I’ve been watching a ten-part series on World War I. It’s horrifying and fascinating at the same time. I’ve learned a lot; I hadn’t remembered a thing from school.
One thing that struck me was the many nations who entered the war because of the promise of money and land. The governments who did this made deals which sent millions of men to their deaths on the battlefield and starved the rest of their population. All in the name of patriotism, “defending the mother land”, and settling old scores against other countries.
One quote really scared me. It was by a popular pastor of the day who was trying to convince his country to fight (I think it was England). He said something like, “There is no perfect Christian who is not also a perfect patriot.” Similarly, Islamic countries declared Jihad – it wasn’t just a war to get wealth, land, and revenge – no, it was a “holy” war.
This kind of thing has been going on since there were countries. What is patriotism? “…a term denoting a devotion to fundamental fellowship with other human beings united in common causes, usually related to identified geographic regions or those within particular political associations and boundaries,” says Wikipedia.
Why should I be a patriot? The country I live in has only been around a couple hundred years. In that time we’ve managed to kill off millions of Indians for land, enslave millions of Africans, fight ourselves, and commit many atrocities. We’ve been at war every year since WWII, always in some conflict or other. I’m not proud of my country.
When thinking about this from a Christian perspective, it’s tough because there’s no clear answers in the Bible. It does give some indirect help – we’re supposed to pay taxes and follow the laws of the government when possible and not rebel.
As I read about Jesus, he seems blissfully anti-political. He hangs out with the common folk and goes around healing people. He’s basically uninterested in politics of any kind. He does talk about the kingdom of heaven a fair amount, and is known to have said, “My kingdom is not of this world… My kingdom is from another place.”
Was Jesus a perfect patriot? If he was a US citizen, would he be patriotic and wave a flag around? I sort of doubt it. I think it’s because he cares about people, not about governments or politics.
I will continue to try to follow the laws of the government under which I live. I will pay my taxes because I’m supposed to. But I don’t feel any patriotism toward my country. Based on my learning about World War I, it seems like patriotism is nothing more than a tool used by those in power to manipulate the masses.
I’ll leave you with some quotes I rather like on the subject:
“A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.” -William Ralph Inge
“Man is the only Patriot. He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices of other people’s countries, and keep them from grabbing slices of his. And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood of his hands and works for “the universal brotherhood of man” – with his mouth. -Mark Twain
“Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism – how passionately I hate them!” -Albert Einstein
“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.” -Guy de Maupassant
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