How Christian Nationalism gets it wrong and disrespects U.S. military forces

Adams County’s State Senator Doug Mastriano used his Christian Nationalist beliefs to argue in a recent Gettysburg Times opinion piece that the battlefield successes of United States military forces are part of his Christian God’s plan for our nation and that two of the American army’s greatest accomplishments, including George Washington’s escape from the British army on August 27, 1776, and the December 1944 liberation of the city of Bastogne in Belgium during WW II, were literally the result of miracles performed by his God.

One of our (Lembo’s) fathers was in General George Patton’s Third Army that liberated Bastogne and we together wrote a book about his World War II experiences, “A Combat Engineer with Patton’s Army: The Fight Across Europe With the 80th “Blue Ridge” Division.”

Despite Mastriano’s assertions, a prayer Patton had his chaplain write did not break the German siege and liberate Bastogne: Sergeant Frank T. Lembo and thousands of other soldiers from Patton’s Third Army did. We owe our thanks to the 19,000 American soldiers who died in this battle.

Mastriano’s column makes his Christian Nationalist views clear. He literally believes a miracle from his God saved Washington’s Army when it abandoned New York City and a Christian prayer cleared the skies over Belgium and Luxembourg during the last stages of WW II.

Assigning credit for U.S. military victories to Christian prayers and “miracles” is disrespectful to our military forces, including those who performed superhuman deeds in the last two weeks of December 1944.

You can learn more about Christian Nationalism as Orrtanna resident Pamela Cooper-White discusses her recent book, “The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Divide,” at the Adams County Democratic Committee Headquarters, 24 Chambersburg St., from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. this  Friday, January 6.