"With God on Our Side" under Christian Nationalism

It is no secret that in the US, the lines between church and state are blurring rapidly. Even though it would be around 20 years until the first major Satanic panic (arguably the first major wave of Christian nationalism), Bob Dylan saw it in the American view of war in 1964.

Each verse details a different conflict dominated by the US state and military (the reason I refrain from using the word "war" is because in the second verse, Dylan details the genocide of Native Americans, and genocide is not synonymous with war). The verses are organized chronologically, showing how the idea that God supporting the US has been an idea practically since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The first verse sets up a unique perspective for the rest of the song, starting with, "Oh, my name, it ain't nothin'/My age, it means less". American culture is heavily tied to individualism and has been since immediately after World War Two. A removal of the self from the story one is telling is to reject American culture. In the 1960s, American patriotism was strong as was Christianity in the US. Often, the two intermingled (as they often do today). In the first verse, Dylan rejects one aspect of American culture, segwaying into the rejection of more aspects of American culture. This is not to say that Dylan is against Christianity as a whole; what he is against is the intermingling of patriotism and religion, in this case, leading to Christian nationalism.

The second verse starts with the lines "Oh, the history books tell it/They tell it so well" (in the context of Manifest Destiny). In school, we have all been taught at least a semi-whitewashed version of history (if your history education was actually flawless, you are more rare than a unicorn), especially regarding the state's relationship to Indigenous peoples. Who would want to admit to a genocide performed by their own country? No, it's much easier to point to the Trail of Tears and the Massacre at Wounded Knee as anomalies rather than the norm. To learn more accurate histories, one will either need to read books outside of school or take very specialized college courses that not all schools offer. For this reason, most people do not know history beyond what their elementary and high schools offered, which impacts how they interact with world around them. They may understand treaty rights as "special rights"--not retained rights in exchange for their land (which is what they are). This misunderstanding leads to conflicts between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples in the surrounding area (such as the Walleye Wars).

The third verse starts with "The Spanish-American/War had its day/The Civil War too/Was soon laid away". Dylan includes these wars in the same verse because, in both cases, the opposing sides were Christian and believed themselves to be fighting on the side of the Abrahamic God. He ends the verse with "With guns in their hands/And God on their side". Of course, war itself is contradictory to Christianity. Jesus was pacifistic, preaching peace over war. To kill in his name is to misunderstand his teachings. Of course, there is a difference between the New and Old Testaments, and that is where messaging can become convoluted. The New Testament preaches strictly peace, but using the Old Testament, the Christian messaging used by the Union in the Civil War becomes a bit more understandable. After all, with the parting of the Red Sea, God killed the slave owners. Nothing from that text can justify either Spain's nor the United States' desire to colonize Cuba, though. What I find striking about this verse that is becoming more relevant today is the US is not the only country becoming more conservative and religious. Many countries (specifically Western countries) that are often viewed as liberal are rolling back on their progressive policies, such as Sweden, the UK, France, and Canada. Religious fundamentalism is less of a concern in Europe than in the US, but it inadvertently plays a role in many of Europe's conservative policies since the Western culture is being shifted to the right by the US where conservative culture is largely based in religious fundamentalism.

The fourth verse discusses World War One. It ends with the lines "You don't count the dead/When God's on your side". This is a fundamental idea of the US. Beyond the wars for land or other commodities, placing human lives below profit that have run rampant through our nation's history, "the ends justifying the means" is at the core of the US' culture. Since the industrial revolution, the working class has both literally and figuratively been killed by their work (like people in coal mines who get lung cancer from the heavy exposure to coal or people in Amazon factories being under such rigid conditions that they are working themselves sick), but for the longest time, that has been accepted as what one must do to make it in the world. Of course, workers have a few more rights than they did in the 1800s, but that doesn't mean the conditions are acceptable. The US has historically been a very wealthy country, so killing the workers was just something that had to be done to get there. God was on our side because we were wealthy. Now, it looks like we may be heading for a recession. People are still being worked to death, but the country is not profiting as much. Will people start to count the dead now that God is not on our side? Only time can tell.

The fifth verse is about World War Two. Dylan details the horrors of the Holocaust and ends the verse with "The Germans now too/Have God on their side". This line demonstrates what many Christian nationalist Americans think: God is always on the side of the US, but he flips between which other countries he sides with depending on who our allies are. In 1964, Germany having God on its side was not contradictory to the US having God on its side; Germany was an American ally against Russia. Now, though, it is. In the second Trump era, we are at odds with Germany regarding Ukraine. If Ukraine can remain independent, Germany has kept God at its side, and we have lost him. If Russia is able to cede Ukraine successfully, the US has God on its side, and Germany has lost him as they did in both world wars. Of course, to Christian nationalists, it will only be a case of God if whatever side the US is fighting loses (which has flipped in the past few months). In the Middle East, though, Germany and the US can both have God on our side. If Israel destroys Palestine and its people, both countries can win. This would especially be a case of God to Christian nationalists; taking place in the holy land and being the case where both countries support a Jewish nation-state. If, by some miracle, Palestinians return to their homelands safely, again, this wouldn't be a case of God to Christian nationalists. It's very circumstantial for them since their religion says that God would never lead them astray (and they equate the state with God), but anything positive is an act of God (or the state, or both God and the state).

