Christian Nationalism and the Fourth of July
The Bill of Rights was written not to grant rights, but to limit the authority of government.
Wise men have said that when a government refuses to recognize the authority of God over it, the government becomes god. When the state has absolute authority, that leads to horrible things: Oppression, tyranny, murder and even genocide.
Notice the language in the Declaration of Independence: All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. In the vision of our founding fathers, these are not rights that "society" has decided are important. Instead, these rights were granted by God and government therefore has no authority to infringe on those rights. After this nation was established by the blood of patriots and tyrants, the Bill of Rights was written not to grant rights, but to limit the authority of government and protect the rights the founders assumed we had by virtue of our humanity.
Statists hate this formulation, calling them "negative rights" describing what government cannot do to you but not giving government the authority to do things for you. When President Obama said this, you could tell that he viewed the state as the primary authority in life and society, not the God he claims to serve.
This brings us to Christian Nationalism. I personally dislike the term, but let's move forward anyway. Christian Nationalism recognizes that there is a God above the state, and the state is limited in its authority because of that. If Jesus is Lord, that means the government is not lord. Properly constituted, Christian Nationalism should be a pro-liberty movement. This does not mean libertinism or anarchism, because we do need laws to ensure civil order. Instead, this mean we will have a properly ordered state that delegates authority to the most local level possible and sees its primary job as protecting the rights of those it serves.
As we celebrate the Fourth of July this week, we should also celebrate the fact that our rights come from God. We should call on our government leaders at all levels to respect our rights, because that is the ultimate expression of patriotism. We should call on them to admit they do not know best, and to affirm that they are also under authority. Remember, this country was not founded on a particular ethnic group or tribal heritage, but on the idea of liberty under the authority of God.