A Liberal
Dose
September 1,
2022
Troy D.
Smith
“What’s So Bad About Nationalism, Anyway?”
For the last three weeks I’ve been talking about the
troubling nature of Christian Nationalism, which is rising in popularity on the
right. I demonstrated that it is not historically accurate, and runs counter to
what this country WAS founded on. If you missed that, you can catch up online
at SpartaLive or at tnwordsmith.blogspot.com. Now I am going to add some more
context.
First, though, let me speak briefly as a Christian. It
has always been my understanding, from the New Testament and the words of Jesus,
that a Christian’s primary citizenship is in God’s Kingdom, and that all
Christians around the world -whatever country they live in -are brothers and
sisters. Christianity transcends national borders and governments. God does not
have a “chosen country”, and there is no scriptural reason to believe that He
would love the United States more than, say, Australia. Or Nigeria. Or any
other country. Hence my argument that Christian Nationalism is not Christian.
But it is nationalistic.
This is from the Wikipedia definition of nationalism:
“Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds
that the nation should be congruent with the state… It further
aims to build and maintain a single national identity, based on shared
social characteristics of culture, ethnicity, geographic
location, language, politics (or the government), religion, traditions and
belief in a shared singular history, and to promote national unity
or solidarity. Nationalism, therefore, seeks to preserve and foster a
nation's traditional culture.”
Fascism is nationalism taken to the extreme. This is
from the Wikipedia definition of fascism (emphases mine):
“A RADICAL AUTHORITARIAN NATIONALIST political
ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the
national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound
together in NATIONAL IDENTITY by suprapersonal connections of ANCESTRY,
CULTURE, AND BLOOD. To achieve this, fascists purge forces, ideas, people, and
systems deemed to be the cause of decadence and degeneration. Fascists believe
that a nation requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the
will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation
strong.”
Finally, here are several identifying marks of
fascism, as I have taught them for fifteen years when discussing WWII in class
-and, let me point out, these are standard markers historians use to define the
concept:
The nation must have one culture, with no “outside” or
“inferior” cultures allowed.
The same is true with religion. Remember that WWII
German military belt buckles said “Gott mit uns”… “God is with us.”
Anyone who does not conform to the main culture must
be excluded or weeded out.
The leader must be a strong, aggressive individual,
who will take the nation back to its earlier days of glory.
Dissent in any form is not tolerated.
The leader is supported by extremely violent
followers.
Read over all that, and think about Proud Boys and
others chanting things like “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and Soil” (a
Nazi slogan). Think about the criminals on January 6th who waved,
not only American flags, but crosses as they sought to besmirch and destroy our
Capitol, and to attack and try to kill police and members of Congress. Think of
the love some of these folks have for Trump and Putin- and certainly not because of
any Christian qualities either of those men have ever displayed. None of that
is Christian, and none of it is patriotic.
And none of it is in line with the principle this
country was founded on, respect for the natural and civil rights of all people
equally, regardless of origin or religion. I know we have often done a poor job
of following those principles, but we have to keep them in our sight as goals
to work toward.
But to support Christian Nationalism, and Trumpism
(the two seem to go hand-in-hand), is to embrace authoritarianism and fascism
and reject democracy, freedom, and justice.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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