This paper was presented to the Tyndale Fellowship Christian Doctrine Study Group online Conference in 2921.

Introduction: In this paper, I will consider the subject of Patriotism from a Christian Perspective. I want to give a little bit of the background to this paper at the outset. In 1977 at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland, I was attending the weekly discussion held on a Thursday morning when my colleague Larry Snyder was asked by a student what the Christian view of patriotism was. Larry said he had not thought about this and then turned to me and asked me if I had. I said no. Larry then challenged to develop a lecture on patriotism for the students at L’Abri Fellowship. In 1978 I delivered a lecture on that subject which contained the basic idea that I have developed in this paper.

Although in this paper I develop the idea of a critical patriotism, this should not be taken to mean that I do not appreciate much of my British heritage. There is much that I am proud of but there are other aspects of which I am ashamed. I look at much of my heritage with pride, but I also realise that other cultures bring a lot to us and enrich us. I lived in Alpine France for four and a half years and learnt so much from the people there including an appreciation for their culture. Another factor that has had a big effect on my life is that I married an American citizen and as result we celebrate some distinctly American things in our household. These factors on a very practical level have shifted my focus from being exclusively British to seeing the valid contributions that other nations can bring. So yes, I love my own country but not in an exclusive manner.

Firstly, I will look at a definition of patriotism and ask whether it is satisfactory for a Christian to embrace.

It is good to see a very general definition of patriotism before looking more specifically at some of the issues,

 Patriotism or national pride is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to a homeland and alliance with other citizens who share the same sentiment. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings relating to one’s own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects. It encompasses a set of concepts closely related to nationalism.[1]

The above definition is quite helpful as it highlights for us both the positives and some of the negatives of what is popularly considered as patriotism. In this paper I will hold that love of one’s own country is right, we can all see much in our nation which is admirable, and we should value this. Indeed, there ae aspects of our national heritage which are good in themselves, but they can cause problems as soon as we imply that because of these our nation is superior. A great problem occurs when patriotism becomes linked to an exclusive nationalism it can then become dangerous. In this paper my examples of extreme patriotism will all be taken from the British scene

 Some forms of patriotism are ones that turn one’s own nation into an idol, this can be seen for example in the words of these British patriotic songs,

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,

Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;

The love that asks no questions, the love that stands the test,

That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;

The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,

The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.[2]

Or perhaps even worse are the sentiments expressed in this song,

When Britain first, at Heaven’s command

Arose from out the azure main;

This was the charter of the land,

And guardian angels sang this strain:

“Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:

“Britons never will be slaves.” [3]

This unqualified support of our nation leaves no room for moral discernment as to whether what the nation is doing is right or wrong. In the view of many people this is what patriotism is all about an unqualified love of country. But does this have to be the case? As the title of this paper implies my answer is no This is because I believe moral discernment is of vital importance in our evaluation of our nation.

Secondly, I will now briefly examine the intersection of Patriotism with Nationalism, I will try to be careful at this point to distinguish between wrong forms of Nationalism and those that are more compatible with a Christian perspective. I will here look at an example of nationalism which exalts one’s own nation above all others.

The British National Party shows its true colours in the following statement,

At the core of British National Party policy is the belief that Immigration into Britain is a destructive agenda and must be stopped.

Without any vote or debate, successive governments in Britain have introduced the most pernicious and divisive policy since World War II, and transformed our country almost beyond recognition.

In towns and cities up and down the country we feel like foreigners in our own country, our traditions derided and our future given away.[4]

The British National Party and other right-wing groups, such as Britain First and the British Freedom Party often refer to themselves as being patriotic movements in a way that others are not. If we disagree with their sentiments, we are told that we are not patriotic An example of this attitude of exalting Britain over other nations can be seen in a short speech given by Britain First’s  Ashlea Simon where she says that Britain has nothing to be ashamed of but rather we can be proud of all  that we have done as a nation, including our colonialism.[5] This type of nationalism tends towards an extremism and very often has a racist agenda.

 It is helpful to look at the example of a moderate nationalism as exhibited by Scottish National Party.

The SNP says.

The SNP believe in independence for Scotland, but also in independent countries working together for good of all to protect workers, tackle climate change, preserve peace and guarantee our freedom…[6]

This shows a vastly different attitude to that of the extreme nationalism noted above; here is a desire to work with other nations for the common good. This view is more compatible with a Christian view of patriotism. I do not want in this paper to get involved in the discussion about the future of the United Kingdom but rather to make a more general statement about contrasting attitudes.

