Megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress told his church this week that he is not a "Christian nationalist," but the U.S. was founded as a "Christian nation."
Jeffress is the senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas.
"When you see these mass shootings in Uvalde, when you see these mass shootings in Buffalo and other places, what's going on here? That's just the tip of the iceberg," Jeffress said, according to The Christian Post.
"Today, over 10 million teenagers in the U.S. drink alcohol regularly; 20 percent engage in binge drinking; 2,800 children die each year as a result of gun violence; another 14,300 are injured. Nearly 1 million babies were murdered in the womb last year, and one in four women in the U.S. will have aborted at least one of their children by age 45. On and on and on it goes. Are these tragedies just a coincidence?" he asked.
Christian nationalists believe the U.S. was established as a Christian nation and believe in a relationship between Christianity and the state.
Jeffress, however, said the men who founded America had a "wide diversity of religious beliefs."
"I often get accused of being a Christian nationalist," Jeffress said. "I'm having reporters ask me all the time: 'This is a new phrase, Christian nationalism, are you a Christian nationalist? Do you believe America is exceptional to any other nation and is God's preferred nation?' And I answer with a resounding, 'No, not in any sense.' If you know anything about the God of the Bible, you know God is no respecter of people or nations."
While Jeffress contended that God has "given" America "so much," he also noted that God blesses any nation that looks to him.
"You can see His hand in the founding of our country. But in the final analysis, God is no respecter of people or nations. Any nation that reverences God will be blessed by God, and any nation, including the United States, that rejects God will be rejected by God," he said.
Photo courtesy: ©Robert Jeffress Facebook
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
