Why We Should Not Preserve "White America"

Apparently, I offended the ethnobois Saturday when I said that I have a problem with enforcing the whiteness of America. Many and varied were the responses, and great was the anguish which I endured, as I felt the crushing weight of Twitter‘s super-masculine middle-school mean girl community.

For those who would like to continue to ignore my arguments and who would prefer to make fun of my face, I have conveniently located a picture of it on my profile page. It is a remarkably handsome portrait. You should go check it out.

For those of you who are adults and prefer rational dialogue to mockery, name-calling, and an odd fascination with pictures of other men, let’s take a look at what the Bible says about this issue.

1 - On Houseguests

The arguments for racial purity rely heavily on the natural law construct of Ordo Amoris. I have no problem with this principle, but I do have a problem with this principle being used to interpret the Bible, instead of the other way around.

One of the go-to examples from the white preservationist community is that of someone coming into your house. “Oh, so you wouldn’t enforce the security of your house, huh? You would let some Mexican come in and abuse your family?”

To which the answer is: "of course not." I would deliver a few high velocity freedom seeds directly to his vital areas.

Am I being inconsistent?

Not at all. I would deliver said freedom seeds, not because he is a Mexican, but because he is a wicked man seeking to steal and kill.

Let us continue with this analogy. If a man comes to my door and asks for a glass of water, and I tell him to pound stand, and I do this, not because of anything that he has done, but because I can tell by looking at him that he is not of the same ethnic heritage as I am, was this a Christian response?

The answer is no. Obviously no.

Lest I be accused of making an emotional appeal, let’s reframe the question. If there are multiple families at church, but I only show hospitality to the white ones, and I do so specifically because they are white and I don’t like non-white people, is this a Christian response?

I am not objecting to having immigration policies or borders. I am objecting to making ethnic heritage the deciding factor in whether or not someone is welcome in our country. The analogy about a guest in the house is a perfect analogy. I absolutely would not just let anyone into my house. However, if I only let white people into my house, I am now judging with partiality based on an immutable characteristic – much like if I only let males into my house, to borrow a parallel from Corey Mahler.

Now, this may be perfectly fine under natural law. Freedom of association, right? It’s my house, I can do as I please!

Except that I am a Christian. Which means that it is not my house. The house belongs to Jesus, and I live as His slave to do His bidding. Therefore, when His Word makes abundantly clear that I should not disregard the needs of the foreigner (Lev. 19:34, Deut. 10:18-19), that I should not judge the foreigner with partial judgment (Ex. 12:49), that I should not withhold Gospel love or brotherhood from the foreigner, that I should not even sit at a different table from the foreigner (Gal. 2:11)- I do not care what natural law says. Or, rather, I recognize that the God Who spoke nature into existence is King over natural law, and is the One Who provides its proper interpretation.

The ethnobois' house analogy requires a logical bait and switch. Again, quite obviously, I am not saying that you should let anyone into your house indiscriminately. I am saying that you should not be maintaining the "ethnic purity" of your house – you should be maintaining the justice, righteousness, and Gospel love of your house.

The inescapable conclusion of this white preservationist way of thinking is that interracial marriage is sinful. Of course, no one will say this, because it is Biblically indefensible, and many of the folks who are advocating these positions are cowards and snakes who spend their time dancing around these obvious conclusions because they know that they cannot actually defend what they are implicitly arguing for.

Nevertheless, the conclusion is inescapable. Interracial marriage must be wrong, because it is perverting the racial purity of the household. It is abandoning the heritage of your fathers. Never mind that God specifically provided for interracial marriage in Scripture (Num. 12).

Once again, natural law must trump the patterns and precepts of the Word of God.

2. To The Law and To The Testimony

Now then, let’s talk about what the Bible says on this topic. It is worth noting at the outset that the ethnobois rarely refer to Scripture at all. Maybe there is a reason for this. To the ethnobois who are reading this, this is my challenge- bring me Scripture. Otherwise, I'm not interested.

