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Christianity and Patriotism

CultureWatch by Eric Rigney

I love America.  My heart swells when I think of Patrick Henry proclaiming, “Give me liberty or give me death!”  I feel proud when I see the president on TV proclaiming that we are a unified country.  When I hear clips of JFK saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you …” I want to cheer.  I think our way of life and our ideology are worth defending.  Like Mr. Henry, I would choose to face death before I would accept the loss of liberty, for me or my fellow countrymen.

So please know that I love my country.  I think the United States of America is the best country in the history of earth.  I would die for her if called upon to do so, and the cause was just.  I am unashamedly a patriot.

Having said that, I must point out something that has been bugging me since the horrible tragedy of September 11.  Specifically, I have noticed a strong and disturbing inclination among my fellow Christians to equate Christianity and patriotism.  But I must ask the question: are they equal?  Are they one and the same?  At the risk of being branded as a traitor, I have to say that I think they are not.

 This is not a new thing, of course.  There have always been those for whom, at least implicitly, Christianity and patriotism are synonymous.  But what got me on my hind legs about it this time (to paraphrase Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon) is a service that was held recently at the church I attend.  Two Sundays ago, the church held a “Patriotic Service” in place of the regular Sunday morning service.  Now this would not have bothered me nearly as much if the leaders of the service had honored our nation’s military men and women (which they did), said a few other patriotic things, and then used all of that as a springboard to talk about Jesus and His offer of eternal life.  But that’s not what happened.  In fact, aside from a couple of hymns, the service was barely recognizable as a specifically Christian gathering.

I really hate to sound like an old fuddy-duddy: “Back in my day, when we had church we had church!  Bah!  Humbug!”  But I guess I have a more narrow, Biblical idea of what church is for and what we should do when we go there.  And it has something to do with the glorification of God and His son Jesus Christ.

But I digress.  My point is this: the aforementioned service was merely representative of the Christianity = patriotism inclination I mentioned earlier.  The attitude seemed to be that the normal church service (focused on God) and the patriotic church service (focused on man) were interchangeable.  They are not.  I say again: Christianity and patriotism are not one and the same.

But neither am I saying that they are entirely different.  Please note that I am NOT saying that patriotism and Christianity are DISsimilar.  Many of the same traits are associated with both: loyalty, honor, respect, reverence, sacrifice, a sense of something higher than oneself.  My point here is not that Christianity and patriotism are opposing ideals; just that they are significantly different.

I suppose I’d better hurry up and make a list here.  Throughout my career of hacking people off with my writing, I have discovered that making lists helps keep people from misunderstanding or misquoting you.  It’s not foolproof – there’s always someone who is determined to misunderstand or misquote you – but it helps.  So here goes

Ways in Which Christianity and Patriotism are Similar and Different:

1.  Christianity and patriotism are similar when it comes to loyalty.  Both require and deserve loyalty.  Loyalty is a beautiful trait, one of William Faulkner’s “verities,” and it is a trait worth attaining.  It is not something that can be passively attained, but rather is born of an active desire to be loyal.  I have little use for anyone who is disloyal to their country or their faith.

But,

2.  Christianity and patriotism differ in the type of loyalty, and the extent to which we should be loyal.  The Bible is clear that, as Christians, the earth is not our permanent home – our true citizenship is in heaven with God and Christ.  Therefore, we owe the highest and truest loyalty to the highest and truest authority: God.  Thus, if ever the ideals of God and country are opposed, our ultimate loyalty must lie with God.  And loyalty to country is not by default loyalty to God.

This is not quite as hair-splitting as it may seem.  It is a rather important distinction.  For instance, suppose you are called upon to die for your country – should you?  Well, (and I say this advisedly) it depends.  It depends on whether or not the cause is just, and, more to the point, whether it is in keeping with God’s law.  Let’s say the U.S. government asked you to fight in a war in which we are forcing another country to denounce God, or one in which we are trying to make them legalize murder or rape.  Should you join in the fight?  I think the answer is obvious.  I don’t think either of those scenarios will ever happen, of course, but the point is valid nonetheless: our ultimate loyalty lies with God, not country.  The two are not necessarily the same thing.  I obviously did not come up with this idea myself – it has been stated far more eloquently by better people – but somehow we seem to have lost sight of it.

