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In a time in United States history where the tenets of Christian nationalism are being publicly embraced by the nation’s most powerful leaders, four interfaith community leaders gathered to discuss the ideology, which promotes an overtly Christian political and legal structure. 

Held at , the panel was moderated by the Reverend Angela Denker, an award-winning author, ELCA Lutheran pastor, and veteran journalist, and featured:

• Ellen J. Kennedy, PhD, founder and executive director of World Without Genocide, a Minneapolis-based human-rights organization
• Najeeba Syeed, JD, El-Hibri endowed chair professor of interfaith studies and executive director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University
• Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, assistant director for partnerships at Yale Divinity School’s Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. 

The Goodman Lecture was founded at St. Kate’s in 1979 to promote dialogue between Jewish and Christian communities by Arthur and Constance Goodman, an interfaith couple who experienced bias and discrimination during their long marriage. Their daughters Mary Ann Goodman Reilly ’61 and Stephanie Goodman ’83, both St. Kate’s alumnae, attended this year's event.

The lecture drew a large crowd eager for interfaith dialogue and new perspectives on the impact of Christian nationalism on the United States and, by extension, the world. Denker opened the discussion by reading a Truth Social post by U.S. President Donald Trump on Easter morning that demanded, in part, that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz, or, “you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH!”

While reading this post may have felt incendiary, Denker said she highlighted it intentionally: “I share these remarks to make clear what environment we are in.” These comments reflect the values of Christian nationalism, explained Denker, an ideology promoting the idea that a nation’s country’s laws, public, policy, and national identity should explicitly align with a Christian, often conservative, interpretation of the Bible.

Denker asked panelists to discuss ways their lives have been impacted by Christian nationalism. Kennedy, who is Jewish and grew up in a small, mostly Christian Midwestern town, shared personal stories about living in a climate of Christian nationalism. 

“I was the only Jew in my high school graduating class,” Kennedy said. When she was growing up, she recalled, “Every year, teachers would ask me to stand in front of the class to explain the Jewish holidays.” She also recounted an incident later in her life when she received an email from a stranger that read, in part, “I see you, Jew” and told her that she should wear a yellow star like those that Jewish people were forced to wear during the Holocaust. 

Wilson-Hartgrove spoke about the impact of Christian nationalism on his life as a Christian.  “It is a matter of faith for me to challenge Christian nationalism,” he said. He added that mainline religious communities have been damaged by the growth of Christian nationalism. “This movement has hollowed out communities that are Christian,” he said.

The panelists agreed that Operation Metro Surge was an outgrowth of Christian nationalism, and that regardless of faith, all Minnesotans felt its impact.  

From her office on Augsburg University’s Minneapolis campus, Syeed said that she felt Christian nationalism’s impact viscerally, particularly being Muslim, a South Asian woman, and an immigrant. “By the end of November, early December, we began hearing whistles,” she said, referencing the whistles blown by community members to warn of the presence of ICE officers in their neighborhoods. These whistles soon became the new soundtrack to her life. They signaled both tension and support, Syeed said, adding that even though she is an American citizen, she now carries her passport with her wherever she goes. 

Panelists pointed out that the rise of Minnesotans’ “mutual aid” movement in response to Operation Metro Surge felt like one source of hope to come from the chaos. Kennedy told the audience about tikkun olam, Hebrew for “repair of the world,” and described the neighborly love that grew across the state in response to ICE presence as a form of tikkun olam. “It was our way to repair the world,” she said. 

During the evening’s question-and-answer period, several audience members said they had moved away from religious practice and asked how the panelists would advise them to reengage in a faith community. In response, the speakers emphasized centering love of neighbor without distinction — a tenet of St. Kate’s founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet — and reaching out to people from other faith traditions. The panelists agreed that these were not only good ways to rebuild healthy religious engagement, but our world’s strongest antidote to Islamophobia, antisemitism, and other intolerances.

“Having one friend from a different religious background reduces your bias significantly,” Syeed said. “What is important is what we say about other religious traditions when the people who practice those traditions are not in the room.”

Everyone has it in their power to help good triumph over evil, Kennedy added. It begins with a relatively simple act of kindness: “Reach out to your neighbor. Ring the doorbell. Say, ‘Hi, I would like to get to know you.’”

Photos by Rebecca Zenefski Slater ’10

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