RELIGIOUS/POLITICAL TRUTH
Considering truth in the context of Christian Nationalism, the following characteristics apply exclusively to religious and political beliefs which they closely conflate to include the following:

• • • Sacred texts: Literal religious scriptures serve as primary sources of truth claims for Christian Nationalists. Literal texts of the bible are considered to be divinely inspired or revealed even though they conflict with verifiable, scientific truth.
    • Religious authority: Christian Nationalist leaders, councils, institutions and politicians interpret literal sacred texts and establish doctrines without regard for biblical symbolism that, if applied, would yield a totally different outlook.
    • Tradition: Long-standing beliefs and practices passed down through generations contribute to religious truth claims.
    • Personal experience: Some Christian Nationalists value individual physical and emotional experiences as sources of truth and faith which they are not. These experiences are nothing more than religious experiences. Religious experiences are not true faith because true faith is not observable because faith cannot be seen, touched, heard or experience with the human body. 
    • Revelation: Some religions believe in direct communication from the God as a source of truth. While God does communicate with people, these experiences are wrongly attributed to God because what people claim to hear does not agree with the truth that God reports to people who hear his voice.
    • Coherence: Religious truths are evaluated based on their internal consistency within the Christian Nationalist belief system. Other models of religious truth are rejected if they do not agree completely with religious beliefs.
    • Correspondence: Some religious claims are tested against observable reality, especially in traditions that value the physical world. These claims are always erroneous, however, because religious people wrongly interpret observable events as spiritual events. The correlation of the literal texts to personal experience and physically observable events is wrong because true spiritual events are matters of faith which is the substance of things not seen.
    • Faith: Many religions, including Christian Nationalists, emphasize the role of faith in accepting certain truths that are not empirically verifiable. This is how religious people are able to accept stories in literal scripture of miraculous biblical events as absolute truth even though science denies the physical impossibility that such events could occur. In other words, they reject logic, reason and science when they accept these stories as truth.
    • It becomes a matter of super-spirituality for highly religious people to deny scientific and otherwise documentable truths on the strength of their religious faith. They are not bothered when religious beliefs do not agree with scientific truth. This same attitude applies with equal consistency to Christian Nationalism politics.

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The common practice of religious people — including Christian Nationalists — is to reject reason, logic and scientific truth as represented in the Correspondence Theory of Truth which is arguably the most widely accepted and influential theory of truth in philosophy, science, government, the courts and education. Here are some reasons why this is true as reported in Perplexity:

• • Historical prominence: The theory has deep roots dating back to ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, and has been embraced by influential thinkers throughout history, including medieval philosophers like Thomas Aquinas and modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Kant. 1.

  • Intuitive appeal: The basic idea that truth involves a relation between beliefs or statements and reality is intuitively appealing to most people. It aligns with common-sense notions of truth as accurately describing the world. 3.

  • Scientific compatibility: The correspondence theory aligns well with scientific practices that aim to describe and explain objective reality. It is particularly evident in experimental science, where hypotheses are tested against observable reality. 4

  • Widespread acceptance: Many contemporary analytic philosophers, have defended versions of the correspondence theory. 2.

  • Practical application: In government and education, the theory provides a framework for evaluating claims and policies against real-world outcomes and evidence. 5

  • Explanatory power: The theory accounts for the apparent correlation between aspects of reality and the truth-value of propositions. For example, it explains why the truth of “the cat is on the mat” changes when the cat’s position changes. 3

  • Correspondence Theory has an established place in American Courts in the following ways:
    

    Factual determinations: Courts rely on evidence and testimony to establish facts that correspond to real-world events or circumstances. This aligns with the correspondence theory’s emphasis on truth as an accurate description of reality. Witness testimony: The expectation that witnesses tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” reflects the idea that true statements correspond to actual events or states of affairs. Evidentiary standards: The use of standards like “preponderance of evidence” or “beyond reasonable doubt” implies a correspondence between the evidence presented and the facts of the case. Contract law: In interpreting contracts, courts often seek to determine the parties’ true intentions, which aligns with the correspondence theory’s focus on matching statements to reality. Objective theory of intent: In contract law, courts generally apply an objective theory of intent, which corresponds to the personal sovereignty account of individual autonomy. This approach aligns with the correspondence theory by focusing on observable actions and expressions rather than subjective mental states. The core idea of the Correspondence Theory is that truth involves a relation between beliefs or statements and reality. A statement is considered true if it accurately describes or corresponds to the real world. 35. Key aspects of the theory include: Truth demands a clear, irrefutable relation to some portion of reality. 1. True beliefs and statements must correspond to the actual state of affairs in the physical and cultural world. 2 Truth is determined by how accurately it reflects the real world. 4