3.  Christianity and patriotism are similar in that each requires obedience and submission.  We are to submit to earthly authority because it is given by God, and because the alternative is chaos and anarchy.  Under most circumstances, obedience to your country is a virtue, for the same reason that obedience to your parents is a virtue – because you love them.

But,

4.  Obedience to God and country differs in scope and limitation.  I believe that obedience to God is required without exception in every case, and even without question sometimes. (I do encourage questioning when appropriate – I think it’s healthy, and I don’t think God is afraid of it -- but sometimes it is literally necessary just to trust and obey).  There will never be a case where obedience to God is not the right decision.

Obedience to country, however, does have limitations.  Again, I refer you to the unlikely example above – there may be a time when your government asks you to do something that is wrong.  Don’t do it.  And I dare say we should never obey our government without question – unless we want to hop on the Hogwart's Express to Orwell’s Oceana.  Obey?  Yes, usually.  Question?  Absolutely, always. (Of course I am not talking about unhealthy, antagonistic, combative questioning, but good, healthy, concerned citizen questioning.  I know some people don’t even like THAT kind, and those are the people you need to question the most.)

If we need an example of a time when it was right to question and disobey our government, we need look no further than the previous century, to the unjust Jim Crowe laws and government-supported discrimination.  I know there is a back-lash against references to the Civil Rights Movement these days – I think we are a bit tired of rehashing the past and constantly being asked to feel guilty about it.  But I am not bringing it up for that reason.  I’m simply pointing out an example of a situation in which it was not only right, but also appropriate and just, to question our government, and then to disobey it until it changed its laws.  There is a right way to disobey, of course, and the right way won out, thus saving our country a lot of bloodshed; but that’s a whole other article.

5.  My final point about the differences between Christianity and patriotism is that one is simply far more important than the other.  As I said earlier, I love my country.  I salute and respect those who are fighting for us, as well as those who stand ready to do so.  But our country is not the most important thing in the world.  Jesus Christ’s glorification and redemptive power – those are the most important things in the world.  We can shape our children into the most wonderful and inspiringly patriotic citizens in the history of America, and it will make no difference at all if they do not know Christ.  Sure, it might make a difference here on earth, and I’m sure we will all admire them.  But will it make a difference eternally?  We should teach our children respect and loyalty and obedience to America, yes; but more importantly, we should teach them to love God and obey His commands, and we should point them in the direction of His son, Jesus Christ.

It may seem as if I am inventing a controversy here on this last point.  After all, what Christian would claim that we should teach patriotism instead of Christianity?  Well, no one, consciously.  But American Christians do it all the time.  For instance, how much attention to spiritual matters will a person get if he shows up to church wearing a flag lapel pin and saying God bless America (another phrase that has been used so much by so many people who don’t mean it or believe it that it is starting to lose its meaning)?  Not much, I would guess.  Most people would simply put him in the “saved” category, because he doesn’t SEEM like a heathen.  After all, we prefer our non-Christians to be invective-spewing, America-hating, tattoo-wearing, multiple-pierced Harry Potter-readers.  It is just hard for us to believe that any clean-cut, patriotic American could be in need of Jesus Christ.  But that person is in desperate need of Christ (as we all are), and many people can’t see that because, at least subconsciously, they equate Christianity and patriotism.

It’s ridiculous to even have to type this next statement, but I feel I must: being an American does not automatically make you a Christian, and the people in the world who are not Americans are neither more nor less in need of salvation than you and I.  Furthermore, being an American does not make you a better (or more sanitized, or more sanctified, or more deserving) Christian.  Being an American, thank God, makes you an American.  That is a great thing, and I thank God for it.

Being a Christian, however, is something that is bigger than (and independent of) any tie to any country or political ideology.  That is an even greater thing, and one that I MUST thank God for.  Thus when it comes down to ultimate loyalty, obedience, and overall importance, I join Paul in saying, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.”

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