Patriotism vs. Nationalism

By: American Decency Staff

PATRIOTISM! This word evokes warm and strong feelings in many Americans, but what does it really mean?  Patriotism is having a real love for one’s country because of the values and virtues that it stands for.  It humbly recognizes God as the Giver of America’s blessings. Yes, it’s God who has shed His grace, mercy, Word, and liberty upon us. Our response should be gratitude and thanksgiving; we should gladly acknowledge Him as the Author of our liberty and submit to His authority.  That’s real patriotism.

There’s a very fine line between Patriotism and Nationalism which is as wide as the Grand Canyon. Patriotism loves what the country stands for; Nationalism makes an idol of the government, the flag, or one’s culture.  Nationalism is a statist philosophy which binds men to a heavy yoke for the “good” of the nation and requires unquestioning obedience to its ever-invading, liberty eating precepts.

Patriotism says, “To GOD be the glory!” while Nationalism says, “May the nation be glorified.”  Patriotism says, “May America bless God again;” Nationalism says, “We can bless ourselves without God.”  Patriotism humbles itself in repentance, that it might succor God’s blessing again. Nationalism has a stiff-necked pride which continues to walk in its own way, regardless the consequences to its people or its land.  Patriotism, in America, is about the government being controlled by the people…and the people being in submission to God. Nationalism is about controlling the people and controlling God as well.

We live in a time when patriots and true heroes—defenders of our country—are called terrorists, while those who would destroy the foundations of our nation, circumnavigate our Constitution, take away our freedoms, and leave us unprotected are hailed as heroes of hope and change.  These Nationalists would blindfold us to the truth and shackle us with silky chains of tyranny, in an effort to bring about their own agenda. With each denial of God’s authority and each push for the “rights” of man, they would unanchor us from “Religion and morality [which] are the essential pillars of civil society.” (George Washington)

In America, Nationalism doesn’t conserve anything; instead, it picks at and erodes the Biblical foundations from which this great nation was built.  But, “if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)  On the other hand, Patriotism tries to conserve the Judeo-Christian heritage that’s the bedrock of our heritage, our laws, and governing principles.  Real patriots will stand to conserve and, as President Reagan said, “…to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.”

Noah Webster, in his 1828 dictionary, describes patriotism as, “Love of one's country; the passion which aims to serve one's country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its lawsand institutions in vigor and purity.”  Our rights have been given to us by, and our laws are based upon “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” to use the wording of the Declaration of Independence.  We must protect the sanctity of God’s Word and guard the treasure of its statutes, which is the Light and Life of this nation.

A sermon, The Christian Patriot, written in 1840 by M.I. Motte, speaks volumes to the fact that “National vice is national suicide,” and that true patriotism is shown by honoring God. “And, then, to make all that is given to us safe for us, and to expect a blessing continuance, we must remember God, and insist on a religious morality as the very first manifestation of a true patriotism. Ay, patriotism, that most abused word. Alas! That it is ever vaunted and bravadoed by the scoffer and the profligate, not knowing, that blessed is that people, and that alone, whose God is the Lord. Without him they may speak great swelling words of vanity; but bombastic professions and oratorical displays are not the disinterested self-denial and sober toils of a virtuous citizen, who fears God and honors government, and serves and saves the state without boasting. He alone is a patriot. By such alone the country stands.

The Ruler of nations hath uttered the decree. From beginning of time his world has (been) illustrating it. As surely as he is just and the King of nations as of individuals; as surely as there is truth taught by experience, and the unvarying certainty of the same effects from the same causes, according to the natural constitution he has impressed on his universe, the past, in all quarters of the globe, bids us look well to it. You may be the traitor within the garrison, though treason to the country be furthest from your thoughts. You may invoke ruin upon it when you are shouting, louder than any, the glory of its institutions. You may be the deadly enemy, though you shed your blood for it. Look into the nature of things. When hath a righteous nation perished? Where is there one doing justice and judgment, and it is not well with it? Public virtue is the strongest spirit of national vitality; and private virtue is the life-blood, coursing through every artery and vein, large and small, of the public institutions.”

As Rev. Motte neared the end of his message, so I call to you at this most perilous junction of our nation’s history, be a real patriot. “Choose it, resolve it, O my brethren, as the first of civil duties. Whatever your party predilections, sacrifice them all for the party of righteous men. Support no administration, and oppose none, but on the ground of moral principle. Go with them as far as Jesus Christ would go, and no further. Read the constitution by the light of the Gospel. The Savior be your paramount leader.”

Friend, real patriots will let the gospel guide their politics, for a patriot knows the truth of Psalm 144:15 “Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.”

To read the whole of this stirring message by M.I. Motte, click here.

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