Patriotism as Idolatry

The worship of the nation--during the Olympics, even during a war--is a serious problem from a biblical perspective

I have experienced an extended streak of patriotic feelings in recent months. Seeing flags all over the place was reassuring for quite a while after Sept. 11. For a spell it felt good to get choked up during the singing of the National Anthem. And all of this was enhanced by expressions of good will that came from people around the world in the days following the attacks on New York and Washngton. At Fuller Theological Seminary, for example, we received dozens of communication from folks in other countries, telling us of prayer meetings that had been held on our behalf. The experience of national--and international--solidarity has been a good one.

But now I am starting to get over it. The patriotic displays at the Olympic ceremonies are--well, as a friend put it, they are simply "over the top." I was sorry that President Bush stretched the Olympic rules by talking about how "proud" and "determined" we are as he opened the Salt Lake City ceremonies. And I wish that the NBC commentators had not repeated the President's "axis of evil" line as the Iranian athletes marched by in the parade of nations. The Olympics are an important event for the global community. I have had a hard time feeling patriotic when my country uses its hosting role to call special attention to itself in these ways.

Note that I am talking about feelings here. I have always had a basic loyalty to my country. I have never had much patience with cynical America-bashing. At the same time, I have not typically been able to get very emotional about the issues of citizenship. Much of this is due to the fact, that, although I am a committed evangelical Christian, I am also a product of the 1960s. I had serious doubts about the war in Vietnam in my youth, even though this was not a very popular stance to take in the evangelical world in those days. Evangelical Christians were often super-patriotic. "My country, right or wrong!" was one of their favorite rallying cries. They believed that the Bible calls us to be respectful, law-abiding citizens, and they thought this meant that we must always rally behind our government when we were in conflict with some other nation.

I had real theological problems with that sort of attitude. The kind of patriotism that was being espoused struck me as bordering on idolatry. The worship--or near-worship--of the nation is serious problem from a biblical perspective. We live in a fallen world, and governments and governmental leaders are not exempted from the patterns of our sinfulness. This is why democracy is such a healthy way of structuring our collective lives. It allows for a continuing debate about our policies-and even for legitimate protest.

According to the New Testament teachings, governments are an important part of the divine plan, "for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God" (Romans 13: 1). But the apostle who says this also makes it clear that this does not give a government license to do whatever it wants: political leaders should not be "a terror to good conduct, but to bad" (Romans 13: 3). If a government encourages bad polices and practices, it is misusing its God-given authority. So we must never offer our uncritical obedience to a human government. Absolute loyalty is something that only God deserves from us.

Continued on page 2: »