Thirdly, I will now look at the lives of two Christians who have had to live with the problem of where their first loyalty lies whether to the nation as patriots or to the Lord as Christians. The two people I will look at are Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King. Such figures often believed that their love for their country must be shaped by their prior commitment to the Lord and obedience to his Word.

Bonhoeffer found himself facing a real dilemma with the rise of Nazism, there can be no doubt from his writings that he loved Germany and German culture. On the other hand, he knew that Nazism was antithetical to Christianity and as such must be opposed. He and others formed the Confessing Church to make a strong witness for Christian values, this can be seen in the Barmen Declaration.[7] Here we find clearly set out both their sense of being German but at all times giving a priority to being Christian.

Bonhoeffer was a minister in the Confessing Church and as such made a stand against the Nazis which would ultimately lead to his death. His statement that he made about his coming back from America to Germany illustrates this.

I have come to the conclusion that I have made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period of our national history with the Christian people of Germany.… Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose; but I cannot make that choice in security[8]

Bonhoeffer in his contacts with Bishop Bell and other church leaders made an appeal that there would not be a mass destruction of Germany in a way that would humiliate the country, this appeal was passed onto leaders of the British Government.

Martin Luther King was a great leader of the American Civil Rights Movement and he always led non-violent protests. He genuinely appreciated the vision of the Founding Fathers of the United States and one can clearly see his love of the nation, but this did not stop him from his trenchant criticisms of segregation. I will quote from his letter from Birmingham Jail where he is responding to clerics who thought his actions were extreme. In his response Martin Luther King roots his discussion in The Great Tradition, He said,

One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an “I it” relationship for an “I thou” relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man’s tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.[9]

Here we see how Martin Luther King believed it was his duty to oppose the evil of racism. This in turn leads him to actions which others perceived to be extreme and provocative. But he knew that these actions were needed to highlight the evil of segregation and to advance the cause of civil rights in America.

Fourthly, I will now look at an alternative model of patriotism which I will draw from the Biblical narrative, here drawing on the Prophetic and Apostolic witness.  I will show that we are called to love our country but not in an uncritical way. The Prophets clearly loved the nation of Israel, but it was this love that motivated them to be willing to speak God’s word of judgement against the nation and to call it back from its sinful ways into a right relationship with God and neighbour. We don’t have time to give an exhaustive list of the way the prophets spoke so I will just use some examples that could be multiplied many times over.

The prophet Isaiah says this,

      16 Wash and make yourselves clean.

         Take your evil deeds out of my sight;

         stop doing wrong.

      17 Learn to do right; seek justice.

         Defend the oppressed.

         Take up the cause of the fatherless;

         plead the case of the widow.[10]

Micah also uses strong language when speaking of the sin of Judah,

       Then I said,

       “Listen, you leaders of Jacob,

         you rulers of Israel.

         Should you not embrace justice,

         2you who hate good and love evil;

         who tear the skin from my people

         and the flesh from their bones;

      3 who eat my people’s flesh,

         strip off their skin

         and break their bones in pieces;

         who chop them up like meat for the pan,

         like flesh for the pot?”

      4 Then they will cry out to the LORD,

         but he will not answer them.

         At that time he will hide his face from them

         because of the evil they have done.

5 This is what the LORD says:

         “As for the prophets

         who lead my people astray,

         they proclaim ‘peace’

         if they have something to eat,

         but prepare to wage war against anyone

         who refuses to feed them.

      6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions,

         and darkness, without divination.

         The sun will set for the prophets,

         and the day will go dark for them.

      7 The seers will be ashamed

         and the diviners disgraced.

         They will all cover their faces

         because there is no answer from God.”

      8 But as for me, I am filled with power,

         with the Spirit of the LORD,

         and with justice and might,

         to declare to Jacob his transgression,

         to Israel his sin. [11]

Lastly the words of Jeremiah are extraordinarily strong,

      13 “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,

         his upper rooms by injustice,

         making his own people work for nothing,

         not paying them for their labour.

      14 He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace

         with spacious upper rooms.’

         So he makes large windows in it,

         panels it with cedar

         and decorates it in red.

      15 “Does it make you a king

         to have more and more cedar?

         Did not your father have food and drink?

         He did what was right and just,

         so all went well with him.

      16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,

         and so all went well.

         Is that not what it means to know me?”

         declares the LORD.

      17 “But your eyes and your heart

         are set only on dishonest gain,

         on shedding innocent blood

         and on oppression and extortion.” [12]

These three passages illustrate to us how the prophets spoke out clearly against injustice and yet they do so because they desire to see the nation return to God’s ways. I believe that the prophets demonstrated their love of Israel by being willing to declare these words of judgement. It would have been much easier to stay quiet, but love of God and neighbour demanded that they speak out. The Prophets did not as some do today spend all their time denouncing things but rather, they showed a deep love and concern for their nation which caused them to speak out.

