The idea of being patriotic strikes most people as an automatic good thing. Of course we should love our country and work for its benefit. But what happens when we start to derive our personal sense of identity and worth from the success of our country? At what point might patriotism spill over into nationalism or even idolatry? And as Christians, to what degree might commitments to our country present problems for us when our country is wrong or when our concerns need to be more universal than that? Particularly, how important is American exceptionalism or even American superiority in our sense of personal value? On the other end of the spectrum, can a person ever be not patriotic enough as a Christian? Moreover, can our definitions of patriotism accommodate other people being patriotic to their own countries?Links:
Patriotism or Nationalism? by Joseph Sobran
In Defense of Patriotism by Edward Daley
What's Right About Patriotism by ChristianityToday
A Defense of American Patriotism by Robert Barlick Jr.
Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty by Pitzer.edu
Patriotism and Government by Leo Tolstoy
On Patriotism by Leo Tolstoy
Patriotism by Brad Edmonds
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…where a society is defined by its *boundaries*, a culture is defined by its *horizon*. A boundary is a phenomenon of opposition. It is the meeting place of hostile forces. Where nothing opposes there can be no boundary. One cannot move beyond a boundary without being resisted. This is why patriotism — that is, the desire to protect the power in a society by way of increasing the power of a society — is inherently belligerent. Since there can be no prizes without a society, no society without opponents, patriots must create enemies before we can require protection from them. Patriots can flourish only where boundaries are well-defined, hostile, and dangerous. The spirit of patriotism is therefore characteristically associated with the military or other modes of international conflict. Because patriotism is the desire to contain all other finite games within itself — that is, to embrace all horizons within a single boundary — it is inherently evil. ~James Carse
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