Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Patriotism (Part 2)

Can one be a good Christian ad also be a patriot? Can one belong to both the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world? Is this possible?

I recently tackled these questions in a paper for Christian ethics. I argued that it is possible to be a good Christian and a good "patriot," if the word were nuanced.

My view of patriotism is the love of one's culture, background, and country of origin.
The term "patriotism" is derived from the Latin patria, "belonging to one's father." Thus, to be a patriot is to adhere to the culture, practices, and even country of one's father.

God himself works through cultures and peoples. God created man with the ability to create cultures. God called Abraham and told him he would make him "a great nation" and bless "all peoples" through him. God called the people of Israel to be a "kingdom of priests" and a "holy nation." God choose Israel to be his called nation in order to bless the world through them.

In the NT, Jesus tells his disciples that there is a difference between the Kingdom and the kingdoms of this world. Yet Jesus never tells them to not associate with the kingdoms of this world; rather, Jesus reminds them to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's..." Thus, we are called to be good citizens of our country.

Yet when the ethics of this world stand in sharp contrast to the ethics of the Kingdom, we must decide: which kingdom do we ultimately adhere to? Put another way, am I an American Christian or a Christian American? The ethics of the Kingdom of God must always trump out the ethics of the kingdom of the world...

What do you guys think?

(I am trying to publish this paper, so any feedback you can give me on my arguments would be greatly appreciated.)