So, if you were from another country, would you be proud of that country too? Would you salute its flag, wear clothing made out of it, consider it the 'greatest nation on earth'??
You very well might, I don't know. But I have a problem with all this American fanaticism that grips so many citizens of the US of A, not only every fourth of July, but all year long.
I don't hate the United States, or her flag. I guess it's an okay place to live. I've never lived in any other country. However, I do dislike what I consider arrogant nationalistic pride - especially when draped in an air of superiority and disdain for the rest of the world!
I thought the above picture was the perfect snide to all the "all lives matter" trump-lovin' hillbillies out there. In my mind, saying "all nations matter" on fourth of July in the United States shows an equally laughable (and insensitive) disregard as insisting "all lives matter" right after yet another innocent black man has been unjustly killed by the police or some psycho citizen. I admit, I shared it on Facebook because I was trying to make a point. I'm sure it failed.
I somehow stumbled onto the picture on Daniel Skillman's Facebook page. I've no idea how I got there - we're not friends or even acquaintances (though we have some in common). This is what he posted with the pic:
I was really wondering how to celebrate the 4th of July this year. Public celebrations have been cancelled. So, no local fair or fireworks. No big cookouts. And, truth be told, I don't feel like celebrating America. It's my home. I'm stuck here, and I'll make the most of it. But I don't like what America has become: a corporatist fascist oligarchy. So, I was going to skip celebrating all together this year.
But then a FB friend reminded me:
All Nations Matter.
By Jove, that's it!
This 4th of July, I'm going to have an
"All Nations Matter" celebration.
After all, what better day than the US independence holiday, our "birthday" if you will, to celebrate all national birthdays and to announce that All Nations Matter!
Join me this July 4th, and proudly display the flags of, and post the national anthems of, and otherwise publicly honor and celebrate as many nations as you possibly can, and loudly proclaim, "All Nations Matter!"
On the 4th of July, please use the photo attached to this post as your page's profile cover!
Ha! I think that's hilarious. Although I am much too timid to actually share all that myself... I thought simply posting the pic said plenty.
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Again though... I don't hate America (I apologize to my Canadian friends, but, because I'm from the US, when I say 'America' I am referring to the USA; I'm sure you're used to it). However, I would like to hope that if I were born or living somewhere else, I would be much the same person that I am now.
I've never understood patriotism, much less nationalism. Ryan Hamm, in his article 'Patriotism and Christianity' explains it this way:
Patriotism can be defined simply as love of country—it's a love that seems to include much of the world's population... It's that feeling of altruistic gratitude for freedom, or democracy, or culture, or any of the other values people around the world treasure in their nation.
Nationalism, on the other hand, takes that love of country and expands it to mean love of country at the expense of other nations. It's when someone believes they are better because they come from a particular place, or that someone else is less valuable because of the country that issued their passport. In the United States, it's often given the innocuous sounding title "American exceptionalism"... It's saying, "My country is better than yours, and you are less civilized/enlightened/good because of where you are from."
This has simply never made sense to me. It does not compute in my brain.
I agree with Dennis Edwards and believe Christian Nationalism is Anti-Gospel. As he says (in the linked article), many people (Americans) read the Bible through a lens showing the United States as central to God's plan. Like, that's why our country was created. Ha! Why would anyone think this!? He notes...
The genocide perpetrated against Native Americans, the enslavement of Africans, the fear of those who did not grow up Christian (especially Muslims at this point in history), debasement of women, as well as ongoing discrimination of various ethnic minorities, is linked to Christian nationalism. It is not merely coincidence that the most notoriously racist and segregated parts of the country are found in the so-called “Bible Belt.”
He goes on... "Christian nationalism is not the result of exegesis, i.e., drawing out meaning from biblical texts, but is the result of eisegesis, i.e., reading the United States into biblical texts." And this is seriously wrong! This is what I hate!
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At any rate, I always struggle on fourth of July. Honestly, I am not very proud to be an American. This is merely where I live - nothing more, and nothing less. While the above articles help explain why others feel differently, I still don't get it. It doesn't make me better, or worse... it really just makes me... sad.
I come from a family of patriotic Americans. I have always felt weird; sometimes embarrassed and ashamed. I have never felt like I fit. And... as much as that breaks my heart, I think that's how it will always be - at least this side of heaven.
I don't know. I don't understand how anyone can think one country is better than another; how one people are superior to others; or how any of us can think we know it all. Surely I do not. But I like to think I'm trying...
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
"I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right." Acts 10:34-35
"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ..." Philippians 3:20
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