Owen Strachan Fails History And Strawmans Christian Nationalism

Owen Strachan got a lot of attention for his video defending the Constitution from Christian Nationalism. However, Owen Strachan is more accurately named Owen Strawman. Though foreseeable, on Thursday, a New York jury convicted Donald Trump in a sham trial, thus causing Owen Strachan’s defense of the current order to age like milk. In a video full of strawman positions, let’s cover the top three.

Theonomy or Christian Nationalism

An instant fallacy of Owen Strachan is his conflation of theonomy with Christian Nationalism. Owen Strachan repeatedly attacks theonomy claiming that Christians are not called to establish Old Testament laws in a New Testament context. Of course, there are various problems with this as our legal system was largely based on Christian morality. However, Christian Nationalism is distinct from theonomy because of the principles of prudence and particularity. Stephen Wolfe, author of The Case For Christian Nationalism, is not a theonomist because he believes that nations can and should adopt laws suited to their customs and needs.

Moreover, Christian Nationalists are much more bearish on immigration and have a better basis for limiting immigration than theonomists. Moreover, Christian Nationalists would praise Bukele’s mass incarceration efforts in El Salvador whereas theonomists in many cases oppose prisons.

Ignoring Church History

Owen Strachan makes numerous claims that run contrary to church history. Throughout church history, it was assumed that a Christian magistrate would govern as a Christian. This is seen in Tiradates III of Armenia, Emperor Constantine, and several other ancient examples. He states that it’s good when Christian politicians get good laws passed but does not specify what types of laws are good and how they aren’t compatible with Christian Nationalism.

Owen Strachan claims that Christianity spread the most during times of high religious liberty, citing America’s role in advancing the gospel. With this, Strachan does not specify years. So is he talking about the era where there were blasphemy laws, state-established churches, or Mormons being expelled from New York and then Missouri? Who knows because Strachan doesn’t. Moreover, the British Empire was especially providential in spreading the gospel to the literal four corners of the earth. They have an established denomination, Anglicanism, and they took it everywhere.

These are periods of times referenced by Strachan but he seems uninterested in actually exploring their finer details. Strachan claims that America was more effective in advancing the gospel than the magisterial states of the Reformers. This was true, but it’s less about religious liberty and far more about stability.

Calls For Violence

Owen Strachan consistently admonished Christian NAtionalists for trying to foment revolution because they denounced the current order as “Trashworld.” Despite referencing Andrew Isker, Strachan appears unaware that Isker believes that the 2nd Amendment is a larp and states that a revolution is impossible, dissuading against such line of thinking. Strachan claims that Christian Nationalists believe that “we are minutes away from a Christian Nation.” Again, this is a strawman, as most Christian Nationalists are playing a longer game, far beyond the next election.

Owen Strawman hasn’t done the reading of Christian Nationalists or church history and it shows during his bad faith argumentations.