One of the Left’s favorite political piñatas is something they call Christian Nationalism. It’s usually described in vague terms that rely on frantic confirmation bias and flat-out lies about Reformed Christianity and America’s founding. It often takes the form of pulling a sliver from the fringe and applying it in the broadest possible terms to impugn the largest number of people who espouse the Christian faith.
The freshest example comes from Hollywood producer, director, and actor Rob Reiner, who has released a new documentary called God and Country. If Reiner’s characterizations of Christians are to be believed, we’re little more than a mob of bigots who yearn to turn the United States of America into an oppressive, patriarchal theocracy. It’s a rehash of what most critics of Christianity argue to continue the marginalization of the faith, mostly to the eye-rolling derision of people who know better.
But Reiner takes his criticism to a different level, going to considerable lengths in explaining the awfulness of people who believe in the Bible and think America is the greatest country in the world. “These people [Christian Nationalists] are fine with the idea that America should be a white, Christian nation,” claimed Reiner in a Rolling Stone article. “They’re frightened of what’s happening in this country with diversity.”
Reiner later warned that very many Christians no longer abide by the words of the faith’s namesake. During an interview with the website Newsweek, Reiner declared, “This movement that they have here seems completely antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.” It’s a fascinating assessment on several levels.
Perhaps the Christian faith “seems” to be antithetical to what Jesus taught because Reiner doesn’t understand it, and he admits as much. “I was raised in a secular household,” Reiner told Newsweek. “There was no practice of religion. We were not religious at all.” This begins to explain how his understanding of Christianity is on par with the understanding of science held by people who want to ban dihydrogen monoxide because it kills people when inhaled in small quantities.
After going through what Reiner described as “a very dark period in my life,” he embarked on a journey of enlightenment. “I did a lot of searching and soul searching and reading up on Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism. I read all of it and came away personally with my own beliefs.” Ergo, Rob Reiner’s beliefs are based on what he likes.
A few words from the Gospels are sprinkled into Reiner’s beliefs. “Jesus was about peace and love and helping thy neighbor and those less fortunate than ourselves,” he said. This is all true, but it’s odd that a man expressing such vocal concerns about the state of Christianity makes no mention of Jesus Christ being the Lord and Savior of mankind.
This assessment of American Christians seeks to indict them by suggesting they don’t want peace and do not love or help their neighbors. Reiner's passing of judgment on tens of millions of people he’s never met smacks of totalitarianism, the kind that tyrants across history would applaud. His antics echo a growing chorus of center-left activists telling Bible-believing Christians what they need to do to be good Christians. This month, it’s as simple as believing the theology of Rob Reiner.
But there’s a problem. Christian beliefs are based on the Bible, the word of God. If we take Reiner’s remarks at face value, his beliefs are an amalgam of what he read during the dark period of his life, resulting in a customized belief system that comes not from the inspired and inerrant scriptures of the Bible but from snippets of theological and philosophical tenets he personally agrees with and absorbed over time.
While I cannot pass judgment on Reiner the man, I can make judgments on his words and behavior. One can only speculate as to what Reiner believes about making judgments but doing so is not antithetical to the teachings of Christ; it is completely in line with them. John’s Gospel records Jesus visiting the Feast of Booths during which He taught, “judge with right judgment.” It’s entirely fair to be circumspect when it comes to pronouncements on what constitutes a good Christian from those who do not recognize that salvation comes by the grace of God through faith in His son Jesus Christ.
Whatever Rob Reiner’s beliefs, they are his and he is absolutely free to embrace and practice them. He’s also free to produce films critical of people who do not agree with him or the political agenda he pursues. That’s a Reformed Christian perspective. But there’s nothing edifying in lectures on Christian orthodoxy from a man who was catapulted to national fame as a TV character named Meathead.