St. John Paul II, addressing the themes of nation, nationality, and patriotism, stated: “It seems that nation and native land, like the family, are permanent realities. In this regard, Catholic social doctrine speaks of ‘natural’ societies, indicating that both the family and the nation have a particular bond with human nature, which has a social dimension.” Contrasting patriotism to nationalism, he noted that the former “is a love for one’s native land that accords rights to all other nations equal to those claimed for one’s own. Patriotism, in other words, leads to a properly ordered social love.” Nationalism, on the other hand, privileges one’s own country and thus can be a disordered and unhealthy form of idolatry.
There is a sense in which nationalism privileges one's own country, but it is a perfectly innocuous privileging. That one's country comes first is as sound an idea as that one's family comes first: each family has the right to prefer its interests over the interests of other families. If my wife becomes ill, then my obligation is to care for her and expend such financial resources as are necessary to see to her welfare. If this means reducing my charitable contributions to the local food bank, then so be it. Whatever obligations I have to help others 'ripple out' from myself as center, losing claim to my attention the farther out they go, much like the amplitude of waves caused by a rock's falling into a pond diminishes the farther from the point of impact. Spouse and/or children first, then other family members, then old friends, then new friends, then neighbors, and so on.
The details are disputable, but not the general principle. The general principle is that we are justified in looking to our own first.
The main obligation of a government is to protect and serve the citizens of the country of which it is the government. It is a further question whether it has obligations to protect and benefit the citizens of other countries. That is debatable. But if it does, those obligations are trumped by the main obligation just mentioned. I should think that a great nation such as the USA does well to engage in purely humanitarian efforts such as famine relief. But such efforts are supererogatory.
Can nationalism "be a disordered and unhealthy form of idolatry"? As opposed to what? An ordinate and healthy form of idolatry? Idolatry is bad as such. And I am sure the author would agree, and that if he had been more careful he wouldn't have written such a bad sentence.
Why should nationalism lead to idolatry? Does putting one's family first over other human groups lead to the idolatry of one's own family? No.
"America first!" is a special case of 'Country first!" But there is nothing idolatrous about the former or the latter. Every country or nation is justified in preferring its interest over those of other countries. The reference class is countries, not everything. An enlightened nationalism does not place country over God, thereby making an idol of country.
Note the order of the words in pro deo et patria.
The opposite of nationalism is globalism or internationalism whose main inspiration in the last couple of centuries has been godless communism which better earns the epithet 'idolatrous.'
Recent Comments