White Christian nationalism moves people away from a commitment to social justice and activism according to the book The Flag and the Cross. According to Gorski and Perry, this is because it is about ethno-traditionalism and “protecting the freedoms of a very narrowly defined ‘us.’” They point out that actual religious commitment expands what Peter Singer calls the “‘circle of empathy’, our ability to put ourselves in others’ shoes” (37).

The authors then point out that those who affirm this ideology also justify why people outside the circle don’t need help by means of the idol–my word, not theirs–of libertarian, free-market capitalism.

They write: “Unsurprisingly, we also find that the love affair between Christian nationalism and libertarian free-market capitalism is a racialized one, found most powerfully among white Americans” (38).

This puts what Munther Isaac writes in Christ at the Checkpoint in starker relief.

In his chapter “Christian Zionism as an Imperial Theology,” Isaac writes, “Some evangelical leaders have actually admitted this to me—that they support Israel because it is easy to relate to. And this is why many Evangelicals—in my opinion and I hope I am wrong—have lost the prophetic spirit. They are indifferent to suffering. It is always the sufferer’s fault—whether it is the Palestinian or African Americans or the poor or the refugee—‘they brought it on themselves.’”