It was Monday morning and I was speaking with Forrest Merten and Troy Montoya as Forrest was waiting to take members of the Mexico Medical Mission team (of which Troy is a part) to the airport. We were speaking about Troy's homeland of Columbia. In the middle of the discussion he mentioned Panama. As he did so I searched the chemical data banks in my mind and remembered that it was the United States that had been instrumental in supporting Panama to break away from Columbia in 1903 (it had been part of Columbia since 1821). The support came because the Columbian Senate would not ratify the treaty to build the Canal, which was desired by the U.S. So we used our military power to help "free" Panama thus insuring we could build the canal. It was nationalism at work…our national interest trumped those of another sovereign state.
I realize all too well that by even raising this issue I am already on shaky ground. I am on shaky ground because we love this nation and are hesitant to believe that anything we have done as a state was less than honorable. We look around at the freedoms and opportunities we are given; at our ability to meld persons of different nationalities and races, languages and ethnic identities, sexual orientations and religious beliefs into a politically stable state; our saving the world from imperialism, fascism and communism; and our being the economic engine which keeps the world humming and we wonder, how could anyone critique such a wonderful nation? The answer is that the United States, like all other great nations before it, has been and is tempted to fall into the sin of nationalism.
I define nationalism as the belief that a particular nation is intrinsically more valuable and deserving than other nations and therefore that nation has the right to impose its will and way on all other nations. Nationalism is not a new phenomenon. In fact is has been around as long as there have been larger societal groups with the military and economic power to dominate their smaller neighbors. History is replete with the names of these nations: Sumer, Uruk, Akkadia, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome (in the west); Harappa, Vedic (India); Maya, Inca (Americas); Xia, Shang, Zhou (China); Egypt, Nri, Oyo, Asanti (Africa). Modern nationalist empires have included those of most Western European nations as well as the United States (by defeating Spain in 1898 we took Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as part of our "empire").
These nation states (empires) believed that for whatever reason (race, power, the blessings of the gods or God) they were privileged and thus could conquer, enslave and even annihilate those around them. In addition it meant that these nation states (empires) could take the resources of their neighbors which often led to starvation and impoverishment (look at what the Stalin did to the Ukraine in 1930s where he starved almost 7 million people). The belief in national superiority leads persons to demean and diminish others as if the others were not equally children of God. The belief in national superiority leads nations to use their power to negotiate unilaterally rather than mutually beneficial treaties. Finally nationalism is probably responsible for more wars and deaths than any other sin in human history because it allows for large scale oppression and dominance.
While the effects of nationalism are being somewhat mitigated by the increasing integration of the world through economics, technology and communication we continue to see its impact in the world (China and its push for dominance in the South China Sea is one example). As followers of Jesus Christ in the United States our calling is to be alert to those moments when our nation is poised to succumb to nationalist tendencies and to speak out about them. While we are to be proud of our nation, we are also to hold ourselves accountable to a larger vision of God's kingdom in which we are a part and not the whole. Our task as the church, as Amy reminded us last week, is to be a blessing to the whole of creation and not simply to our national interests.
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