The Spiritual Lessons of a Christian Nationalist Military Defeat

Power corrupts, Christendom clashes with Christianity, and brutality isn’t strength.

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On February 24, the world’s most powerful Christian nationalist went to war, at the helm of what many people considered to be one of the world’s most potent militaries. Russian President Vladimir Putin spent more than two decades—exercising more power than any American president could ever hope to possess—forging church, state, and culture into an (allegedly) mighty instrument of raw, anti-woke national power.

And what have we seen? An incompetent army has raped, looted, and murdered its way across the Ukrainian countryside. Even its elite units lie in shattered ruins outside key Ukrainian cities, and a Ukrainian counterattack is breaking the Russian line. While the Russian elite cries for “holy war” in front of a listless crowd of state employees, the men who would be holy warriors run for the border, eager to escape conscription by any means possible. 

There are spiritual lessons here. When advanced nations collide in sustained combat, it’s not just armies that confront each other, but systems and civilizations. Hidden strengths emerge. Hidden weaknesses are exposed. And as we watch history unfold in eastern Ukraine—Russians retreating on the battlefield, Russians fleeing their own country en masse to avoid the fight, and a panicked Putin threatening a genocidal response—we are watching in real time a profound and meaningful example of the fatal weakness of Christian nationalism.

It’s not a model of national renewal. It’s a blueprint for corruption, brutality, and oppression. 

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  1. Bmarckese

    I have been reading "American Crusade" by Andrew L. Seidel. Wondering if you have read it and what are your thoughts on some of his reasoning about the Supreme Court being weaponized by White Christian Nationalists. I agree with some points but he seems to sway far left on others.

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    Ben Connelly

    I’m not sure Russia fits the American definition of Christian Nationalism. But Ukraine absolutely meets the definition of a nationalist nation and one that is heavily Christian. This definitely isn’t a woke military against a “hypermasculine” one given that Volodymyr Zelensky fits anyone’s definition of a man’s man and the Ukrainian military has been highlighting the strength and manliness etc. of their own soldiers.

    Zelensky banned men under 60 from leaving the country, so they could stay to be drafted for the war effort. He did nothing of the sort for women. Are their LGBTQ soldiers in the Ukrainian military? Sure. Heck there are almost undoubtedly some in the Russian military (even if they’re not out). Moreover, I’d bet money there are more Christians fighting for Ukraine than for Russia.

    You’re absolutely right about bullying not equating to strength. I’ve written at length about that myself. But why even give the MAGA types the base? Why not just say, “they’re so lost on the subject of masculinity that they mistake the most unmasculine president in any of our lifetimes for a manly man?”

    Anyway, overall I still think you made some important points, David. But I think you elided too much nuance in this article. We can’t point to Ukraine and Russia and map our culture war onto their conflict, because the context is completely different.

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  3. Smcutter

    Two hypotheses on the LGBT question:
    1. The currently dominant evangelical vision of masculinity (about which David has written extensively) tends to emphasize things that might leave adolescent girls less interested in heterosexual relationships, and also drive boys who don’t identify with that vision to seek an alternative identity.
    2. Homeschooled students who already feel like they don’t fit in have an easy “in” by identifying as LGBT, because that is the group which, by definition, welcomes people who don’t fit in.

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  4. Luby.Rj

    This article gets over its skies so quickly that it trips over its own reasoning. One needs to stop and remember that to the extent that "Christian Nationalism" means anything, Ukraine is as much a "Christian Nationalist" state as Russia. So, what are we really celebrating here? Our favored "Chrisitan Nationalist" state is winning. Ok....So, is it really a clash of systems and civilizations? Even if we were to grant for the sake of argument this is a clash of different nations with different political structures, does the label "Christian Nationalist" illuminate that distinction at all? The government of Ukraine also has closer ties to their own brand of ethno-national Eastern Orthodoxy, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), and opposes same sex marriage and what Zelensky's party called the "homosexual propaganda" within the country. Zelensky said in April, "The Lord and the holy heavenly light are on the side of the Ukrainians." Sounds like a leader claiming God is on his side to me. Nor does Zelensky refuse to engage in his own "masculine propaganda", unless you think that his constant appearance in a military ODT for all interviews and public statements is because he literally has no other shirt to wear. So, can this conflict best be described as one "Christian Nationalist" autocratic nation fighting a secular liberal Western democracy or instead by an autocratic state engaged in an old-fashioned land grab and committing atrocities against its democratic but equally ethno-nationalist Christian majority neighbor engaged in a war of self-defense? Ultimately, this war is not about religion but about territory and politics.

