Go and learn what this means (part 6: patriotism)

Go and learn what this means (part 6: patriotism) January 24, 2017

You may have missed it, but our new president proclaimed January 20 as a “National Day of Patriotic Devotion.” Alas, due to the busyness and hubbub of the transition, this proclamation wasn’t made public until several days later. That may account for the public’s confusion in choosing, instead, to celebrate January 21 as one of the most exuberant national displays of patriotic devotion America has ever witnessed.

As Kim LaCapria notes for Scopes, this kind of “patriotic” declaration is not unusual for new presidents, so the proclamation itself isn’t unusual. The language of this one is a bit strange though — eschewing the usual discussion of the new president being “humbled by the responsibility,” but expressing confidence for the task ahead thanks to “the courage and decency of the American people” and “faith in an awesome God,” as Barack Obama wrote in his 2009 proclamation of a “National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation.” Our new president’s declaration, instead, begins by celebrating “a new national pride” that he sees as accompanying his inauguration.

In any case, this belated announcement of our National Day of Patriotic Devotion provides a nice parallel to what we’ve been discussing here about the prophets’ condemnation and rejection of religion. Exploring that a bit might help us to understand both sides of that parallel.

The religion and religious expression condemned by the prophets was something that most of their listeners would have assumed was an obvious virtue. Worship, prayer, offerings, praise, sacrifices, holy days, hymn-singing, church-going — these were all assumed to be Good Things done by Good People as evidence and consequence of their goodness.

But the prophets, surprisingly, shredded all of that. They said it was contemptible and despicable — that God Almighty saw it all as contemptible and despicable

The same thing happens, routinely, with our most respected forms of patriotism. Patriotism, like religious obedience and piety, is generally assumed to be a virtue — another Good Thing done by Good People as evidence and consequence of their goodness. Fly the flag, salute it. Hang some red-white-and-blue bunting. Sing along with Lee Greenwood. Stand for the national anthem, and for “God Bless America.” Recite a national loyalty oath at the start of the school day or of town council meetings. Wear a lapel pin.

Bunting
Bunting is patriotic. That means Brett Butler may be the most patriotic person of all time.

But the prophets, as ever, are unimpressed. They find these expressions of supposed devotion to country as inadequate and detestable as they saw the similar expressions of supposed devotion to God.

Prophets look skeptically at all of these “patriotic” gestures and displays and performances and they respond, as Douglass did, in the language of Isaiah — language that Isaiah said was the language of God:

Look, you serve your own interest on your patriotic day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you wave your flags only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such patriotism as you show today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is not this the love of country that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

These prophetic voices kneel when others stand and stand when others kneel, rejecting all the ritual performance of patriotism as contemptible when compared to the weightier matters of love of country.

Like the prophets in their rejection of religion, this rejection of performed patriotism is not a rejection of patriotism itself per se. They refuse to commend flag-waving or pledge-reciting or anthem-enthusing as intrinsically virtuous, but their quarrel is not with any of those things on their own. Their complaint is about injustice — about contempt for the poor and abuse of the outsiders, the disenfranchised, the widows, the orphans, the strangers in our midst.

When justice is present, then patriotic displays, like religious displays, are all well and good. When justice is absent, then these things become detestable, unbearable abominations that leave us soul-sick and weary of being burdened by them.


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