Nationalism and Patriotism

For the July 4th weekend, Eric Patterson and Mark Melton discuss what C.S. Lewis teaches Christians about patriotism and “love of home,” particularly in The Four Loves.

In this episode, the editors discuss Alan Dowd’s article about the US defending democracy abroad, an interview with Samuel Goldman about his book “After Nationalism,” and a reflection on Donald Rumsfeld from Marc LiVecche.

Even though some on the right have argued that the United States needs to return to a strong common national identity to survive, Goldman argues in “After Nationalism” that America has normally not had this type of cohesion for most of its history.

On June 14, Americans recognize Flag Day. It is not a holiday, but it is a day honoring the establishment of our nation’s most visible and moving symbol on June 14, 1777: the “Red, White, and Blue.”

Goldman responds to commentators who believe that Americans must return to some overarching identity and purpose. He argues that this task is difficult when the conditions that allowed previous unity no longer exist. Moreover, nationalists do not reasonably explain programs that could reignite a meaningful shared identity.

Given the Turkish government’s particularly troubling conduct in 2020, Secretary of State Antony Blinken should deliver an honest message about the alarming trajectory of religious freedoms in Turkey.

Memorial Day should remind us of a debt that we, as citizens, owe to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and it is a call to action to appropriately honor those who have served in the armed forces.

The odd thing about Bashir and Erdogan is how little they understand the West, and particularly the United States. There is no condemnation of America, its history, and its actions that foreign regimes can make that Americans did not make first, still make, and made more convincingly.

“A Christian knows, or ought to know, that an adequate Christian political ethic is not established merely by conceiving the most ideal possible solution for a political problem. He must, in all humility, deal with the realities of human nature, as well as the ideal possibilities.”