    But why trot out a "Catholic integralist" boogeyman? "Catholic integralism" is so marginal it can only be found at the extreme margins of Catholicism itself. This is just blind fear mongering. Funny, I thought the Dispatch doesn't do this kind of commentary. This fear mongering when combined with the premise of the article also results in hilarious reasoning that the hard version of "Christian Nationalism" is represented by "Catholic integralism" and "the most powerful Chrisitan Nationalist" country is Russia, which [check notes] is Russian Orthodox...what? I hope David appreciates that Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy are not even the same religion. It also betrays David's own bias as does the idea that "Christendom is not Christianity", which if you understand Christendom as "the collective culture and the institutions of the faith", necessarily includes the Church. To pit the institution of the Church against the faith of Christianity is a uniquely Protestant idea not held by most Christians in the world. This all goes to the overall point that "Christian Nationalism" is a flawed term that seeks to explain too much and groups together different people that believe different things about Christianity into one big tent in a cynical attempt to marginalize one's political opponents.

    Also, "at the helm of what many people considered to be one of the world’s most potent militaries" this statement is not helpful. Maybe, many ordinary people thought Russia was militarily powerful, but the national security experts have pointed out the weaknesses in the Russian military for nearly a decade now.

    Finally, Putin's close ties to his countries' ethno-national church does not explain the failures of the Russian military in the field. Those failures can be attributed to time worn lessons of military strategy and tactics: training and fielding armies, logistics, maneuver warfare, deception, force concentration, subordinates being able to take initiative to execute the mission, defeating the enemy's center of gravity, and morale.

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      Ben Connelly

      You make a number of important points. At times I thought you were unfair to David (he knows the difference between Orthodox and Catholic), but I’m very glad you pushed back on his points about nationalism and Ukraine and his name-checking of the relatively fringe movement of Catholic integralism.

      “ Ultimately, this war is not about religion but about territory and politics.”

      Precisely. It makes no sense to read into this war our own preconceived ideas about how the American culture war fits into the war between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine isn’t woke. As you point out, Zelensky’s a masculine nationalist who isn’t keen on homosexuality, and Ukraine is a Christian nation.

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      Media

      Ukraine is no more Christian Nationalist than any Western European nation that yet has a national church or denomination.

      The Allies in WWII were equally convinced God was with them because they were in the right, against an evil, lying sociopath.

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      Media

      You’re overthinking the “Christian” aspect of Christian Nationalism.

      The whole point is that it’s not Christian — it just appeals to Christians, and they get caught up in it, because they are confused about their Christianity, their nation, and the leader that is paying lip service to the things they think they are supposed to be committed to, as Christians.

      They are also confused about threats to their culture, nation and religion; whether those threats are existential in nature; and what the appropriate response is.

      Basically, Christian Nationalism is its own judgement, brought on by a confused people who are dead certain they see things clearly because they are convinced their merely being “Christian” automatically confers upon them discernment in all matters.

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    Charlie

    Christianity seems to be doing better in places where the government isn't entangled with it.

    I visited Mexico City this past summer. It is today one of the most Catholic places in the world. But with a Jewish Leftist mayor. Church and State were separated in Mexico in 1857 and the Church was spared being tainted by being associated with brutal dictatorships as it was almost everywhere else in Latin America. In fact, the Church in Mexico was the persecuted rather than the persecutor as it was elsewhere. (To my Catholic friends -- visit the Basilica of Guadalupe.)

