Friday, May 27, 2005
Patriotism and Religion
No, this post is not about the current occupants of White House. It's about how religion is sometimes required to sustain the supreme act of patriotism : fight a war for the country. After all, religion has often found its way into government speak during war time, and some of it has remained since. "In God We Trust" was added to US money in the wake of the Civil War. And "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 in order to , according to a New York Times article, `emphasize the antagonism between God-fearing Americans and godless Communists'.
Why might religion in the time of war be so important? Perhaps because patriotism elicits admiration and the enemy then deserves the admiration as well. Might it not then be difficult to kill the enemy? Perhaps it might atleast be difficult to torture and mistreat the enemy? What makes the enemy's patriotism 'false'? Here is where religion comes in and a nice little paragraph, from wikipedia, somewhat fleshes the argument.
In one variant, patriotic participants in a war acknowledge that the enemy worships the same god, but judge that this god is on their own side, thus providing the external justification for patriotism noted just above. This is perhaps a fair characterization of the attitude of many of the participants in the American Civil War or most of the fronts of the First World War. Another variant is for each side to worship different gods, acknowledge that the other side's god exists, and believe that their own god is superior. This may have characterized the conflicts between the ancient Israelites and their Canaanite opponents, as narrated in the Old Testament. Yet another version of religious patriotism is the belief that a god or set of gods is on one's side, and that the god or gods of the other side simply do not exist. This view often characterized the beliefs of the European powers during the colonialist period, when their armies often fought against pagan opponents.
Can the importance of pacifist religions then be underestimated?
Why might religion in the time of war be so important? Perhaps because patriotism elicits admiration and the enemy then deserves the admiration as well. Might it not then be difficult to kill the enemy? Perhaps it might atleast be difficult to torture and mistreat the enemy? What makes the enemy's patriotism 'false'? Here is where religion comes in and a nice little paragraph, from wikipedia, somewhat fleshes the argument.
In one variant, patriotic participants in a war acknowledge that the enemy worships the same god, but judge that this god is on their own side, thus providing the external justification for patriotism noted just above. This is perhaps a fair characterization of the attitude of many of the participants in the American Civil War or most of the fronts of the First World War. Another variant is for each side to worship different gods, acknowledge that the other side's god exists, and believe that their own god is superior. This may have characterized the conflicts between the ancient Israelites and their Canaanite opponents, as narrated in the Old Testament. Yet another version of religious patriotism is the belief that a god or set of gods is on one's side, and that the god or gods of the other side simply do not exist. This view often characterized the beliefs of the European powers during the colonialist period, when their armies often fought against pagan opponents.
Can the importance of pacifist religions then be underestimated?