The Bible talks a lot about races and nations and lineages. There is no question that these things are a basic reality of human existence. A Christian worldview does tell us that all humans descend from Adam and Eve, and therefore races are only distinctions between relatives (Gen. 3:20); nevertheless, there are such things as "descendants of Abraham," for instance.

So if the Bible says that God makes nations (Acts 17:26), shouldn’t we preserve those national distinctions?

This is not at all a slam-dunk. God made nations, but I am not aware of any place in Scripture where God commands the preservation of specific national distinctions, especially based on ethnic heritage. Just because something is a narrative reality does not mean that it is an operative command. God instituted nations, but He never told us that we are supposed to figure out which nations He instituted, and then preserve them in their political and ethnic purity.

It’s just. Not. There.

Nevertheless, it is a necessary leap in order to turn the historical reality that God is the Author of nations into a command for every Christian to preserve those distinctions.

3. The Bible on Immigration

Furthermore, an honest reading of the Text shows exactly the opposite. Throughout the Old Testament, foreigners are often assimilated into Israel (Ex. 12:38, Ruth). God commands His people to treat the foreigner and the sojourner with justice, assuming that they will be present (Ex. 12:49), and there is no implication that they should be kept out of the land.

This doesn’t mean that we just let everyone in. Those who come in must abide by the laws – including, by the way, that they are not allowed to import other gods and other worship. This is the foundational precept for culture preservation. Culture flows out of worship. A Christian nation has every right to expect some level of Christian consensus from immigrants. This will preserve the national identity far more powerfully than simply importing European atheists.

Let’s move to the New Testament. What is the pattern that is clearly laid out for us there? It is one of unification through the blood of Christ. So yes, I believe we do need to have cultural unity. I believe we do need to have racial homogeny. What race?

The race of the Saints.

"But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light..." - 1 Pet. 2:9, ASV

I am well aware that there are cultural differences between a Christian in America and a Christian in the Congo and a Christian in Beijing. I am well aware that immigrants need to assimilate into the culture of the nation they are coming into. I have no problem with any of this.

But to say that because they have a different ethnic heritage, they are not welcome to assimilate at all- this is directly contrary to both the Old and New Testament teaching of scripture.

4. Nation vs. Ethnicity

Additionally, it is a leap to say, even if we were to preserve national distinctions, that that necessitates preserving ethnic heritage. Like it or not, there are Americans of many different skin colors that have been here for many generations. (A lot of the black folks over here are here because white folks brought them here, by the way.)

This idea that if we could just get back to White America, we would have a whole and happy nation is simply silly. This nation is a melting pot. The base ingredient for the stew is European Christian western civilization. That foundation must be maintained. But that is a foundation rooted in more than just race.

There are black people and yellow people that love this country and are more devoted to this country and better for this country than some white people. Do you really mean to suggest that David Hogg is more of an American than Thomas Sowell or Clarence Thomas?

Give me a break.

5 - Questions No One Is Asking

Let us also note that for all of the talk about natural law and how important it is to maintain these ethnic distinctions, the reality is that this is a completely arbitrary pipe dream. Where do we draw the line? How much of a heritage American do you have to be to be a real American? What if you’re descended from George Washington and from Malcolm X? Now what?

How many generations does someone have to live in the country before they are counted as a full citizen? One? Five? Ten? Is natural born enough?

Do we just welcome all white people? How white do they have to be? Hispanics came from Spain… Now what? Does their European Christian heritage not count? If not, is it just because they are brown? Or because they mixed with Native Americans? Then what do we do with all the American whites who have mixed races in their ancestry?

It’s all crazy, it’s all arbitrary, and it’s all nonsensical, because it is no longer about justice, righteousness, and Gospel love.

6. What if The Whites Disappear?

What if all the white people go extinct? Am I OK with there being no more white people on earth?

Well… I guess so. If, in the sovereignty of God, the melanin count of humanity shifts in a brownish direction, that’s God’s business. I am concerned with justice, righteousness, impartiality, and Gospel love. I cannot find in Scripture this idea that Christians should be concerned with preserving any given ethnic group.

Am I OK with the whites being eradicated by genocidal South African maniacs? No. That is not justice. But if through a bunch of just and godly national interactions intermarriage happens and eventually humanity becomes less white, am I going to lose sleep over that?