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Clearly the Religious/Political Truth that Christian Nationalists value and practice is at odds with the Correspondence Theory of Truth. The realities that Christian Nationalists accept and recite exist only in their minds — not in the physical, observable world. The realities that drive Christian Nationalists are purely existential and find their basis in fears, wrong interpretations of American history, lies about people who are not like them, literal interpretations of the bible, and conspiracy theories. These factors are all integrated into their political/religious ideologies from which they cannot be shaken because they are all interpreted as absolute truth. Worse yet, Christian Nationalists believe that people who do not see these existential realities as they do are deficient in terms of their religious and political beliefs. In the eyes of many, but hopefully not all, Christian Nationalist, anyone who does not believe the way they do on all these existential matters are the “others” with whom they must not mix lest they somehow corrode the purity of the ideology from which they draw their security. But, worse yet, Christian Nationalists believe that these others are their enemies and threats to American democracy. Evidence of this belief is clearly outlined in their Seven Mountain Dominion Strategy which is their guide and authority for controlling all aspects of American culture.

This complex mix of erroneous beliefs that constitute truth for Christian Nationalists explain why they cause so much division in America and why the feel obligated to pursue extremist measures to dominate all aspects of American culture. Their idea and practice of truth is in opposition to the beliefs and practices of truth by most — maybe all — other Americans who do not identify with the movement. This disconnect is critical to democracy. If people in general and politicians in particular cannot agree on the substance of truth, they will naturally be at odds with one another on all matters of government, culture, law and education. Here are a few of the problems that erupt from this disagreement:

• • Political polarization: When politicians and citizens can’t agree on basic facts, it becomes nearly impossible to have productive debates or reach compromises on policy issues.

  • Cultural divisions: Disagreements about truth can lead to deep cultural rifts, with different groups living in essentially separate realities.

  • Legal challenges: In the realm of law, a lack of consensus on truth can complicate the administration of justice. It can lead to conflicting interpretations of laws and difficulties in establishing facts in legal proceedings.

  • Educational challenges: Without a shared understanding of truth, it becomes difficult to establish educational standards and curricula that are widely accepted.

  • Media fragmentation: The proliferation of media sources catering to different “truths” further entrenches divisions and makes it harder to find common ground.

  • Erosion of trust in institutions: When there’s no agreement on what constitutes truth, trust in government, scientific institutions, courts, education and other authorities declines.

  • Difficulty in addressing global challenges: Issues like climate change or pandemic response become much harder to tackle when there’s no consensus on the underlying facts.

  • Increased susceptibility to misinformation: Without a shared framework for evaluating truth claims, societies become more vulnerable to deliberate manipulation and conspiracy theories that are designed to capture the attention and support of people who subscribe to the Religious/Political version of truth.

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These fundamental differences about the nature of truth explain how Christian Nationalists are able to steadfastly discount logic, reason and scientific truth in politics and religion. It explains how politicians who claim to love God and follow Jesus can recite bold-faced lies about endless topics day after day without shame or apology. Since they are not beholden to logic, reason and science in their religion, Christian Nationalists are predisposed to also reject logic, reason and science in politics. (More details on how they can do this will be discussed in the next page). This fundamental disagreement over truth makes social and political discourse impossible These conditions all threaten democracy.

Therefore, just as Christian Nationalists cannot be persuaded by truth packaged as logic, reason and science to abandon their religious beliefs, they cannot be persuaded by any intellectual argument to abandon their political beliefs. In other words, they are totally intransigent in their willingness to accept any version of truth that they do not already believe. Furthermore, since the religious/political communities to which they belong encourage bold-faced rejection of logic, reason and science, they have no embarrassment or shame in their contrarian beliefs in both politics and religion. What they do have, however, is fear that allows them to imagine themselves as vulnerable minorities who must use any strategy — including violence — to preserve and advance their versions of truth.

Christian Nationalists find safety and security from people who are not like them in their political/religious community. These communities are so effective that they have no need or desire to consider any alternatives to their versions of truth that might threaten their community. Ensconced in these religious/political strongholds/bubbles, it is, so far, impossible to convince them that their version of truth is aberrant to cultural and scientific norms. Until the understand truth the way other Americans understand it, they will always be divisive agents in politics and religion.

This is all the bad news about the state of America. On the other hand, Christian Nationalists who harbor any measure of doubt about their political/religious beliefs, are the best targets for a more normative way of evaluating and applying truth in their personal lives and politic That does not mean that the hearts and minds of hard-core Christian Nationalists cannot be changed. It does suggest, however, that those who entertain any measure of doubt about Christian Nationalism are more likely to be open to hearing new versions of truth. This will not happen, however, unless truthtellers employ productive strategies for changing hearts and minds and do not use unproductive strategies that do more harm than good.