Friends,
I have been reading a bit of Tolstoy recently. It started with his last novel, Resurrection, and from there I started reading some of his writings on pacifism and religious liberty. Prior to this I’d never read any of Tolstoy’s nonfiction, but I’m glad I’ve started. His writing is clear, profound, and timeless, even when he is writing about matters rooted in Russian history.
In two of his so-called “pacifist essays” Tolstoy writes about the spiritual dangers of patriotism. In Tolstoy’s view, patriotism is antithetical to Christianity because patriotism is designed by those in power to inspire insular thinking that encourages regular folks to see each other as enemies when no enmity is natural between them.
For example, at the turn of the 20th century, when Tolstoy was writing his pacifist essays, Russia and France forged an alliance to combat German aspirations for an empire. Leaders in Russia and France (as well as in Germany) used the Franco-Russian alliance to gin up a great patriotic fervor that resulted in ordinary Russian and French people professing a hatred for their German counterparts (and vice versa), even though no offensive words or actions had been exchanged between regular Russians, French and Germans who would end up (as history proved to be true) slaughtering each other in the name of the Tsar, Kaiser, and Republic.
In Tolstoy’s estimation, patriotism is a means by which people in power control regular folks, making them hate and kill in ways that are neither natural nor good. Therefore patriotism, in Tolstoy’s mind, was a form of slavery.
Unlike Tolstoy, I’m not prepared to dismiss all patriotism as evil, but his words got me thinking about the flood of patriotic images and messages that will overwhelm us in the coming week as the nation celebrates its birthday. Patriotism will be used to sell us everything from Buicks to bratwurst, and at baseball games we’ll all be singing “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch as the fireworks pop, as if “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” were an insufficient expression of Americana, and as if the pregame performance of the National Anthem lacked the patriotic vigor necessary to keep the love of country kindled and burning in our breasts for the space of an entire ballgame.
I confess I share Tolstoy’s suspicion of patriotism when flag waving keeps us believing God’s favor lies at the existential root of a nation founded by slave holders and expanded by genocide, ethnic cleansing, and imperial conquest. I am entirely suspicious of patriotic expressions that might dupe us into believing Chinese people or citizens of Syria or Russia or Venezuela are our natural enemies when, in fact, the very real tensions that keep our nations at high alert have nothing to do with ordinary people.
But I also know that patriotism can be good. When patriotism is not a jingoistic expression of national pride, but instead, is a concrete desire and dedication to make our country better, when patriotism means working to end systemic racism, and figuring out how to provide medical care and excellent public education, I’m all for it. When patriotism means the preservation of America’s natural landscapes, the restoration of her watersheds, and the healing of her topsoils, and the purifying of her air and water, then patriotism is much to be desired. When patriotism means less military spending and not more, when patriotism means fewer jails and more state and national parks, then patriotism is great. When Patriotism means understanding and making amends for the sins of America’s past, it can be restorative.
This fourth of July I’ll be heading up to Mendocino after church, where I’ll probably eat a few hot dogs and some sweet corn and maybe an apple pie or two. While on the road I’ll probably listen to the Giants game, and I might even watch a some fireworks if the fog isn’t too thick and if the Mendocino Volunteer Vire Department can figure out a way to make the fireworks safe (the fire chief is married to my niece and I trust he will be careful). These are things that make me content to be an American.
But I pray that no amount of patriotic fervor will distract us from the dangers of Patriotism enumerated by Tolstoy. May we never come to believe anyone is our enemy. May we never believe America is more blessed than any other country. May we always be aware that our first duty to country is the work of fixing what is broken and healing what remains wounded.
So, I wish you a happy Fourth that is filled with the very best kind of patriotism—a desire to make the country we’ve inherited better for those who one day will receive it from us. Also, I hope you enjoy the baseball, apple pie and fireworks.
God’s Peace,
Ben