Is it Patriotism or Nationalism?

This weekend we are entering the first of two patriotic national holidays in the United States with Memorial Day. Certainly as we celebrate Memorial Day, as well as Independence Day on July 4th, there is a great deal of patriotism on display. Flags emerge from the basements or garages (carefully and properly stored) and citizens play patriotic songs. Undoubtedly, the "God Bless America" that has been sung in every Major League Baseball Park each Sunday during the seventh inning stretch since 9/11/2001 will bring a deep feeling in the chest or a tear to the eye of many. Yet at the same time, we are very aware of the other side of patriotism, which affirms that "God should bless America, but not any other coutnry or people." There is a fine line between genuine patriotism and nationalism.

In recent days I have spent a good deal of time reflecting on Chistian nationalism. The lens I have been using is the example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Hitler rose to power in Germany in January 1933 following a period where the German people began to look inward because of their feelings of being wronged and trampled underfoot by the penalties imposed on them after World War I. So, the ground was fertile for most or all Germans to begin to feel positive again about their country and to accept the rhetoric of this Nationalist Socialist party leader as their own. One of my St. Olaf history professors, Dr. Kenneth Bjork, once said that there were no German Ph.D. students in his program standing next to him in the Munich square listening to Hitler that did not buy in to everything he said. Although Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others knew Hitler and his friends in leadership were playing on the emotions of the Germans early on, there was little that they could do to counteract the rhetoric and the individual actions which went beyond mere patriotism.

But soon the actions of Hitler and the German leadership got personal and vindictive. It was very similar to our acceptance of the singing of "God Bless America" as democracy is a blessing to our country, but not that we should curse everyone else. The German leadership got personal and vindictive to people within their own borders, and then to people outside the borders. Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church in Germany recognized this as going against their moral and religious thinking. They were tempted in 1940 for example, when France fell to Germany, to celebrate the great victory of Hitler's Germany over another nation-state. But when they realized that this victory came at the cost of another sovereign nation's loss, they could not do so. Both their patriotism to the true nature of their country and their Christianity restrained them from celebrating. Bonhoeffer and others began their road to even taking down the leader of the country they loved.

In our own country it is good to remember those who fought to maintain our freedom and democracy in the world. At the same time, we must be aware that there are those who take a different path to elevate our country above other countries, to eliminate those who are weak or undesirable within our own country, and to eliminate other groups who seek to govern in a different way. Many of the adherents of this particular brand of nationalism even seek to lift up Christianity as the sole authority for our nation's rule. This factionalism is even threatening to sour our way of life, as people on both sides of the political spectrum refuse to work together to pay our own debts. True patriotism will reject any voices or movements that seek to put one group above another, any questionable or outright immoral actions that seek to destroy or deter people in need in our country and world, and any leaders who put self above nation. This Memorial Day let's remember and celebrate the words of President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address, words that he wrote down on an envelope on a train. Let us celebrate the lives of those lost for our country "that these dead shall not have died in vain-- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish for the earth." the truth of the Declaration of Independence which seeks always to protect government "of the people, by the people, and for (all) people."