On a winter’s day in 1801, a four-foot-wide wheel of cheese rolled up to the White House doors. Written on its waxy surface: “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
A Baptist congregation led by Elder John Leland gifted the so-called “mammoth cheese” to President Thomas Jefferson for his support of religious liberty. The passage of the First Amendment enshrined the right to persecution-free disagreement—a vital protection for Baptists who faced exile, prison or even flogging for their refusal to baptize infants.
In recent years, one particular species of Baptist has gained prominence and holds the potential to rework Baptists’ views on religious liberty.
The rise of Reformed Baptists has shaken up Baptist circles, impacting even the far reaches of Baptist thought. Reformed theology is a wide label that usually entails embracing Calvinist views on predestination, believing in some form of real presence at the Lord’s Supper and leaning on historic creeds and confessions like the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Part of the appeal of Reformed theology is its ability to instill a feeling of connectedness with the saints of old. Reformed thought emphasizes historical creeds and confessions, giving secularism-fatigued believers a glimpse into the nation-spanning Christendom of medieval Europe.
Some within Reformed theology hope to revive that national sense of Christianity at the governmental level. For instance, Stephen Wolfe, author of “The Case for Christian Nationalism,” leans on Reformed thought to advocate for state favoritism of Christianity and the enforcement of Sabbath laws. Doug Wilson, a polemical Reformed pastor, has argued for the enactment of blasphemy laws.
This impulse towards Christian Nationalism finds some ammunition in Reformed theology, even though Reformed theology does not necessitate such views.
Reformed proponents of Christian Nationalism often lean on presuppositionalism, which is the belief that no neutral truths exist. That is, without relying on Christian presuppositions, a person is necessarily rebelling against God’s truth. In Christian Nationalist terms, if a government does not explicitly embrace Christianity, then it is actively supporting some anti-God ideology.
Importantly, level-headed Reformed advocates of Christian Nationalism recognize that the government can never coerce genuine salvation. The goal of this type of Christian Nationalism isn’t proselytization, but obedience to God. After all, if a nation’s only options are to submit to God’s truth or to rebel against His kingship, shouldn’t every Christian prefer the former?
Some Reformed Christian Nationalists have further ideas for how modern nations should heed God’s laws. Covenant theology is the belief that God’s plans for humanity are structured in covenants. Notably, covenant theology does not see salvation history as segmented, unlike the alternative viewpoint, dispensationalism. Because God’s covenants have sweeping continuity, the promises given to ancient Israel are inherited by the new, true Israel: the church. If modern Christians inherit Israel’s promises, then it’s not a long leap to believe that they should inherit Israel’s laws as well.
Combined with broad presuppositional arguments, this leads into reconstructionist theonomy, which is the belief that all Old Testament laws apply to modern nations, minus the ceremonial laws that were fulfilled by Christ. Most Christians agree that the moral laws of the Old Testament continue to apply—for example, “Thou shalt not murder.” However, reconstructionist theonomists go further. The Old Testament’s judicial laws and a broader understanding of the moral laws are fair game, ranging from blasphemy laws to general legislative principles derived from ancient Israel’s legal system.
While reconstructionist theonomists don’t constitute the majority of Reformed theologians, they do expose the weak underbelly of Christian Nationalism that Reformed Baptists are well-situated to exploit.
Reconstructionist theonomists fail to adequately recognize the distinction between the covenant community and the outside world. The Old Testament law only came to Israel on the basis of God’s covenant through Abraham, and true submission to Old Testament law only occurs by being a part of the covenant community through faith in Christ. As Hebrews 11:6 testifies, apart from faith, it is impossible to please God.
As Baptists have long held, entrance into the covenant community is only possible after faith. This is most poignantly symbolized through the practice of believer’s baptism, a practice that earned early Baptists substantial suffering and even death.
Hence, Baptists like John Leland have long supported a healthy separation of church and state—a separation that recognizes the necessity of a Christian witness in politics while remembering the atrocities that invariably result when the state assumes the role of the covenant community or vice versa.
