{"id":10995,"date":"2017-01-12T21:43:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T05:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=10995"},"modified":"2017-01-12T21:43:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T05:43:49","slug":"imagined-communities-indivisible-with-liberty-and-justice-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/imagined-communities-indivisible-with-liberty-and-justice-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagined Communities: Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1982 I committed a mortal sin, according to my 11th<\/sup> grade history teacher. I elected not to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I was sorting through what it means to commit myself completely to Jesus and didn\u2019t feel comfortable with the words of the Pledge. \u201cIt is a slap in the face of God! It is completely anti-Christ to do something so un-American!\u201d Even then I knew there was something terribly wrong with this statement, I didn\u2019t have the language to explain how I felt.<\/p>\n

I love the United States of America. I love our freedoms and our variations on liberty. But I love this country like I love my siblings \u2013 with a clear view of its faults and a willingness to call her out on her stupidity. And like my siblings, I would die for her.<\/p>\n

Benedict Anderson gives a fascinating exposition on the origins of nationalism, including how nations are really just imagined constructs. He states that the idea of a nation is imagined<\/em> because members of any nation will most likely never meet, yet still share a unique bond (6). It is limited<\/em> because even the largest nation has boundaries (7). It is sovereign<\/em> because a nation answers to itself and no one else (7). Finally, it is a community<\/em> because, no matter what horrific internal problems can be found in that nation, there is a deep sense of belonging for which many would die (7).<\/p>\n

I get the impression from reading Anderson\u2019s book that he is not in favor of nationalism but that there is a deep respect for the way in which nationalism has come about. By calling them \u201cImagined Communities\u201d he is in no way declaring nations to be false constructs but instead points to the processes by which humanity has constructed nations and the deep-seated honor nations command of us. When spelled out as an imagined ideal, nationalism is somewhat hard to fathom. Why are we willing to risk our lives to kill people from other nations to protect people in our nation, while punishing and even killing those who break the rules of our nation? What is it about this deeply held nationalism that binds us together and makes us think \u201cus vs. them?\u201d Anderson explains how language and print-capitalism helped to form and spread the concept of nationalism, but he never really explains the WHY. What deep need is held by humanity that we pledge allegiance to a flag, a monarch, a land, or all of the above? And how, then, do we justify the rampant individualism in our own country that causes us not to want to care for the others who are part of our nation?<\/p>\n

In his chapter on Patriotism and Racism, Anderson makes the point that nationalism has \u201croots in fear and hatred of the Other,\u201d while simultaneously inspiring \u201coften profoundly self-sacrificing love\u201d (141). The sad thing is that he also explains that nationalism does not seem to curtail the hatred of the \u201cOther\u201d among us. We use language, art, and music to depict our love for country and, in the next speech or piece, spew bile over those who are viewed as \u201ceternal contaminations, transmitted from the origin of time through an endless sequence of loathsome copulations\u201d (149). Racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim (or Buddhist, or Sikh, or Catholic, etc.), and anti-LGBTQI are a festering, rotten decay that threatens our country much more than any outside entity, yet we build our defenses and sing our anthems declaring that God sheds his grace on this nation, that we are the land of the free and the home of the brave, and we pledge to be a nation \u201cunder God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.\u201d There is a serious cognitive disconnect there.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t help but think back to 1982 when my young self was wondering how on earth I could pledge allegiance to a flag and a nation when I just wanted to serve the Realm of Christ. I have wandered through patriotism and national pride back to the place where I can\u2019t bring myself to sing the Anthem or say the Pledge. I do not love my country any less, but I have fallen in love with Brazil, Italy, England, Canada, and Argentina as well. I have found community with people in those places and would lay down my life for them. When I pray \u201cYour Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,\u201d I don\u2019t just think about earth as the USA, but as a mosaic of people groups straining toward eternity. I\u2019m in no way recommending an international theocracy, or suggesting that we form a \u201cChristian nation,\u201d but wondering if it is time for Christians in every nation to pledge allegiance only to Christ and the restoration of the Realm of Creation. What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1982 I committed a mortal sin, according to my 11th grade history teacher. I elected not to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I was sorting through what it means to commit myself completely to Jesus and didn\u2019t feel comfortable with the words of the Pledge. \u201cIt is a slap in the face of God! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[583,585,782],"class_list":["post-10995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anderson","tag-imagined-communities","tag-patriotism","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}