“Americanized Christianity” is my descriptive term of choice to distinguish this particular nationalized version from other expressions bearing the larger brand. There have been and are so many versions that the term Christian has little meaning without some modifier.
All efforts at being Christian are shaped by cultural values, embedded beliefs and personal experiences. That is, we all look through lenses that impact how we understand, embrace and practice faith.
“Especially among Christians in positions of wealth and power, the idea of reading the Gospels and keeping Jesus’ commandments as stated therein has been replaced by a curious process of logic,” writes Wendell Berry in Blessed are the Peacemakers: Christ’s Teachings of Love, Compassion and Forgiveness.
He explains: “According to this process, people first declare themselves to be followers of Christ, and then they assume that whatever they say or do merits the adjective ‘Christian’”
Those claiming to have custody of the one true way invalidate their faith by that very claim.
As the Apostle Paul affirmed, according to the King James Version of the Bible: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12
The image of seeing through distorted glass should cause needed self-awareness when examining how our faith perspectives are shaped by culture, personal preferences and other factors.
A maturing faith requires honesty over defensiveness. What gets presented as firm faith is often the most fragile kind — fearful of any examination.
To a degree, faith is shaped by how someone wants it to be. It’s been said that the difference between a liberal and conservative Christian is which Bible verses they choose to ignore.
The glass— or lens — through which someone sees, though obscurely, makes a difference in what one sees. This is particularly true when approaching the Bible.
How one uses (or abuses) the Bible is a major factor in the shaping one’s religious bearing. Too much emphasis is placed on what one thinks about the Bible rather than what Jesus called his followers to be and do.
In fact, the Bible is often elevated to the place that only God occupies. A good idol is still an idol.
That reality doesn’t diminish the Bible. It put it in its proper and important place.
It is helpful to recall that for centuries the followers of Jesus had no access to what became “the Bible” to us through canonization, translations and eventually mass production.
There is no pure translation of the Bible and certainly no pure view through any of our eyes. We all see through lenses. In fact, those who claim to take the Bible literally are the most likely to do so selectively.
Even the most literal sayings of Jesus get dismissed as being out of context or irrelevant to today — such as in the face of support from white Americanized evangelicals for family destroying hostilities toward immigrants.
I started to cite the obvious red-letter verses. But those are obscured through a white nationalist lens.
Bible studies arose as a major aspect of congregational life which seemed in every way to be good. Biblical literacy meant individual believers could access scripture for themselves without an official interpretation being handed down.
There was a reason slaveowners didn’t want slaves to be literate and have access to Moses’ deliverance or Jesus’ call to love one’s neighbor as oneself or Paul’s proclamation that all are one in Christ.
And slaveowners made sure their pastors skipped over those parts as well in favor of a selective admonition for slaves to be subject to their masters. Avoiding at all costs (and the economic costs were high for both slaveowner and preacher)seeing scripture through the lens of Jesus’ life, teachings and calling.
Therefore, tragically, Bible study has often been so culturally influenced and selectively done that it deflects from following Jesus rather than enhancing it. That occurs when Jesus is subjugated to some selective texts rather than being the lens through which the Bible is interpreted.
Biblical knowledge tends to be valued above faithfulness to Jesus. However, one can know the difference between Elijah and Elisha, name all seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation, and fail miserably at following Jesus.
Through a nationalistic lens it is easy to claim a false persecution by identifying with the wrong people in scripture. Despite all the power and privileges of white Americanized Christians there is a profound failure to see the clear similarities of their own power structures to the injustice producing empires that the prophets and Jesus warned about at great cost.
Through a Jesus lens we might get a better glimpse of what it means to love God with all one’s being and one’s broadly defined neighbor as oneself.
Christianity in America is largely a civil religion that makes one’s commitment to God and nation inseparable. The two are so mixed in that opposing a governmental effort at odds with the life and teachings of Jesus gets one deemed both unpatriotic and unchristian.
These are not one in the same commitment. And which one is prioritized speaks volumes about the particular version or perversion of faith one has embraced.
In closing his 1977 book, The Cultural Subversion of the Biblical Faith, James D. Smart wrote:
“We are much more comfortable with a civil religion that provides us with principles and ideals that point the way to success in both personal and national life. But comfort, success, or even national unity is hardly a first concern of any thoughtful Christian.”
Perhaps “what make us comfortable” is the lens through which faith is most likely viewed, embraced and defended. And it’s so much less risky than seeing and seeking life through a Jesus lens.
John D. Pierce is director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative (jesusworldview.org), part of Belmont University’s Rev. Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership. Details coming soon for the Jesus Worldview Conference in Nashville October 12-13, 2026.