When First Baptist Church, Dallas, posted billboards saying, “America is a Christian Nation,” Mayor Mike Rawlings blasted them, saying, “That is not the Christ I follow. It’s not the Dallas I want to be — to say things that do not unite us but divide us.”

He told Todd Starnes, “I also believe that as an American I can honor my devout Christian beliefs and still respect the fact that this is a diverse world and I represent a diverse constituency. Those two thoughts can go together. I don’t believe that the billboard captured those important nuances.”

Urgent question: What is Mayor Rawlings really after for his city? Unity? He’s on the wrong track. Not that unity’s a bad idea — but this isn’t unity. It’s a cruel and divisive fake.

I Can’t Believe This Isn’t Obvious

There are lots of things a mayor could want: a city characterized by truth-seeking, for example, in which everyone can bring his opinions into the open for public dialogue. Or maybe a city known for its freedom of speech. Rawlings opted for neither. He wants a city focused on things that “unite us” and “respect the fact that this is a diverse world.”

Ain’t gonna happen. Not because the people wouldn’t go for it. It doesn’t matter if they want it or not: It’s just impossible.

I can’t believe this isn’t obvious. I can hardly believe no one’s out protesting against it in the streets. Because it’s a sham. This “unity” is a horrific, self-destructive lie. It’s completely self-contradictory, ruining the very thing it claims to honor: people coming together in something like real unity.

Yet this same “unity” is an American value. The whole country — not just Mayor Rawlings — has elevated it to a supreme decision-making value.

I worry for America.

Unity That Isn’t

Here’s what’s wrong with this kind of “unity.”

First, who and what are being “united” when one group of people is told to shut up about their beliefs? If you expected me to say, “Everyone but Christians,” you’ve guessed wrong. Sure, you could make a case that Christians are being excluded. But that’s far from the biggest problem, which is that no one gets to experience real unity with anyone this way.

The reason? It’s because no one is allowed to experience real relationship with anyone. We have to keep something of ourselves hidden, walled off, contained inside a hidden inner room. That’s what the mayor told these Christians to do. It’s okay to have your beliefs — he said, in effect — but if those beliefs bother someone else, you’ve got to keep them to yourselves.

So what kind of unity can anyone experience with a Christian (or vice versa), when that’s the rule he’s got to play by? None. Nothing but sham unity, that is. Unity that puts on a face as if everyone was getting along, but the only reason it seems to work is that everyone is putting on a face.

And I don’t believe for a minute that it’s only Christians who are hiding parts of themselves this way. Atheists have to do it (many of them say), because they’d be rejected for their beliefs if they didn’t.

We can’t be real with each other. And there is no real uniting of persons without real persons being united.

Paternalistic Protectiveness

I’m not being naive here. I’m not saying unity happens automatically just because people have permission to be real with each other. But it absolutely cannot happen if they don’t. Better to have a small but fighting chance than no chance at all.

As for fighting: We’ve had plenty of it. Let’s be sure we know what we’re fighting for. I get the sense Mayor Rawlings was fighting to keep non-Christians from having to feel uncomfortable around Christians. That’s the second problem with his “unity” — it’s paternalistic as can be.

It reminds me of the psych prof in Florida who ripped a student for telling the class he thought Christianity was true. The prof’s core question: How do Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and non-believers feel under this “bigotry” of the dominant culture? My thought was: If I were living where Islam was the dominant culture, I’d expect Muslims to say they thought their religion was true. I’d expect it here, too. I would recognize our disagreement for what it is.

And I would be okay with it. But this prof didn’t think his religious minority students could handle the pain. He as much as said they weren’t up to it, so he had to step in to protect them. See what I mean, “paternalism”?

“Unity, Unity” In Ways There Can Be No Unity

Mayor Rawlings was taking care of Dallas’s minorities just the same way. He’d be a lot stronger leader if he’d call on people to man up, own their beliefs and live with the fact that not everyone agrees. Maybe if people found out it wasn’t okay to shout each other down for their differences, they’d learn they don’t have to shoot each other down, either.

But remember: This wasn’t just Mayor Rawlings’s voice. He was lined right up with American “morality.”

So I worry for America.

God spoke through Jeremiah, “They have healed the wounds of My people lightly, saying ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” America’s leaders are crying out for “Unity, unity” in ways there can be no unity.

By telling us to live from behind barriers, to show ourselves only through masks, our leaders and thought-leaders are healing our disunity lightly. Which really means — as it did in Jeremiah’s day — they are healing nothing at all.

Tom Gilson is a senior editor with The Stream and the author of Critical Conversations: A Christian Parents’ Guide to Discussing Homosexuality with Teens (Kregel Publications, 2016). Follow him on Twitter: @TomGilsonAuthor.