Rob Reiner's God & Country Trailer Reaction | Christian Nationalism

Rob Reiner has produced a documentary on Christian nationalism and the trailer has been making the rounds online. Let's take a look.

#robreiner #christiannationalism #godandcountry

[mattwilly]

Just from the trailer, I am interested. It does bother me how Christianity has been abused in America to be used for politics

[barrywhite]

What I can't stand as a Christian about CN is that they think that they have the right to force others to live and believe as they do when it clearly says in the bible that our service to God is a choice, that if you force someone to do as you do and believe as you believe that he doesn't except that because what matters to him is that your coming to him with love and faith in your heart and not because someone is telling or forcing you to. So every day their behavior shows that for people who want to throw their faith and beliefs into other people's faces, that it shows they don't know the bible and what it says because if they did then they would know that their actions are against God's will.

[pamtaylor]

I think it’s meant to divide the Christian community. They have divided the large groups now they are subdividing all of us.

[riftshredder]

Leave it to an atheist to tell Christians they are all wrong

[PastorJeremyCollins]

I’m more skeptical than you are that this won’t just lump all conservative Christians into the CN camp, that’s the sense I got from the trailer.

[reformedpilgrim]

I'm critical of Christian Nationalism, but I'm not sure why Christian leaders would pair with Rob Reiner to criticize other Christians.

[geographicaloddity]

This isn't a new thing and everyone acts like it is. David Barton was my first exposure to it and it nearly pulled me in. CN provides both an explanation of what's wrong with things in the country now, but a solution. Nevermind that a lot of the basis for the belief system is not entirely accurate, or that most of the solutions won't work, people who are into this are almost impossible to reason with.

[JhutaNabi]

@DeanLentini have you watched the documentary now that it’s out? If so, would you be doing a podcast on the documentary?

[johnmorgan]

You're more gracious than I have been today. I hope you're right.

I just finished Tim Alberta's latest book The Kingdom, The Power, & The Glory. I don't agree with everything in it, but I agree with a ton more there than I don't. Tim is a mainstream journalist that is also a committed Christian from a conservative Presbyterian background. He is also the son of a pastor. I believe he handles the subject with grace and a desire to help the church.

I've been a big fan of David French and Russell Moore. I'm SBC, and I've been aligned with Russell through the events of the last few years regarding abuse and corruption. I was frankly disappointed when I saw them on this trailer. They have taken even more hits from the right in the last 24 hours than they normally do. I hope they indeed, as you mentioned, approach this from the lens of the gospel. I hope this isn't a Rob Bell moment for them...I give them the benefit of the doubt that it won't.

I do believe that the alliance here with Hollywood will do more to bash the intended target rather than cause them to turn away from Trumpism. Or, as the title of a blog post I saw this morning says: "Rob Reiner's God & Country Will Only Make More Christian Nationalists". I can see people in my church doubling down on Trumpism as a result.

[frankshannon]

This "documentary" is entertainment for leftists and little more. I'll bet the trailer is more of an executive summary than an advertisement.

[Historian]

I recommend finding one of the interviews Reiner has done to promote this documentary. He really did his homework. He’s very clear that there are different types of Christians, and he’s supportive of believing Christians who are not political extremists. I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Agree that this is a conversation for all Americans.

[ThisisPam]

While we definitely need pushback against CN, I’m not sure this film is something to get behind.

[Wren_Farthing]

It remains to be seen how the documentary actually covers Christian Nationalism, but I don't share the level of concern that other commenters have about how it will form public opinion of Christians. Why would a film featuring Christians speaking out against Christian Nationalism have the effect of implicating all Christians as Christian Nationalists? What am I missing?

[sarademoret]

Young men like you are an encouragement to an older Christian like myself.

[vasvd]

So I will express my fears about this project and hope they don’t materialize. Most of those fears are due to Rob Reiner’s own very public beliefs.

Just to declare my biases, I am both strongly Reformed and libertarian. I believe that for the most part the only proper function of the State is to protect our natural rights, including the right to assemble, speak, worship as we see fit, and those rights properly are vested in the individual. That means the State has just as much obligation to protect my freedom to attend my Reformed Presbyterian Church and speak to my beliefs as it does to Mr, Reiner’s freedom to make documentaries I may disagree with. And we should be able to have open discussions in the free marketplace of ideas without censorship or coercion. So I welcome this discussion to go forward, but I have concerns.

My first concern is that Meathead (I’m sorry, he played the role, so he gets to wear the label) is a very noted militant atheist (he is a big supporter of Freedom From Religion Foundation) and socialist. As such, his political philosophy has zero qualms about using State power to coerce or cudgel people’s beliefs or actions to conform to *its* moral view of the world. Honestly, if you were to take an honest survey of most professing Christian Nationalists and see to the extent to which they really want to intrude into private lives, and compare that with most professing collectivists (like socialists), I would be willing to bet that the CNs have a less aggressive role planned for the State than the collectivists. So my question would be, is Meathead really concerned that Christian Nationalism if implemented by power of the State would be harmful to people and society? Or is he concerned that it is challenging his philosophy for dominance in that sphere? This is a question a discerning viewer should bring to this film.

My second concern would be if this film is really a propaganda piece discouraging Christians from bringing their values to the public sphere at all. I am pretty convinced, based on Meathead’s history, that this is the underlying agenda. It is entirely one thing to sound the alarm bells about restricting freedom of conscience and advocating for an open and inclusive society where all may participate to the extent that they can. That’s all fine and good, and I would agree. However, these discussions often involve using intimidation and fear of ostracism against Christians for taking Christian stances on things publicly. Obviously this objection to Christian Nationalism is going to be to some extent a stalking horse for the arguments against anti-abortion legislation in the USA. So as Christians, we need to be very strong on asserting our freedom to act and advocate according to our conscience. My fear is that Mr. Reiner is going to use this platform as an attempt to convince us not to, and to convince non-Christians to use force to not allow us to.

Basically, my greatest fear is that this film will end up being some sort of “Die Ewige Christin”. And as much as I want to condemn the Christian Nationalists for bringing it on us, I am more prepared to fight in the trenches alongside them, than I am to man the trenches with unhinged, militant, collectivists like Meathead.

[BillWalkerWarren]

This is going to be interesting. Rob Reiner is a political animal . He is heavily involved in politics. He considered running for governor of California but decided not to. He has campaigned for Hillary Clinton, and Howard Dean. He has also worked on several political issues in California. Living next door to California you do hear about the hot topic issue there, and many times he is involved. I am just wondering if he isn’t going to not bring his politics into this. He is an extreme atheist, but he lumps cultural Christianity and Christians into the same category. Example of one of his beliefs is that Christians are responsible for slavery because it’s promoted in the bible. So I am somewhat skeptical about this.
Thanks for the video I had no idea he was doing this.
Praying for you and yours
Blessings

[kimber_]

Documentaries are always biased, but there are times when a bias can be helpful (if it's honest and open to correction). If this is a biased perspective that clarifies the differences between the monster that is politicized christendom in the states and what it is to follow Christ, then I think it could be a helpful thing to suggest to our non-believing friends! A resource to offer that helps people disentangle the God of the universe from the mess that no one should bless (CN).

[bordendonna]

I just always think about that Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” This ideology doesn’t line up with scripture. Whenever Pres T used to say, “Make America great again” I just cringed. The dominionist people believe this stuff. Yeah, the film will be Christian bashing. It’s growing.

[DIYRobotGirl]

I am atheist and that movie is nothing but democrat propaganda. I will wait for it on Netflix and probably won't watch it then neither.

[KennyVert]

I appreciate your response very much. Thank you.