nationalism!