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    Lmitchdunn

    Thank you for this. The distinction between Christianity and Christendom is essential, and I think it’s lost on many people (especially those outside the faith).

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      Media

      It’s lost on those within the faith, too. And that may be more of an issue. Especially in regards to the issues that French often raises:

      Many Christians in the US are conflating the US with Christendom, and conflating Christendom with the Kingdom of God. So there’s a kind of “double-conflation” going on.

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    Normb1442

    Continuing previous post after inadvertent send:

    was elected tot his present position based totally on his presentation in a secular medium. Ukrainians are fighting for their nation's life, and inspiring the world in the process. But again, religion is not their motive. I have yet to see a cleric of any persuasion in any news broadcast.

    It's not a holy war. It's a war to suppress an independent nation's right to exist, and since this is so counter to any conception of decent international behavior, the forces which initiated the war feel it necessary to provide SOME rationale other than "we want to do it." They fool nobody.

    Except, apparently, David French. Surprising.

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      Charlie

      Religion isn't the main motive for Ukranians, but Putin weaponizes religion to support the invasion and shamefully some Americans have joined in that.

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    Normb1442

    I'm posting here because there is no link on which to post in your claim that "this is what a holy war looks like."

    If that's true, David, then why is only one of the combatants even pretending to have a religious motive, and the leader of those combatants was a committed atheist for all of his life up to these days, and an active participant in the repression of religion within his country. That what he's saying now is nothing but a fig leaf for Russian expansionism is so obvious that I have to question your sanity in claiming otherwise. Do you REALLY think Putin or his cronies give a flying f**k about religion?

    As for the Ukrainians part in this, they have been led by a man whose own religion is shared by very few of his countrymen, who never mentions that religion in any public context, and who was elected to his present position

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  9. Nwmslaw

    David, it’s worth repeating once again that you’re a class act, and make me proud to be your compatriot. I’m more like Jefferson in that I aspire to emulate Christ’s teachings, even though the divinity part is hard for me to accept. Perhaps I will receive the gift of faith on my way out.

    I’m glad to see you keeping the heat on the Nat-Cs. Shadi Hamid’s September article on the subject at The Atlantic really encapsulates their basic problem: The American public at large and 2022 “conservatives” in particular just aren’t that religious, even if Christian self-identification is strong. Like Shadi (a devout Muslim) I actually wish for America’s sake that American “Christians” were more Christian in the manner you identify. But they’re not, and the Nat-C project is nothing short of revisionist and reactionary. And using the power of the state to increase the influence of Christendom is frankly scary.

    As to your question: Why is it that “[h]omeschooled and parochial schooled undergraduates are as or more likely to identify as LGBT or non-binary as those from public or private school backgrounds”? Simple. Youthful, counter-cultural rebellion. It’s the way kids demonstrate that they’re hip, much as hippies did drugs and advocated free love to shock and horrify their elders at the time. They then went on to be the most materialistic generation ever, and now many of them are MAGAs. Many self-proclaimed “gender-fluid” and “LGBTQ” kids will likewise end up being straight, social conservatives as they age.

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    Lucas

    Anecdotal, but amongst the local Texas homeschool group that I briefly participated in and my younger sister was pretty much raised in there has been a larger pool of non-binary teens than what was in my public high school. My sister and I generally agree that its the zoomer rock n' roll or tattoo equivalent. You can declare yourself they/them, piss off your FOX-watching dad, and instantly find any number of online communities that will tell you how brave you are for sticking true to yourself in a hostile home environment.

    I'm sure plenty of these kids are pursuing what they genuinely believe on the inside, and some will almost certainly stick to their gender identity as they become adults, but the rebellious appeal and, importantly, pure ease that saying you are non-binary offers has to be tantalizing for teens stuck in the well-meaning but ultimately closed circle of our homeschool group.

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