Patriotism

Few labels elicit more ire in the views of contemporary Americans, Christians and non-Christians alike, than the two-word moniker, “Christian nationalism.”

The insurrection on Epiphany reveals essential tasks—for America to prevent another attack and for the church to respond properly to the misuse of its symbols.

The Christmas story doesn’t tell us how to reconcile the virtues and the vices of universal cosmopolitanism and local loyalty. But it suggests that we can somehow try to be true to both ideals: to be loyal members of our nations, our families, our tribes—and at the same time to reach out to the broader human community of which we are also a part.

Renewed debates over history reveal the narratives that conservatives and progressives employ to justify or decry American history. One narrative insists on lionizing historical figures, the other on demonizing them—yet both distract from the ongoing pursuit of the American ideals of justice, liberty, and equality.

Delight in your family and community and boldly have a very happy Independence Day.

Of course America will survive the coronavirus. We’ve many times survived far worse.

Formal religious adherence is declining, but America’s longtime religious self-identity as a lodestar of democratic responsibility in the world continues unabashed.

Nationalists believe that humanity is divided into mutually distinct, internally coherent groups defined by shared traits like language, religion, or culture, and that these groups should each have their own governments. There is an alternative.

The current discussion of “nationalism” seems to be mostly a battle of words and caricatures that bears little on the actual reality or lives of regular people.