In 1909, four Armenian immigrants brought a case (in re Halladjian et al) to a Massachusetts court, petitioning to change their racial classification from Asiatic to white. They argued that Armenians are, in the most literal sense, Caucasian. To use modern parlance, they argued Armenians “pass” as white. Because this makes it hard to tell many Armenians apart from Europeans, the court ruled in their favor. As part of the anti-racism curriculum required of all leadership in the Episcopal Church — a curriculum I help facilitate as a member of our Diocesan Anti-Racism Committee — this case demonstrates the fact that race is a social construct and not a fixed biological or scientific category.
What isn’t part of the curriculum is another court case filed in 1909 by Syrian-Lebanese immigrant George Shishim. At the time, Arabs, like Armenians, were considered “Asiatic” or “Mongoloid” due to their geographic location on the southwest Asian continent. Shishim argued his case not by invoking appearance or geography, but by invoking Jesus. “If I am a Mongolian, then so was Jesus, because we came from the same land,” he argued. He won his case, and Syrians were re-classified as white. Pay attention to that: The United States legal system would rather reclassify an entire ethnic group than admit that Jesus wasn’t white.
White Christian Nationalism isn’t new. The confluence of Whiteness, Christianity, and American Nationalism is centuries old. My Middle Eastern ancestors saw this and leveraged it in their favor in order to gain access to citizenship in this country. I am neither condoning nor condemning this. I’m pointing it out because while the goalposts on belonging in this country continue to shift, the playing field has always had the same boundaries. Whiteness, Christianity, and Americanism are so commingled that a century after Shishim’s court case, White Christian Nationalism was able to metastasize into the white house, rather than being relegated to the margins as the anti-American, unChristian heresy that it is.
It is essential we understand that this heresy is not new. Scholars seem to just be waking up to it, as if it first appeared on the coattails of that famous escalator ride in 2015. But as my Armenian ancestors show, White Jesus wrapped in the American flag is the foundation upon which anyone trying to find success in this country must build.
Because of this, to untangle whiteness from Christianity from American nationalism is an almost Sisyphusian task. Whiteness is, of course, a movable feast; who gets to be white continues to shift. And the ideology of American nationalism has become its own gospel, diametrically opposed to the fundamental precept of country over party implicit in any definition of patriotism.
But I want to talk about the Christian part of white Christian nationalism. Because Christianity is not exclusive to certain people or places. For example, there are Arab Christians all over the world — a paradox, still, to many Americans who believe that Arab equals Muslim equals terrorist. Christianity by definition cannot be tied to any one nation. The moment we celebrated Pentecost, Christianity became a religion beyond any nation. An ideology that imagines the Christian religion as the ruling power and national identity of a single country defiles the universality of the faith Jesus taught. To imagine Christianity as undergirding the governing laws of a nation is to make an idol of earthly power.
In the words of Jeremiah, “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things?… I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits … But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. My people have forsaken me.”
White Christian Nationalism has forsaken God for the worthless pursuit of the powers and principalities of this world, and it made an abomination of the heritage of our faith. And so we Christians have a responsibility to untangle the heresy of white Christian nationalism and weave a holier fabric. And understanding the historicity of WCN is a necessary re-orientation to our efforts to shine light on its Christian antidote. I would suggest that the person of Jesus himself is the necessary starting point to these efforts. We must not shy away from speaking about who Jesus really was: not a white European man with a long face and light brown hair and blue eyes, but a Jew from Palestine. He was part of a minority group living under occupation. And yet he did not seek to overthrow the government and have his people become the ruling class. Instead, the gospel he preached was of a kingdom not of this world.
As Christians, we believe Jesus when he said that the truth will set us free. And so when we see the government attempting to rewrite American history in our museums and libraries and schools and public television broadcasting, erasing the genocides committed in the name of Jesus against enslaved Africans and Native Americans, we must tell the true story of what greatness really looks like, rooted in the teachings of Jesus: “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” We must witness to the true liberty that comes from repentance and telling the whole truth—including its ugliest parts.
As Christians, our holy Scripture tells us, “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. Remember those who are in prison and being tortured.” So when we see the stranger in our land being imprisoned without cause and being denied due process, the immigrant being blamed for our societal ills, we must offer a holier and more biblical alternative to how we treat our neighbors.
As Christians, we hear, “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.” So when we see policies that make billionaires richer while eliminating health care and food stamps for the poorest among us, we must resist the temptation to seek security in accumulating more, trust in the abundance we have, and refuse to give into the fear that it will be taken away from us.
If there is one theme in our Scripture readings today, it is that God asks us to remember who we are and where we came from. Remember that we are God’s children. Remember God’s faithfulness to us. Remember the lessons you’ve been taught: love God, love your neighbor. Remember to stay humble and kind. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have. These are the hallmarks of Christianity — and they are the alternative and the antidote to the heresy of white Christian nationalism. Instead of restricting access to what God has given us and reserving it for some, Christianity lives into the reality that Jesus came so that we might have life and have it abundantly.
It is going to take all of us living our Christianity out loud to bear witness to this. Most progressive Christians aren’t comfortable living their faith out loud precisely because the louder voices bearing the name “Christian” have wandered far from God and gone after worthless things that have done immense harm. But we cannot make an idol out of a false sense of security. We cannot worship the god of safety and social likability over the God of love and justice. Our God is an awesome God — and we cannot be ashamed of the gospel. We cannot change our glory for something that does not profit.
We began today by praying that God would Graft in our hearts the love of God’s Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works. May true religion be the sound on our lips and the beating of our hearts, and may our good works bring glory to God and God’s peace, love, and justice to all our neighbors. Amen.