If we also look briefly at the whole Bible Story, we see that in Creation God created humankind as one race with a unity. We see this clearly in the early chapters of Genesis but also in Paul’s teaching for example in Acts 17 he says,

26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.[13]

In this passage Paul undermines the Athenians belief that they were a special people created differently from the other nations surrounding them. He also shows that each nation has a place in God’s plan and purpose. The latter part of this verse has caused much discussion by commentators on the book of Acts as to its precise meaning so it would be unwise for me to me to make any dogmatic statement about it here.

The Fall introduces brokenness and division, and this can be illustrated by the account of the Tower of Babel.  Babel brings with it the confusion of languages and the division of nationalities; this is all a result of humankind’s false worship and arrogance.

 In the outworking of God’s redemptive purposes, we can see how he has brought and is bringing people back together; Pentecost is the reversal of Babel. At Babel barriers to communication with one another were created whereas at Pentecost the barriers are overcome as people miraculously hear the Gospel in their own language. The purpose of the Gospel is to create a new humankind which reflects the diversity of cultures but is one in Christ. This can also be seen in the new creation which is the Church of God where the distinction between Jew and Gentile no longer holds but rather there is a new humanity in Christ.

 Also, the fruit of the cultures of all nation are brought into the New Jerusalem. See Isaiah 60 and Revelation 20:22-27. Richard Mouw helpfully expounds this idea in his book “When The Kings Come Marching In”[14]. Central to this whole concept is that even in the New Jerusalem one sees the bringing together of the nations of the earth and the best of their culture. This perhaps goes against a rather more pietistic view of the New Heavens and the New Earth, but it seems that only this view does justice to the Biblical text which does not devalue the physical creation.

The Bible closes with a reminder of the fact that God will remove the curse at the time of the eschaton, one of the things that is intriguing is that the nations still exist, but they are all healed and are part of the new creation, The author of the Apocalypse puts it this way,

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.[15]

These words are ones that can help us to see what we should be aiming for as we adopt a critical patriotism because our desire will be to see the healing of the nations through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and in his ultimate triumph over all the forces of evil.

I will close by quoting what I said in 1978.

The first place we start with our nation is examining it from the Scriptures and supporting our rulers by prayer. This is something we must do. Love your country where you are from, but at the same time be critical of it, understanding those things which are wrong….and never, never hold your country as inherently superior to any other nation. But rather, understand that each culture in the community of nations has something to offer the other, whether it be in the diversity of music, traditions, etc. In all of these things, let us try and learn from each other as nations, but let us prize our own heritage” [16]

Select Bibliography

Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). Letters and Papers from Prison. (C. Gremmels, E. Bethge, R. Bethge, I. Tödt, & J. W. de Gruchy, Eds., I. Best, L. E. Dahill, R. Krauss, N. Lukens, B. Rumscheidt, M. Rumscheidt, & D. W. Stott, Trans.) (Vol. 8, ). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Bonhoeffer, D. (1973) True Patriotism, London, William Collins

Clements, Keith, (1984,2011.) A Patriotism for Today, Eugene, Oregon, Wipf and Stock Publishers.

King, M.L. (1964) Why We Can’t Wait, New York, New American Library

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotism

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Vow_to_Thee,_My_Country

/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule,_Britannia!

[4] https://bnp.org.uk/policies/immigration/

[5] https://www.bitchute.com/video/3DwfI7KWHiCP/

[6] https://www.snp.org/policy-area/europe-international-affairs/

[7] https://www.ekd.de/en/The-Barmen-Declaration-303.htm

[8] Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). Letters and Papers from Prison. (C. Gremmels, E. Bethge, R. Bethge, I. Tödt, & J. W. de Gruchy, Eds., I. Best, L. E. Dahill, R. Krauss, N. Lukens, B. Rumscheidt, M. Rumscheidt, & D. W. Stott, Trans.) (Vol. 8). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

[9] King, M L1964, Why We Can’t Wait Page 82 Signet Books, New York

[10] The New International Version. (2011). (Is 1:16–17). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[11] The New International Version. (2011). (Mic 3:1–8). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[12] The New International Version. (2011). (Je 22:13–17). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan

[13] The New International Version. (2011). (Ac 17:26). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan

[14]  Mouw Richard “When the Kings Come Marching in” Grand Rapids and Cambridge UK, Wm B Eerdmanns, 2002

[15] The New International Version. (2011). (Re 22:1–5). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[16] from a lecture on Patriotism given at L’Abri Fellowship, Huemoz, Switzerland by David P Rollings 1978