The pastor going viral for rejecting Christian Nationalism isn't what he seems
The full sermon from Loran Livingston reveals anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, abortion misinformation, and a very different vision for America
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Earlier today, a pastor went viral for a sermon in which he emphatically declared that “There has never been a Christian nation and never will be! You don’t live in one now! A Christian nation wouldn’t have killed and displaced 20 million Native Americans, or thought owning slaves was pleasing to God!”
A clip of the sermon, delivered by Pastor Loran Livingston of Central Church in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 28, was first shared by The Tennessee Holler. (While it looks like a straight two-minute clip, there’s actually an edit in the middle.)
There has never been a Christian nation.
You don’t live in one now.
We had godly people get on boats and come over here so they could worship. Godly people. We’ve had the greatest Bible preachers in the 15, 16, 1700s. Godly people. Some of the people that constructed this country, godly people, but it has never been a Christian nation—and never will be.
…
A Christian nation would never have killed and displaced 20 million Native Americans. Who are still left out and living in poverty.
A Christian nation would never have thought that owning slaves was pleasing to God—or that it lined up with Scripture in any way, shape, or size.
And we not only practiced it, but we were so obsessed with it that we went to war about it. We had a Civil War, and in that Civil War, 500,000 Americans died.
That’s more… Americans that died in World War II, or any other war we’ve ever had. Our own civil war. We killed 500,000 of our own people so people could have the right to own other people as property!
Those are powerful words from an effective speaker! Livingston was saying we don’t live in a Christian nation because a nation that was truly Christian would never do the horrible things we’ve done!
In fact, in other parts of the same sermon, he decries our obsession with spending billions of dollars on sports’ stadiums “while the poor, the hungry, the jobless sit in the shadow of those arenas in rat-infested low-income housing.” He condemns Donald Trump for signing an executive order to celebrate Shabbat because, as he puts it, “no government official ought to have his hands in anybody’s faith.” He even goes after “Big Pharma” for its price-gouging and says “A Christian nation would weep and do something about our military veterans sleeping on the streets.”
Is Livingston the hero we’ve been waiting for?
Someone courageously and forcefully rebuking the scourge of Christian Nationalism from his pulpit?
Not quite.
Look, I shared that viral clip the moment I saw it, too, but it was only afterwards that I watched the full sermon—he delivered two of the same ones that morning with minimal differences—and it became very clear Livingston is no hero at all.
When he says we don’t live in a “Christian nation,” it’s not an assessment of American history. It’s that our country isn’t righteous enough to be “Christian” in all the ways he wishes it was. To him, “Christian nation” is aspirational and we’ve got a long way to go.
In fact, if you listen to different cuttings of the same sermon, the takeaway is much more bleak.
He lamented that we already have religion in our government—but not in the sense that Christianity is used as an excuse to promote bad policies. Instead, he argued that plenty of people are known for they promote—whether they’re Jewish, Muslim, or gay (?!)—and those are all religions of another kind. He would much rather live in a country where people followed the teachings of Jesus, something he said Christian politicians don’t do either.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we have religion in our government. I’m talking about our government. We have Judaism in the Senate and Congress. You know who they are.
We have Islam in the government. You know, the Muslims that make the noise.
We have atheism in our leadership. That’s a religion. We don’t believe there’s a God. Then that makes you your own god. That’s a religion.
…
We have the LGBTQ religion in Congress and the Senate and in other places of leadership. It’s there. That’s—see, that’s your religion. Whatever you embrace and pour your energy into and think about and work for becomes your religion. They’re there.
Let’s set aside the fact that atheism isn’t a religion and that atheists don’t think we’re our own god. Let’s set aside the fact that the Muslims in Congress don’t try to use their faith as the sole basis to push their beliefs on everyone else. Let’s set aside whatever he thinks the “LGBTQ religion” is and that the only reason Congress members in that community ever bring it up is because their conservative Christian colleagues push for laws to oppress them.
This is not a pastor defending church/state separation.
It gets worse.
In his attempt to explain what a truly “Christian” nation would look like, he attacked abortion access (“racist!”), transgender rights (“abusive!”), and same-sex unions (“perverted!”) as proof that we’re not righteous.
This is a straight two-minute clip with no edits.
No Christian nation would thoughtlessly murder 80 million unborn babies. Mostly minorities. Thoughtlessly throw them in a trash can and be done with it. Mostly minorities!
I’m pro-choice, people say. Well, uh, you are for the most racist stance in this country, knowing that abortion affects minorities more than anybody else, and you stand for that?
Do you think a Christian nation would be gender confused?
A Christian nation would fund and finance the butchering of children’s bodies to change their sex, because abusive adults were so empty and lost that they would advise young children who don’t even understand biology, much less the sexual process, to have their bodies changed?
Do you think a Christian nation would praise and promote same-sex union? A woman marrying a woman and a man marrying a man?—You notice I said “union.” I didn’t say “marriage.” The only definition of marriage is one woman and one man—Or any other perverted union?
Equating abortion to murder, and implying that all abortions occur by throwing babies into trash cans, shows how little he knows about the procedure. And it’s always interesting to hear conservative Christians pretend their real concern here is racism, because it’s the only time they ever seem to care about racism—when they can use it to ban abortion access.
The idea that we’re “butchering” kids’ bodies suggests there’s no real thought that goes into it and ignores the very real concerns affecting trans youth. He also falsely pretends adults are pressuring kids to do that—and that the supportive parents of trans kids are somehow “abusive.” (Most trans children don’t go through with any sort of gender affirming surgery.)
And this guy still has a problem with same-sex marriage to the point he won’t even use the “M” word to describe it. It’s homophobia, pure and simple.
Later in the same section, Livingston also insisted “No Christian nation would ban the Bible—or remove the Bible from anything”… even though we don’t ban the Bible or remove it from anything.
The point is: This guy doesn’t want church/state separation and he’s not some progressive preaching hero. He’s the same brand of bigot we’ve seen before, except he’s also willing to call out some of the obvious hypocrisies of the right.
Don’t get thrown off by the viral clip. The full context reveals that Livingston is just as conservative as any white evangelical or Southern Baptist preacher. He just knows how to frame his material so it’s not entirely focused on the hate. Don’t let him get away with it.
This is the problem with viral sermon clips. They allow people to assume someone’s a hero or villain with no broader context. Livingston is now benefitting from the fact that most people are never going to hear his full sermon. It’s like he took a selfie, used a great filter, and people assume that’s what he really looks like. But he’s not a fearless critic of Christian Nationalism. He’s just promoting a different version of it—one that’s hostile to reproductive rights, LGBTQ people, and religious pluralism.
He’s not rejecting the idea that America should be governed by Christian values. He’s arguing that America hasn’t been governed by his version of Christian values strongly enough. That’s a fundamentally different message than the one millions of people now think they’re applauding.
There’s no reason to give him unearned praise simply because he said something accurate (and important!) about slavery or the genocide of Native Americans. Plenty of reactionary preachers are fully capable of recognizing historical atrocities. But in this man’s ideal world, we’d punish rape victims by not allowing them access to abortions, ban gay couples from getting married, and further marginalize trans people. We’re not any better off in his utopia than we are in the America he’s condemning right now.
🎼We don’t need another (fake) hero🎼
I had the same instinct and Googled the church. The pastoral Southern accent and delivery and, quite frankly, his age, tripped my sensors that the full sermon and/or others probably wouldn't live up to the clip as it was presented, but I didn't follow up and watch the whole sermon. Glad you did, Hemant.