Not even a little bit. I’m much more concerned about white robes than about white skin.

All of this having been said, if we stop the bleeding of liberal globalism, I find it highly unlikely that any particular ethnic group is going to disappear. Natural affections happen naturally. Cultural and ethnic preservation happen naturally in healthy countries (i.e. countries that have babies instead of murdering them). A sane immigration policy – rather than a suicidal invitation for invasion – allows for assimilation without erasure.

Look, I’m a white guy. I’ve always found white women more attractive. Shockingly, I married a white woman. Even more shockingly, we had white babies. None of this happened because I was trying to get rid of the blackness of America.

So we should allow for natural affections. But we should not idolize them and make them our exegetical rubric for interpreting Scripture.

7. On the LA Riots

This does not mean that I support the LA riots, object to closing the border, or any of this. See the earlier point about defending one’s own home. If people want to come into America and fly the flags of other countries and act lawless and burn down buildings and resist the government that was instituted by God to wield the sword for the punishment of evil (Rom. 13), they should be rounded up and punished justly and swiftly and thoroughly. I do not want them in my country. Why?

Because I care about justice. Because I am a Christian.

It’s not because they’re Mexicans. It’s because they’re evil.

For the same reason, deportations and complete stoppage of immigration are absolutely on the table. The immigration situation in America today is not so much a question of immigration policy as it is a question of wartime self-defense. Measures should intensify accordingly.

The people flying Mexican flags standing atop smashed cop cars should be receiving the kind of justice that makes everyone around shudder in terror and hide their sombreros. (Deut. 13:11)

8. Love Your Neighbor

The Ordo Amoris cannot trump the Biblical command to love your neighbor – including across ethnic lines. This is so clearly taught in so many places (i.e. the parable of the good Samaritan, Luke 10:25ff), and if we are not careful, then our nationalism is going to consume our Christianity. Evangelistic missions work – Gospel outreach – the desire to build the family of God – should be a foundational passion for every Christian (Matt. 28:18-20).

When you have a theological construct that makes it easy to excuse a deadened heart toward the people of other nations, you might just have an anti-Christian theological construct.

Preserving whiteness of skin should be a far lesser concern than spreading whiteness of heart (Is. 1:18).

9. On Cultural Homogenization

If I am against enforcing ethnic purity, does that mean that I support the forced culture-blending of the liberal Zeitgeist? Not even a little bit. I am just as opposed to the leftist flattening of cultural distinctions – to the pretense that all cultures are equally good – to the charade of globalism – I oppose that just as strongly as I oppose ethnic preservationism. Why?

Because both are forms of partiality. Both have set aside justice and righteousness as the standard, instead choosing to focus on whether or not someone is a Jew or a Gentile or a Samaritan.

Both insist on looking at the outside appearance, instead of the heart.

Both, in other words, are woke.

We should reject the partiality of DEI and intersectional politics, and we should reject the alternative that is currently jumping off the edge of the right wing, a partiality of selfishness and animosity.

10. In Conclusion

If you’re going to claim to be a Christian nationalist, then be a Christian. Otherwise, just go be a nationalist, and don’t take the name of Jesus in vain.

I refuse to surrender the name of Jesus to folks who are preaching a false gospel of ethnic purity.

I love America. I love this country – the way she works – the things that we love here. No King but Christ, burgers and fireworks, road trips through the mountains, country songs about coming home to your woman. I love the right kind of football and hotdogs and apple pie. I believe that America is the greatest nation on earth, and I want to pass it on to my descendants – apple pie included.

Also, nations change. Cultures evolve. American culture today is very different from American culture in the time of George Washington. To act like we are supposed to take a Norman Rockwell painting and mandate it for every American household is not only an arbitrary ideal that cannot be found in Scripture – it’s also just really, really silly.

To say that “honor your father“ means “keep out the black people“ – well, if you stretch that text much farther, it is likely to snap and hit you in the face.

At the end of the day, I’m 1000% more concerned with the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ than I am with the preservation of Apple pie.

Photo by Flavio on Unsplash