My Country, 'Tis of Thee?

As I was at home in Minnesota for the 4^th of July for the first time in many years, I took some time to reflect a bit on the role of patriotism from a Christian perspective. Thoughts continued to bubble and brew, but the 4^th became more and more distant and the communal swelling of patriotic pride—if any—that came with it seemed all but extinct around me.

Then, there surfaced an article in Christianity Today online by David P. Gushee called “What’s Right About Patriotism” (weblink: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/007/4.48.html). It brought all the thoughts back, so I thought I’d try to succinctly write them down, partially in response to Mr. Gushee’s article.

My thoughts originated from posing the question to an imaginary discussion group, “What is patriotism?” and/or “What does it mean to be patriotic as an American?” and then contemplating possible answers. Some I thought of:

American patriotism means:

• Supporting our troops/serving time in the military. Likely a popular answer, these days, and as equally controversial as popular. Current situations aside, this answer is, I would argue, unanimously refutable by imagining a situation in which “our troops” were—without exception—guilty of all manner of heinous war crimes and human rights violations. Would anyone argue that, in such a situation, it would still be more patriotic to “support” our troops rather than decry their wrongdoings?

• Supporting the president/administration. Fair enough claim (for some). But again, what if the president/administration turned against the American people and the democratic process and sought to—for instance—establish a totalitarian regime? How could one argue that it would still be more patriotic to support such a president/administration?

• Proudly displaying the American flag. I’m not sure if this would really be someone’s answer…but given the number of American flags within a five-mile radius of my current location, I’m guessing it would cross a lot of minds. But to return to our thought experiments, what if a certain woman embodied all of the other things we could mention that contribute to one’s patriotism, but did not—perhaps could not (e.g. she felt she couldn’t show the flag the proper respect by displaying it properly)—fly the flag. Would any rational person declare her unpatriotic?

• Living the American dream. Get educated, work hard, live frugally, save, and (ostensibly) enjoy your retirement. Hmmm…there are lots of questions to this one: what about unequal opportunity? Discrimination? Selfish motivations? The equating of money and happiness? The general rejection of unforeseen and/or external circumstance? Would any of these—and many other—uncontrollable influences render one unpatriotic?

In dealing with other answers in a similar fashion, two things became clear:

1. Any individual criterion for American patriotism could be refuted through the basic execution of simple thought experiments, and
2. what dwelt beneath each of the criterion (to greater and lesser degrees) were a set of values.

Hence, I then turned my thoughts to these values—maybe obvious to many from the beginning. These values are sketched out over lauded American documents and speeches:

• …all [people] are created equal…
• …life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…
• …conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all [people] are created equal…
• …the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…
• …free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we’re free at last…
• …truth, justice, and the American way… (I had to throw Superman in…see my last blog entry below)

…and the like. So, perhaps to be patriotic means living by and upholding these values. Personally, I duly hope so.

However, the problem with looking no further for direction and affirmation of our “American” lifestyle than our own patriotism is that each of these values then takes on an inherently subjective element that can be twisted and shaped—both actively and passively—by one’s own experience, knowledge, intent, etc. Ultimately, there is no influential, authoritative standard to these values beyond what the general public (and/or the authoritarian structure) will affirm or oppose, and we all, I think, have realized the fluidity therein.

Where must we then go? I would argue we are driven back to God. From a Christian perspective, one of the wonders of God’s relational nature is that we interact neither with passive generalizations of virtue and values that are able to be subjectively manipulated nor with a hard-and-fast unhearing, unfeeling objective standard. Rather, we relate with a dynamic, relational God who both embodies and transcends these ethereal concepts of virtue and value and is ultimately responsible for revealing their true nature to us. What a shock to find that indeed justice and mercy discovered a cross-shaped intersection where both could not only coexist but intermingle!

So, finally, what does this say about our American patriotism? I am grateful that our nation—among many others—continues to call into play the godly values of freedom, justice, truth, etc., and to the extent that doing so makes one patriotic, I am happy to be called a patriot. Still, I vow to avoid the error of confusing my loyalties…my primary allegiance lies not with my country, not even with the values it purports to pursue and that, embodied, would make it great. My allegiance, my love, goes first to my King. The rest, as they say, is just details…the details of being remade in his image.