Reformed Baptists, as heirs to both the Baptist theological distinctives and to the Reformed tradition, can create a compelling countercurrent to the forces of Christian Nationalism. Reformed Baptists maintain Reformed positions while steering them towards an end that is more missionary than militant.
Comment by PFSchaffner on July 29, 2025 at 11:00 am
Given that Reformed (I would say, “Particular”) Baptists have been active and prominent for four hundred years — think of Benjamin Keach, John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, John Rippon — without any hints of Christian Nationalism appearing, I think we’re safe. They have their problems, but they are problems (such as a palpable attitude of suspicion, a tendency toward schism, and other features of dogmatic and self-isolating sectarianism) that militate against leadership in any kind of broad movement. Speaking as a friend and sometime adherent.
Comment by David on July 29, 2025 at 3:06 pm
The “Books of Moses” are widely held to have been written down during the Babylonian Captivity. Various local materials made their way into these writings such as the flood story of Gilgamesh, his dealings with an evil serpent, and the Code of Hammurabi. The last was copied verbatim at times. We can all be grateful to the god Marduk for these.
Another thing brought back from Babylon was monotheistic Judaism. Prior to this, the Israelites worshiped the Canaanite pantheon including Yahweh (God) and Asherath (Mrs. God), El and Baal.
Comment by Glenn Wheeler on July 30, 2025 at 12:37 am
The people in charge of this site obviously have an irrational fear of what they term ” Christian “Nationalism.” Why is that?
Who has heard of Christian Nationalism, and who cares about it, except the functionaries and beneficiaries of institutional religion, who make their living posting things that no one but them and their ilk read?
They’re fighting a war contained within their offices; a war that’s not even on the horizon of what’s really going on in the world, a war that only exists among the “Christian” bureaucrats totally removed from reality.
Why concern yourself with stuff that’s insignificant and doesn’t matter?
In other words… get a life.
Comment by Douglas E Ehrhardt on July 30, 2025 at 2:41 am
The boogie man word again . Usually used to attack people who don’t go along with regime Christianity. The few that actually identify as CNs are numbered in the hundreds most likely.
Comment by Colin Ross on July 30, 2025 at 8:44 am
Whats funny about the story that many Americans settled here to escape religious persecution only to burn teenage girls alive in the first 15 years of their colony.
“The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion. Not anything can be studied as a science, without our being in possession of the principles upon which it is founded; and as this is the case with Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing.”
― Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
Comment by Mike on July 30, 2025 at 9:20 am
“Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason”. Hardly an expert on the subject of religion, and especially Christianity.
Matters of faith cannot be studied scientifically. You either believe, or you don’t. I believe. You have made obvious your position.
Comment by John on July 30, 2025 at 5:50 pm
Douglas E Ehrhardt,
And what exactly is “regime Christianity”? That sounds to me like another catch-all term the alt-right invented to refer to anyone whose not onboard with their agenda. You know, like the term Deep State, only religious.
Comment by Douglas E Ehrhardt on July 30, 2025 at 11:12 pm
Remberthe After Party ? Secular foundations trying to sway the Christian church in the leftist agenda direction. The book showed up at the Christian education directors mailbox. No sorry it’s not an alt right invention. As Jesus said …Be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. The American church has the gentle part down well.
Comment by Douglas E Ehrhardt on July 30, 2025 at 11:17 pm
That’s it alt right Remember the After Party ? That was funded by secular foundations and pushed by regime Christianity.
Comment by John on July 31, 2025 at 12:02 pm
Douglass E. Ehrhardt,
I think you’re overestimating the influence of this book, which only came out in the last couple years and certainly didn’t turn any heads in the churches and Christian organizations I work with. Once again, I think you’re using regime Christianity as a catch-all to refer to any church (liberal or conservative) that doesn’t fit your very narrow expectations. The same way people on the alt-right now think anyone who questions Trump on anything is a Deep Stater. The irony is that you’re doing the same thing you’re accusing others of doing in regards to Christian Nationalism, exaggerating influence in order to raise alarm bells.