Viewpoints: The role of patriotism from your faith perspective

I think being a good patriot is part of being a virtuous person on the whole.

It’s that whole “render unto Caesar” thing that Jesus mentioned, where we’re called to submit ourselves to our legitimate authority, and also to have a healthy understanding that God nevertheless reigns over all things.

I’ll leave it there, but a couple friends and I did a short podcast over the 4th of July this year on this very topic – have a listen to that here.

Neal Schindler:  Healthy skeptic hoping for positive change

To me, patriotism means maintaining a healthy skepticism, and a hunger for positive change, about nearly everything related to one’s country, including patriotism itself! In my family patriotism has never meant uncritical allegiance to the U.S., or any other country. I may feel this way because I spent a portion of my childhood in Germany. This led me to believe that every country, like every person, has its flaws and its virtues. American exceptionalism — the idea that the U.S. is the best country on Earth because, y’know, ‘murica — doesn’t make sense to me. I am proud of my country sometimes and ashamed at others. Like most Americans, I imagine, I spend the majority of my time somewhere in between, trying to understand the problems and wondering what I can do to make a positive difference.

I was thrilled with the U.S. when same-sex marriage became legal nationwide; I am appalled at the ongoing epidemic of shootings of unarmed black people by police. This is a big, strange, complicated country, and I believe that a highly dynamic mix of thoughts and feelings is a very reasonable response to such a place. I’d add that just as I don’t see contemporary Jews as God’s chosen people, any more than anybody else is chosen, I don’t see the U.S. as God’s chosen nation. God either wants the best for all people — I’d say all living beings — or for none. I don’t think any divine being is waving a flag with a particular pattern on it.