The Atlantic recently published an article titled “To Understand JD Vance, You Need to Meet the TheoBros.”
It’s a scary article, but I do recommend reading it to understand this movement that combines theology with Christian Nationalism.
One of the things that strikes me after reading the article is that the TheoBros are motivated by fear.
William Wolfe, a former Trump official and TheoBro influencer, stated that American identity “is one of the most important political questions facing America right now. Answer it wrong, we will go the way of Europe, where the native born-populations are being utterly displaced by third world migrants and Muslims. Answer it right, and we can renew America once more.”
To be frank, I am also scared about the future of America. But my fear is that the TheoBro movement is trying to repeat the darkest moments of American history.
Welcoming Immigrants
There have always been forces in the US that have led people to fear immigrants. From Irish to Catholic to Italian to Mexican to Muslims, the US has always had racist forces that feared the “Other.” This has led to the scapegoating of immigrants. The Irish and Italians were seen as a different race int US, until they were able to identify as white. Then the Irish and Italians were able to unite with white folks in scapegoating our Black and Brown siblings.
This was all under the veneer of keeping the US safe from the threat of immigrants.
But what makes the US great, and what makes Christianity great, has precisely been the ability to welcome and absorb immigrants.
JD Vance stated in his acceptance speech as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee,
…America is not just an idea. It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. It is in short, a nation. Now it is part of that tradition, of course, that we welcome newcomers. But when we allow newcomers into our American family, we allow them on our terms. That’s the way we preserve the continuity of this project from 250 past to, hopefully, 250 years in the future.
I do wonder what JD Vance means when he says that we welcome newcomers, but “we allow them on our terms.”
What are “our terms”? And who makes these terms?
The Policies of the TheoBros
The TheoBros have overt policies that they want to impose.
As The Atlantic states, these terms include replacing the Constitution with the 10 Commandments. Trump has already threatened to suspend the Constitution to allow himself to be dictator for a day and allow the police to have “one rough hour” to attack people they suspect of breaking laws. The police would be able to do this without due process.
Many TheoBros fear multiculturalism and defend countries that execute gay people.
Vance also doesn’t believe in one person one vote, which is an essential element to American democracy. He stated in a 2021 speech,
Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children. When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power — you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic — than people who don’t have kids. Let’s face the consequences and the reality: If you don’t have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn’t get nearly the same voice.
In addition, many TheoBros want to repeal a woman’s right to vote so that only men can vote.
Execute the Heretics
In his book The Case for Christian Nationalism, Stephen Wolfe writes that in his ideal Christian America that we would execute heretics.
Who is a heretic? Anyone who disagrees with Wolfe’s brand of Christianity.
But Jesus didn’t execute anyone. In fact, he stopped a woman from being executed.
In the America that the TheoBros and Christian Nationalists fantasize about, they would accuse Jesus of being a heretic. And then they would execute him.
That’s because in their fear of immigrants and the policies they want to employ, Christian Nationalism and the TheoBros have rejected Christ.
Shared Desires and Different Visions
In pointing this out, I do not want to scapegoat the TheoBros. They and I have similar fears and a deep desire to belong. The TheoBros and JD Vance want to belong to a vision of America that includes a particular people with a shared story. That particular “people” is white and Christian.
But I want an America that is so much bigger than that. I want an American story that includes Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists. I want an America where immigrants are welcomed, including undocumented immigrants. After all, Donald Trump has hired undocumented immigrants to work at his hotels, wineries, and golf courses during his presidency.
Immigration, including undocumented immigration, is good for America. And loving them is what Jesus calls us to do.
Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
That is my America. And that is my Christianity.