The sixth verse details the Cold War. It starts with the lines "I've learned to hate the Russians/All through my whole life". In 1964, Americans' anti-Russian and anti-communist sentiments were in full force. It had only been 5 years since McCarthyism had ended, and the Cold War was still in full force. Today, the American relationship to Russia has shifted. Overall, the culture is still very anti-communist, but, let's face it: the USSR was never really communist. History books claim it was, but if you read communist theory, you will realize that the USSR was just authoritarian and never actually achieved communism. From a cultural standpoint, Americans still very much despise the Russians. In the public school system, when you learn about the Cold War, the USSR is framed as completely in the wrong, and the USA is framed as completely in the right. While I am by no means sympathizing with the USSR, that does not mean the USA is a paradise by comparison; it is still very much an evil empire. Even Russia today is seen as evil and not something the United States would ever become. If you mention Trump's close ties to Putin, his supporters will deny the allegations instead of justify their relationship because the Cold War mindset still lingers. Christian nationalists often have this "us vs them" mentality. Whether it is someone of a different religion, someone from a different country, someone of different political beliefs, or someone they perceive as "other" in any way, they can easily dehumanize them due their differences. When you see someone as lesser than yourself, when going to war with them, it's easier to "accept it all bravely" as Dylan puts it.

The seventh verse is still about the Cold War, but it is about a different aspect of it: nuclear warfare. Even though firing a nuclear bomb kills and destroys the lives of many innocent citizens, nationalists see it as justified so long as their country is the one firing it. Having to do so would only be the fault of their enemy since they would be forcing them to do so. "If fire them we're forced to/Then fire them we must." They can justify their state's actions because they have the automatic bias. Christian nationalists have another layer to their bias; the action having been in God's will. According to Christian doctrine, God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent, but he has chosen to give us free will. Because of that, humans act in sin. Christian nationalists see their state as almost like God, so they see its actions as omnibenevolent and a part of God's will. "And ya never ask questions/When God's on your side". You ought not to question God's will, so to Christian nationalists, you ought never question the state's will. Another aspect of this is the fact that people never question their god when things are working in their favor, so if one's own country benefits, they ought not to question their God's reasoning for doing so.

The eighth verse gives an example from the Bible of evil triumphing over good: Judas and the Romans triumphed over Jesus even though we'd expect God to be on the side of his own son. Dylan points out that if God is always on the winning side in history, he must have sided with Judas. If one believes that to be the case, then it is possible that God sided with the US in all the previously mentioned historical events, but that does not necessarily justify them. If one rejects that theory, then perhaps American triumph is not a result of God.

The ninth and final verse is Dylan's genuine reflection on what he had just sang about. Because of the contradiction between a loving and peaceful god and war that Christian nationalists insist were backed by God, he finds that "The confusion I'm feeling/Ain't no tongue can tell". It's a contradiction he had just displayed throughout the last seven minutes. He also points out that "If God's on our side/He'd stop the next war." This goes back to the third verse: the New Testament preaches strictly peace. The God that is conveying his message through Jesus cannot be the same one using his powers to contribute to wars on Earth for he would want to prevent wars.

Before I end with a conclusion, there is one additional verse I must discuss. Dylan began performing it in the 1980s. Since it is not as easy to find as the rest of the song, here are the words: "In the 1960s came the Vietnam War/Can someone tell me what we were fighting for?/So many young men died/So many mothers cried/Now I ask the question/Was God on our side?" This is similar to the eighth verse, but instead of showing an example where the winning side is practically exclusively seen as in the wrong, it shows an example where the US doesn't win. It demonstrates another paradox for Christian nationalists: either the US was in the wrong (so the state is not as adjacent to God as they believe) or God does not partake in war (so they cannot attribute other American victories to God). It also relates to what I discussed regarding verse four: Americans often believe in ends justifying the means. This was a case, though, where the means used were brutal (napalm, invading surrounding countries, etc), but the ends were not what was desired. Therefore, were American actions in Vietnam really justified?

The beliefs of American Christian nationalists don't only go against the Bible (hating those who are different, supporting unjustified killing, and worshipping the state (putting another god before the Abrahamic God)), but it also goes against the Constitution (believing the US to be a Christian nation, refusing to separate the church from the state). By trying to support these two separate texts fully, they end up going against both of them. I strongly suggest any Christian nationalist who may be reading this to reread both the Bible and the Constitution because they way they are operating disgraces both texts they hold so dear.