On the topic of patriotism and the Christian, we need to examine a few basic questions:
- What is patriotism? Can a Christian really be patriotic? Can patriotism ever be Christian?
- What does it mean to love one’s country and one’s nation? Does it mean that we should never criticise the state?
- The Bible clearly enjoins Christians to practise civil obedience. But are there justifications for civil disobedience?
- If there is indeed such a thing as Christian patriotism, what might it look like?
These are big and important questions, which deserve serious and sustained attention. In this brief article, I would like to highlight a few important truths from the teachings of the Bible and the Church that would guide our reflections on these matters.
Patriotism has its roots in the Greek and Latin words for “father” (Greek: patéras; Latin: pater). To be patriotic, therefore, is to love one’s country as one’s fatherland (of course, we could also speak of our country as our “motherland” or “homeland”).
In his captivating book The Four Loves, C S Lewis likened the love of country to the love of home and community in which we were raised. Our love for our country, for Lewis, is a natural love for the place where we grew up and to which we belong: it is the “love of old acquaintances, of familiar sights, sounds and smells”.1
Christians are typically associated with the country in which they were born or citizens of the nation to which they belong to, and they are enjoined to love their homeland.
But all Christians hold a dual citizenship. While they are citizens of the earthly nation, their citizenship is also in heaven, as the apostle Paul reminds the Christians at Philippi (Philippians 3:20).
Thus, as Christians actively participate in the civic life of the earthly city and contribute to its welfare, they (like Abraham before them) look forward to the heavenly city, “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10 KJV).
Dual citizenship suggests (if not implies) dual loyalties.
As a citizen of the heavenly city, the Christian must be loyal to God. He must align his will to the divine will and purpose, and honour God in everything that he does. But as a citizen of a nation, the Christian must submit to the authority of the state (Romans 13:1) and play an active role in contributing to its wellbeing and flourishing.
To put this in the familiar language of Scripture, the Christian must “[r]ender to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17 KJV).
This means that Christians are called to love and serve both God and country. Faithful Christians—who love and serve God—can and must also be patriotic citizens who love and serve their country or nation.
However, the Christian does not love his country in quite the same way as he loves God. The Christian must love God above all else: self, family, community, and country. Patriotism for country is always subordinate to loyalty to God.
Put differently, the Christian must never allow his love for his country to rival—much less usurp—his love for God. To put this once again in the language of Scripture: we may give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but must never give to Caesar what belongs to God.
Needless to say, this has profound implications for the Christian understanding of patriotism.
It means that the Christian’s patriotism must never be blindly docile or uncritical. It also means that should there be a conflict between what the state demands and what God requires, the Christian must always submit to God— even if this tantamount to civil disobedience.
It means that the Christian’s patriotism must never be blindly docile or uncritical. It also means that should there be a conflict between what the state demands and what God requires, the Christian must always submit to God— even if this tantamount to civil disobedience.
This attitude and approach must not be hastily judged as signalling disloyalty to one’s country.
From the Christian standpoint, they are the fundamental requirements for responsible patriotism. “Loyalty to the civitas”, writes Richard John Neuhaus perceptively, “can safely be nurtured only if the civitas is not the object of highest loyalty.”2
Neither does criticism necessarily indicate a lack of love for one’s country. In some cases, the opposite is true. As Martin Luther King Jr famously put it: “Whom you would change, you must first love.”3
This means that while Christians can be truly patriotic, they can never do so without “great dis-ease”, as William Willimon points out.4 This is because in showing their love for their country, Christians must at the same time refuse to allow their allegiance to become idolatry by venerating it in a way that is inappropriate.
Christian patriotism is never naïve, but always critical. Yet, this is patriotism in the best sense of the Word!
In order to practise such patriotism, Christians must be faithful to God and obey the doctrines of Holy Scripture, which Saint Augustine has so boldly described as “the salvation of the commonwealth”.5
In sum, then, the Christian patriot loves and obeys God above all else. He is determined that his love for God should shape and order his loyalty to his country.
1 C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc, 1960), 41.
2 Richard John Neuhaus, The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 75.
3 ibid, 237.
4 William H. Willimon, ‘Can Christians Be Patriots?’, in Michael G. Long and Tracy Wendy Sadd (eds.), God and Country? Diverse Perspectives on Christianity and Patriotism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 100.
5 Augustine, Epistula ad Marcellinum, 138.
Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor of Christian Doctrine at Trinity Theological College and Theological and Research Advisor at the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity. / Photo courtesy of Dominique Wang