Christian Nationalism

Not necessarily an oxymoron

Christianity and Nationalism are not natural partners.  For this to be a coherent idea, both, or either, have to be “adjusted.”

Following the success of Paul’s teaching the early church emphasized the universal nature of the faith.  This was, I would think, a natural outgrowth of the idea of One True God in the Hebrew tradition, still contested in a world where many saw their tribe’s “God” as their own “king” or champion amidst the God or gods of other peoples (a form of nationalism).

But universal beliefs, and the attitudes toward “the other” that they encourage, come at a price in a world where separate nations are held together by a sense of “folk” or tradition or culture and may unravel if common threads of purpose are not tightly wound.   We may talk about Americans as “God’s people,” but this is not Christianity as traditionally understood.  While I may have a greater emotional feeling for the sufferings, and the joys, of “my” own people, as a Christian I must place equal value on the lives of children in Gaza, or in any place, of any religion, or culture elsewhere in the world. 

As a child I sang in Church, “in Christ there is no East or West, in Him no South or North, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.” 

This is not an easy idea to comprehend or to live by.  I remember looking out from the Yale campus onto the New Haven Green where there were three churches.  Two of them were Congregational.  I asked why.  I was told, “they didn’t get along.”

Fragmentation seems in our blood, so to speak.  Psychologists demonstrate this is young children.  As an anthropologist I taught the integrative force of family, clan, cult or village. 

I do not think that people should reject attachments to their human communities and avoid taking pride in their accomplishment.  And yet I think, we can also be international in our perspective, that is we can be Christian.  What we need is a more thoughtful patriotism.  It is about how we see as our purpose as a nation, what pride, so to speak, we take in our accomplishments as a people, as a nation. 

Is it the extent to which we care about people other than ourselves?  Is it the extent to which we treasure the survival of this fragile life-giving world?  Is it our willingness to share what we have with others who seem in greater need?  Is it our belief that we can live in peace with our neighbor and be always willing to make the first “reaching out” to settle our differences?     

If so, and to that extent we are a Christian Nationalist…remembering, as well, to walk humbly with our God.