The US Civil War as a Theological War: Confederate Christian Nationalism and the League of the South

Abstract

IntroductionFormed in Alabama in 1994, the League of the South is a nationalist organization that advocates secession from the United States of America and the establishment of a fifteen-state Confederate States of America (CSA) – four states more than seceded during the US Civil War (1861–1865), the additional states being Okla­homa, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland (Southern Patriot). With over ten thou­sand members, the League professes a commitment to constructing this new CSA based on a reading of Christianity and the Bible that can be identified as “Chris­tian nationalist.” This position is centred upon what we identify as the theological war thesis, an assessment that interprets the nineteenth-century CSA to be an orthodox Christian nation and understands the 1861–1865 US Civil War to have been a theological war over the future of American religiosity fought between devout Confederate and heretical Union states. In turn, this reasoning leads to claims that the “stars and bars” battle flag and other Confederate icons are Chris­tian symbols and the assertion that opposition to them equates to a rejection of Christianity.