Nationalism: Noble or Unethical?

If you hear the word ‘nationalism’ today, you probably won’t hear it in the positive sense, especially if you live in America. You will presumably hear nationalism associated with narcissism or racism, which are definitely things you don’t want to be linked to. Many political intellectuals will say that nationalism is corrupt and oppressive and that we need to purge it from our society. But instead of just accepting these words, we should answer some questions and determine for ourselves what nationalism really is and if it’s good or bad.

First we must uncover the definition of nationalism, and Merriam-Webster will help us with that. Nationalism is defined as, “a belief that your country is better and more important than any other country”. It is not to be confused with patriotism. The difference is, patriotism is a feeling while nationalism is a belief. In other words, nationalism is patriotism put to an ideology. I hope that clears up any confusion you might have had, and if it confused you more than you were in the first place, I am truly sorry, but please read on.

Ever since the dispersion, after God confused the languages at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11), people have been grouped together by tribes and nations. This was God’s idea, not man’s. It was His plan for people to disperse into nations, not some concept a random philosopher had. These people groups started multiplying, and soon, they started their own civilizations. They built houses, universities, tools, and weapons. They created armies and navies, and wrote laws to govern each other. The only way nations were successful in all of this, was because the people who made up these nations held the belief that their country, their civilization, was the best on the face of the earth, and they were proud to be a part of it.

Now, let’s look at nationalism from the Bible.

After people started to settle down from the dispersion, God chose a man through whom a nation would be born. That man was Abraham, and that nation was Israel. He commanded this new nation to fight for their people, freedoms, and land. The Israelites of course fought for God, but they also fought for their country. They believed that they were the greatest nation on earth. They were nationalists, and God was pleased by that. Their way of life was different from all of the other countries surrounding them. They worshiped and served one God who you couldn’t see, or touch, while other nations worshiped many gods who were built by human hands and therefore visible and touchable. The Israelites way of life was blatantly different, and they prospered when they chose to love and respect their way of life, the way of life God gave them, but then Israel wanted to be like other nations. They wanted to have a king, and soon wanted to worship the gods of other nations, and because of their disobedience, because they didn’t desire put their way of life above any other, they were conquered and captured numerous times.

This happened, of course, because the Israelites rebelled against God, and they rebelled because they did not cherish and believe in their way of living. Israel and Judah turned from God because they did not want to live how God desired them to live, and Israel’s disregard for God and country had devastating consequences. That is an example of nationalism directly from the Bible. So it must be a good thing if God Himself wanted Israel to have a sense of pride in their country, right?

Yes, nationalism is a great thing. To take pride in and to believe that your fatherland is better than any other is an honorable idea, but just like many other good things, nationalism can become a sinful and deadly conviction. When a person’s or many people’s faith in their country becomes more important than their love for God and humanity, it does become racist, narcissist, and oppressive. Take Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany for example. Hitler rose to power because he preached nationalism and that resonated with millions of Germans at the time. Germans were tired of their country losing. They were livid with the outcome of the First World War, and they knew their country needed to rise back to greatness. There’s nothing wrong with any of that. Hitler proclaiming Germany needed to be a great country and promising he would do all he could to make it great isn’t bad. When Hitler’s nationalism went from a love for his own nation to a hatred for every other nation is when nationalism became one of the most destructive beliefs in human history.

Nazi’s not only thought their nation was better and more important than any other, they believed they were superior to every other group of people on the face of the earth. This led to the belief that all inferior races must be eliminated and the German race alone must rule the world. That was nationalism being extremely perverted, and thank God that this grotesque Nazism didn’t succeed.

Just because the Adolf Hitler and his followers held this view of nationalism doesn’t mean it is immoral to be a nationalist. Everyone, no matter what country they live in whether it be China, Japan, Canada, or India, should believe that their country is better and more important than every other nation on earth. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything your government is doing. Citizens of tyrannical governments such as North Korea and Saudi Arabia shouldn’t stand up for the crimes their leadership commits every day, but instead they should feel a deep longing for their country to be freed from oppressive rule. To be a nationalist doesn’t mean to applaud everything your country does. It means to fight for, believe in, and love your country, your people, and the principles that are meant to govern everyone fairly.