Gavin Ortlund filmed a video called “The Dangers of Christian Nationalism.” One of his chief concerns is the loss of religious toleration, a first amendment right that Ortlund considers to be sacrosanct. This is fascinating for a number of reasons. First of all, it reveals that Gavin has a religious devotion to the Constitution, over and above what he finds in Scripture. To be specific, it is the Constitution as viewed through the lens of 20th Century Liberalism. The founders never intended the 1A to protect demonic statues and Islamic ghettos. Secondly, Gavin does a Jesus juke, explaining that we actually win by losing. After accusing Christian nationalists of commingling the spiritual and the political realms, he actually does that himself by encouraging Christians to accept worldly losses (and even death) in order to be more than conquerors spiritually. Thirdly, Gavin’s a priori commitments to liberalism actually prevent him from what he says at the end, “So let us by all means do everything we can to now bring his lordship into every aspect of life, in all the ways that we can, including the political realm.” Ortlund has already conceded that public idolatry must be tolerated! So it’s not “by all means” in any sense at all. It would be more accurate to say “by all means that aren’t mean.” This is very much the same loser theology promoted by Phil Johnson and others, wherein we should vote for godly candidates and laws, but just don’t take it too far since we win by losing. Of course, this is all designed to ultimately discourage Christians from political engagement, or worse to permit them to vote for the left. As Gavin’s father Ray Ortlund posted in 2024, “Never Trump. This time Harris. Always Jesus.” 🤮