Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism

Carter Heyward is an American feminist theologian and priest in the Episcopal Church, the province of the worldwide Anglican Communion in the United States. In 1974, she was one of the Philadelphia Eleven, eleven women whose ordinations eventually paved the way for the recognition of women as priests in the Episcopal Church in 1976. Heyward is the author of some eleven books and has edited / contributed to a further three. Her most recent books are Tears of Christopena: Mystical Musings on Grief, Evil, and Godding and She Flies On: A White Christian Debutante Wakes Up. She lives the North Carolina mountains south of Asheville.

American feminist theologian and Episcopal priest Carter Heywood is one of 11 women whose ordination led to allowing women into the priesthood in the Episcopal Church in 1976. Here she analyzes the current political divide and accompanying violence in the US, arguing that both are grounded in the founding of the US as a presumed “white, Christian nation” controlled by wealthy white men. Heywood traces the paths by which this assumption continues to inform politics, economics, social structures, and values. She views this influence as a threat to American democracy and a challenge to an alternative vision of the US as an inclusive, diverse society that supports “liberty and justice for all.” She lists seven sins that make white Christian nationalism so destructive and deems the most dangerous to be the presumption of omnipotence—the desire to have total power and control, leading to replacing democracy with theocracy (a dictatorship claiming to be ordained by a white God). The result is a politics of domination: men over women, whites over Blacks and BIPOC, humans over nature and nonhuman animals. She calls for action grounded in humility; in respect for all persons, the natural world, and animals; and loving nonviolence. Highly recommended.

• AcknowledgmentsPrefacePart I: In the BeginningChapter 1: Why This Book?Chapter 2: What is White Christian Nationalism?Part II: The Seven Deadly SinsChapter 3: Sin as Our Collective ProblemChapter 4: The First Sin: The Lust for OmnipotenceChapter 5: The Second Sin: EntitlementChapter 6: The Third Sin: White SupremacyChapter 7: The Fourth Sin: MisogynyChapter 8: The Fifth Sin: Capitalist SpiritualityChapter 9: The Sixth Sin: Domination of the Earth and Its CreaturesChapter 10: The Seventh Sin: ViolencePart III: A Call to ActionChapter 11: Questions and CallChapter 12: The First Call: Into Sharing Power-With One AnotherChapter 13: The Second Call: Into HumilityChapter 14: The Third Call: Into the Blackness of GodChapter 15: The Fourth Call: Into Empowering Women, Celebrating Sexuality, and Affirming Gender DiversityChapter 16: The Fifth Call: Transforming CapitalismChapter 17: The Sixth Call: Belonging with Earth and AnimalsChapter 18: The Seventh Call: To Break the Spiral of ViolenceResources and Bibliography