In response to an intensifying standoff between state officials and the federal government over border security, a group calling itself “God’s Army” said it would lead a convoy of up to 40,000 trucks from Virginia to the southern border this week and end with a Feb. 3 rally in Eagle Pass, Texas. With its stated goal to “Take Our Border Back,” the convoy’s organizers paint a portrait of an America besieged by dark, evil forces. God, they say, has charged Christians with halting an invasion of immigrants that is “poisoning the blood” of the country.
The convoy’s organizers paint a portrait of an America besieged by dark, evil forces.
According to a Tuesday afternoon report, things haven’t gone the way “God’s Army” planned. Wired magazine reports that there were only 20 trucks in the convoy by the time it reached Jacksonville, Florida, and it remains unclear how many, if any, people in this so-called army will even make it to the border.
But the attempt to rally an army at the border must still be taken seriously, and voters of faith should see the mobilization effort for what it is: cut-and-dry Christian nationalism. As an evangelical pastor, I know it when I see it.
When organizers of the convoy say they’re standing up against “globalists’’ who want to destroy America, they aren’t being religious; they’re being racist, not to mention antisemitic. When they say they’re acting on behalf of God, they’re saying that anyone who opposes them opposes God’s will. Despite their attempts to give their views a religious covering, it’s nothing but anti-immigrant hate they’re spewing. Christianity doesn’t teach turning away people in need because they don’t look like you or pray like you do.
People on the extreme fringe are leading the immigration agenda right now, and because they’re on the fringe, they are necessarily out of step with most Americans and out of step with the reality on the ground. Almost three years ago,…
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