As recently as yesterday, ideas were churning around in my head regarding how I, as a Christian, should approach the idea of loving my country. Well I was pretty busy yesterday with some family wedding activities and only just returned to a quiet living room, so here I go.
I like to start with definitions where discussions about particular words are concerned, so first, you can get an incomplete breakdown of my religious ideology by looking at past posts (and don’t read just one if you read any). And now for the terms. I like Webster, so I’ll use Webster, and they say that patriotism is “love for or devotion to one’s country.” Webster tells us, also, that a patriot is “one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests.” And, finally, nationalism:
loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups
So today I read a post on the Blanken-blog which addressed this issue largely by way of quoting and linking to a very thoughtful post by another blogger named John McCollum (Blankenship elaborated a bit on his own post). You should read those two (fairly short) posts before continuing, because you won’t otherwise have the background, and I’m not going to restate the content of these gentleman when I essentially agree with them.
Have you read them? Be honest…okay, good.
So in light of what Blankenship and McCollum have already said, my Christianity, and the definitions I’ve included, I’ve come to the conclusion that patriotism often and nationalism always conflicts with my loving all people equally the way God loves us.
I’m glad I went to the dictionary, because I’d had this vague notion in my mind that patriotism is a milder, softer sense of appreciation for the country in which we live. I believe this does fit within the denotation, and in that respect I’m fine with it. The notion of having a “sense of place” – particularly at the local level – appeals to me, and I appreciate this nation of which I’m familiar. I’m comfortable with many of the conventions and systems in place, around which I developed as a person.
But the second half of the definition – “devotion to one’s country” – that rubs me the wrong way. Devotion implies loyalty and taking sides, and as a Christian, I have no mandate to take sides where nationality is involved. ESPECIALLY when any or all of those sides potentially conflicts with my Christianity. Certainly I advocate spending time, money, and effort to better our surroundings, and it’s often more efficient to work as such close to home rather than abroad. But love and devotion for a country are only a few small steps from…
Nationalism. This, as a Christian, I cannot support in any form. The idea of any one people holding superiority on the basis of (often arbitrary) political boundaries on a map is not only logically absurd but, as McCollum states, “demonstrate[s] my infidelity to the only Kingdom worthy of my allegiance.” Go ahead and love your country and its inhabitants, but no more or less than any other country or people.
So there it is, out in the open. I’ll probably never be elected to office either (not that I want to), but at least I’m honest with myself about this.
