Actual Christianity

Isolationism has always been a practical impossibility in the modern world, we rely on each other constantly in numerous ways, but it is also something else: a direct contradiction of Christian teaching. Jesus said to love your neighbor, full stop. No asterisk, no footnote limiting that neighbor to someone of the same race, nationality, or creed. The impulse to sort humanity into “acceptable” and “unacceptable” categories undermines the very message the teachings of Jesus was intended to carry.

Borders are human constructs, born from fear and the tribal instinct to protect “us” from “them.” Free trade, cultural exchange, friendship across nations, love across difference — these are the forces that move humanity closer to the kind of unity Jesus consistently pointed toward. Every wall between people, literal or figurative, is a step away from that vision.

Which makes Christian nationalism one of the stranger paradoxes in contemporary American life. Its adherents often argue that society should privilege only those who share a specific religious and cultural identity — yet Jesus never preached segregation of any kind. He dissolved divisions. He challenged tribal loyalty. In one of his most famous stories, Jesus made crossing national boundaries to help an enemy of his nation an important lesson and parable. A lesson frequently ignored by many mainstream Christians. The movement that claims his name most loudly may be the one that has drifted furthest from his actual teachings

This contradiction is sharpest when examined against American history itself. The United States was built on pluralism — a constitutional framework explicitly separating church and state, an identity forged through the convergence and integration of countless cultures, races, and belief systems. Christian nationalism’s vision of a nation defined by a narrow, predominantly white Christian identity doesn’t just conflict with the teachings of Jesus; it conflicts with the founding architecture of the country it claims to protect.

The political dimension is where the contradiction becomes impossible to ignore. Donald Trump — whose real estate career drew accusations of racially discriminatory housing practices — rose to the presidency on rhetoric built almost entirely around walls, exclusion, and suspicion of outsiders. His immigration policies and the aggressive inhumane deployment of ICE embodied a philosophy of rejection of our literal neighbors rather than their welcome. Whatever one thinks of those policies on their merits, they sit in direct tension with a faith tradition that commands its followers to welcome the stranger.

More striking still is the theological posture many Christians have adopted toward Trump himself. Golden statues. Rhetoric framing him as divinely appointed. Fan imagery that borders on the messianic. For a tradition that issues explicit warnings against idolatry and false prophets, these developments warrant serious spiritual reflection, not just political commentary, but honest theological reckoning.

At its core, the teaching of Jesus pointed in one direction: toward the recognition of shared humanity. Not as a distant ideal, but as the practical foundation of how people should treat one another. From that foundation, borders become secondary to seeing others as being one with us, and identity becomes less important than the simple fact that every person encountered is a neighbor regardless of distance. The growing nationalism wrapped in Christian language moves in precisely the opposite direction, and the distance between the two is not a matter of political interpretation. It is a matter of reading the actual teachings of Jesus. These isolationist ideas cannot survive in the mind of a follower of Jesus.

This is why Christians need to abandon rhetoric that glorifies complete self-dependence or national isolation. That language emerges from a mindset rooted in separation rather than unification. There is nothing inherently wrong with buying a hat made in China, just as there is nothing wrong with other nations buying American goods. The fear and resentment surrounding interconnectedness often stem from tribalism, one of humanity’s most destructive instincts, and one that continually obstructs collective growth, understanding, and peace.

Most of the differences people cling to so tightly are ultimately superficial and illusory. The sooner a person releases the obsession with division and embraces humanity’s deep interconnectedness, the closer they move toward genuine spiritual awakening. A true acceptance of unity and oneness does not draw hard borders between human beings; it recognizes every person as part of the same whole. To live that reality is far closer to embodying the teachings of Jesus than any form of nationalism or exclusion ever could be.

In brief, Jesus is pro-globalization, pro-economic interdependence and a globalized economy. It’s the consequence of a truly unified species. It is the result of people who have adopted the teachings of Jesus. Isolationism is the literal opposite. 

The mantra of American Christians needs to shift from “America First!” to “Humanity First!” to remind us we are all in this together. Jesus taught this well saying we are all God’s children. To reject this idea would be once again cherry picking the teachings of Jesus. This is not optional.