I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior on August 10, 1984, at a tent revival in rural Ohio. It was a big deal. My relationship with Jesus dominated the next eight years of my life. I went to a Christian college intending to be a pastor. I witnessed the unsaved as often as I could.
But I left Jesus a long time ago. It would be hyperbolic for me to say I miss God or the church. I don’t. And the lion’s share of the reasons why I don’t were the men in power who groomed me to be a man in power. To pass the torch. To be them.
The Christian Nationalism rhetoric I see today reminds me of that time in my life. And it scares me. I see me in those espousing it today, full of the love of Jesus and seething with teenage self-righteous anger.
This hour, in “One Nation Under God?” we are diving into Christian nationalism - its connection to the former president Donald Trump, and its appeal to evangelical Christians. We are also going into the heart of the evangelical world - the Southern Baptist Convention. Not talking about them, but rather, with them. It was good for me to be reminded that the church is not the enemy – it is full of beautiful people, human beings who are capable of bringing forth light and love.
–Charles