The Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast spoke at Community Congregational Church on Sunday, October 26, at 4:00 pm on the topic of Christian Nationalism, its roots and impact. The recorded videos are embedded below.
After the event, Dr. Gast wrote:
For more extensive study, I would recommend these books:
John Fugelsang—comedian and broadcaster, Separation of Church and Hate–A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible . . .
Obery M. Hendricks, Jr.—religious scholar and ordained elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Christians Against Christianity
Amanda Tyler—attorney and executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, How to End Christian Nationalism
Mary Susan Gast
BenIndy Editor: here are the two videos, many thanks to Community Congregational Church of Benicia and video editor Constance Beutel:
The Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast will speak at Community Congregational Church on Sunday, October 26, at 4:00 pm on the topic of Christian Nationalism, its roots and impact.
She states, “In the late 1970’s a movement began to emerge in the U.S. that we now recognize as Christian Nationalism. ‘Christian Nationalism’ is not simply being Christian and being American. It is the fusion of one particular take on Christianity with a vision of the United States as the birthright of the descendants of white Christian European settlers.
Bishop William Barber has observed that the adherents of Christian Nationalism believe that Christianity ‘calls on us to be anti-gay, against people who may have had an abortion, against immigrants, and against the poor. But what the Scriptures actually say is that God loves all people.’”
Her presentation on October 26th will examine the Biblical and historical bases for these diverse understandings of the application of Christian teaching, along with the effects of Christian Nationalism on our democracy and civil society.
Dr. Gast notes that the affirmation of Christian Nationalism among many current national leaders raises questions for many regarding the effects of that ideology on government policy.
“In August this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released a video on social media. It featured two pastors of Hegseth’s fellowship of faith asserting that women should not have the right to vote. Doug Wilson, one of the pastors on the video, later affirmed to the Associated Press that he believes the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote ‘was a bad idea.’
In early September many members of the current administration attended the National Conservatism Conference. Speakers at the event included:
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts endorsing ‘the righteous anger young men feel when our elites say they can be replaced by immigrants or machines’
Charlie Haywood, who has called for the ‘total denigration of ‘career’ as the main goal of women’
and U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt who declared America belongs to ‘us’. . . ‘the sons and daughters of the Christian pilgrims that poured out from Europe’s shores to baptize a new world.’
Gast is a Liberation theologian with advanced academic degrees from Michigan State University and the Chicago Theological Seminary. Over the past 50 years she has made presentations in the U.S., South Africa, and China addressing the ways in which patriarchal and colonialist interpretations have distorted Christian teachings to the detriment of women and others regarded as not-quite-human.
The Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast will speak at Community Congregational Church on Sunday, October 26, at 4:00 pm on the topic of Christian Nationalism, its roots and impact.
She states, “In the late 1970’s a movement began to emerge in the U.S. that we now recognize as Christian Nationalism. ‘Christian Nationalism’ is not simply being Christian and being American. It is the fusion of one particular take on Christianity with a vision of the United States as the birthright of the descendants of white Christian European settlers.
Bishop William Barber has observed that the adherents of Christian Nationalism believe that Christianity ‘calls on us to be anti-gay, against people who may have had an abortion, against immigrants, and against the poor. But what the Scriptures actually say is that God loves all people.’”
Her presentation on October 26th will examine the Biblical and historical bases for these diverse understandings of the application of Christian teaching, along with the effects of Christian Nationalism on our democracy and civil society.
Dr. Gast notes that the affirmation of Christian Nationalism among many current national leaders raises questions for many regarding the effects of that ideology on government policy.
“In August this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released a video on social media. It featured two pastors of Hegseth’s fellowship of faith asserting that women should not have the right to vote.
Doug Wilson, one of the pastors on the video, later affirmed to the Associated Press that he believes the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote ‘was a bad idea.’
In early September many members of the current administration attended the National Conservatism Conference. Speakers at the event included:
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts endorsing ‘the righteous anger young men feel when our elites say they can be replaced by immigrants or machines’
Charlie Haywood, who has called for the ‘total denigration of ‘career’ as the main goal of women’
and U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt who declared America belongs to ‘us’. . . ‘the sons and daughters of the Christian pilgrims that poured out from Europe’s shores to baptize a new world.’
Gast is a Liberation theologian with advanced academic degrees from Michigan State University and the Chicago Theological Seminary. Over the past 50 years she has made presentations in the U.S., South Africa, and China addressing the ways in which patriarchal and colonialist interpretations have distorted Christian teachings to the detriment of women and others regarded as not-quite-human.
Surely I’m not the only one who heard the voice of Woody Guthrie as we saw the news footage of planes carrying off deportees. Here is my sadly, regrettably, updated rendition of Woody’s 1948 lament.
You Won’t Have a Name, When You Ride the Big Airplane . . .
By Mary Susan Gast, 2025
Words in italics from Woodie Guthrie’s Deportee, 1948
Some of us are illegal, others not wanted
A tough guy’s in office with brawn up his sleeve
He’s tooled up each branch of the government forces To hunt us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves. ……….Adios to Kilmar, Namaste to Badar ……….Salaam to Mahmoud, Rumeysa, and Rasha ……….You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane ……….All they will call you will be deportee.
You’ve got these tattoos so you must be a gangsta
With haphazard research you’re banished today
Jammed into the cells of a super-max prison
In El Salvador til the end of your days. ……….Adios to Kilmar, Namaste to Badar ……….Salaam to Mahmoud, Rumeysa, and Rasha ……….You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane ……….All they will call you will be deportee.
They gave you a visa, they gave you a green card,
Without letting you know, they yanked it away
Ice Agents came at you while pulling their masks on
Shackled you up and dragged you away. ……….Adios to Kilmar, Namaste to Badar ……….Salaam to Mahmoud, Rumeysa, and Rasha ……….You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane ……….All they will call you will be deportee.
Soon they will turn to get rid of the “homegrown”
The “worst of the worst” that’s what they say
So everyone’s subject to being deported
For what we have done, or might do, think, or say ……….Goodby to my friends, adios to my people ……….Shalom my kasamas, Namaste mis amigas ……….We won’t have a name if we ride the big airplane. ……….All they will call us will be deportee. ……….All they will call us will be deportee.
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