Veterans Day and ideas about patriotism overlap, so I’ll start with an admission.
On the whole, I like being an American.
That’s partly because I think that “America” includes much more than this country’s national government.
A little over a year ago, someone expressed the idea rather well:
“…Just a thought … As we were reached the pad … there’s that American flag … on the side of the rocket itself, and we know that that represents unity, and resilience, and unified efforts for the common good. And that’s what Suni and I have witnessed this last month: each of you displaying what this nation’s forefathers envisioned: a people committed to God, family and country, a people who use their gifts and talents for the common good, and are passionate, and tough. And we all know that when the going gets tough … the tough get going … Let’s get going….”
(Barry “Butch” E. Wilmore, astronaut, a little over four minutes before launch of the Starliner Calypso, from NASA video coverage (June 5, 2024))
I also am profoundly glad that so many folks over the last two and a half centuries have decided that serving in this country’s armed forces was a good idea. The rest of us owe you our thanks, if nothing else.
There. I’ve said it.
Now I’ll take a look at why I think “patriotism” can be okay.
Love of Country, Yes; Worship of Country, No
Am I a “patriot”?
In at least one sense, I am not. In my youth, I ran into this definition:
Patriot:
Someone who willingly lays down your life for his country.
Bear in mind that I was growing up during the Sixties.
The Indochina involvement was running full-steam-ahead, and a loud segment of the past-draft-age population were having fits. Partly, it seemed, because so many folks my age had started thinking, instead of supporting freedom by mindlessly doing what we were told to do.
Although I wasn’t by a long shot the craziest of ‘those crazy kids’, I was among those who were trying to make sense out of what was happening.
Maybe, a century or so from now, historians can sort out what looked like madness then. I’ve decided that the task would require access to information I don’t have, and very likely won’t get.
I have, however, decided that “patriotism” can be reasonable. That’s mainly because I now realize that “patriotism” is not “nationalism”.
“…While nationalism implies contempt or even hatred for other nations or cultures, patriotism is an appropriate particular — but not exclusive — love of and service to one’s country and people, as remote from cosmopolitanism as it is from cultural nationalism. Each culture aspires to the universal through the best it has to offer. Cultures are also called to purify themselves of their share in the legacy of sin, embodied in certain prejudices, customs and practices, to enrich themselves with the input of the faith and to «enrich the universal Church itself with new expressions and values» (Redemptoris Missio, 52 and Slavorum Apostoli, 21)….”
(“Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture” , Pontifical Council for Culture (May 23, 1999)) [emphasis mine]
Since I’m a Catholic, keeping my priorities straight is an obligation.
So although loving my country is a good idea, letting that love slop over into something else is a bad idea and I shouldn’t do it.
2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, ‘You cannot serve God and mammon.'(Matthew 6:24)Many martyrs died for not adoring ‘the Beast’ (Cf. Revelation 13-14). refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.(Cf. Gal 5:20; Eph 5:5)
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]
Another point: caring about my family, and my country, is a good idea. So is caring about folks who aren’t close kin, or aren’t Americans.
Love of neighbors should include actually doing something: not just having warm feelings.
Respecting legitimate authority matters. Within reason.
“2199 The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother, because this relationship is the most universal. It likewise concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family. It requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it. This commandment includes and presupposes the duties of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all who exercise authority over others or over a community of persons.”
“2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. the love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]
Freedom, Responsibility, and Other Inconveniences
brightly burning book”.
The Hon:Mole MacCarony in Pogo. (March 30, 1953)
I am not “political” in the sense that I’ll deify Party A and demonize Party B, or claim that God agrees with me and if you don’t — well, you get the idea.
But I can’t ignore politics. Much as I’d like to.
Or, rather, I can’t ignore the ethical messes spattered across public life.
I don’t talk about those issues much, partly because I’m literally trying to keep my blood pressure down.
But now and then I do try explaining why I think human lives matter — no matter whose life it is — and discussing other ethical angles of contemporary living.
Sometimes that means making statements that sound “political”. I don’t like it, but paying attention to public life — including the “political” parts — comes with the territory.
That’s because ethics matter.
A word of explanation before I share more quotes. In Catholic-speak, “ethical” and “moral” mean roughly the same thing. “Moral” behavior isn’t limited to the handful of zipper issues that news media loves to cover.
“2245 The Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in any way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. ‘The Church respects and encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen.'(Gaudium et Spes 76 § 3.)
“2246 It is a part of the Church’s mission ‘to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. the means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances.’ (Gaudium et Spes 76 § 5.)”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) [emphasis mine]
Remembering “the Good of the Whole Human Family”
Some of this will sound “political”, but as I said: ethics matter. Even if they seem to support some political slogans.
“75. …Citizens must cultivate a generous and loyal spirit of patriotism, but without being narrow-minded. This means that they will always direct their attention to the good of the whole human family, united by the different ties which bind together races, people and nations….
“…76. It is very important, especially where a pluralistic society prevails, that there be a correct notion of the relationship between the political community and the Church, and a clear distinction between the tasks which Christians undertake, individually or as a group, on their own responsibility as citizens guided by the dictates of a Christian conscience, and the activities which, in union with their pastors, they carry out in the name of the Church.
“The Church, by reason of her role and competence, is not identified in any way with the political community nor bound to any political system. She is at once a sign and a safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person.
“The Church and the political community in their own fields are autonomous and independent from each other. Yet both, under different titles, are devoted to the personal and social vocation of the same men. The more that both foster sounder cooperation between themselves with due consideration for the circumstances of time and place, the more effective will their service be exercised for the good of all. For man’s horizons are not limited only to the temporal order; while living in the context of human history, he preserves intact his eternal vocation. … By preaching the truths of the Gospel, and bringing to bear on all fields of human endeavor the light of her doctrine and of a Christian witness, [the Church] respects and fosters the political freedom and responsibility of citizens….”
(“Gaudium et Spes” , Pope St. Paul VI (December 7, 1965) [emphasis mine]
“Agents of Security and Freedom of Peoples”
It’s been a long time since I saw someone write ‘I thought Jesus was a pacifist’, but my guess is that similar notions are still oozing through social media.
Although I don’t like war — it breaks things and kills people — I’d make a lousy pacifist.
Even during the Sixties, I realized that sometimes keeping people safe means doing more than uttering stern reproofs.
This is not a new idea.
“2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. ‘The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor. … The one is intended, the other is not.’ (“Summa Theologica”, , STh II-II,64,7, St. Thomas Aquinas) [emphasis mine]
“…79. …Those too who devote themselves to the military service of their country should regard themselves as the agents of security and freedom of peoples. As long as they fulfill this role properly, they are making a genuine contribution to the establishment of peace.”
(“Gaudium et Spes” , Pope St. Paul VI (December 7, 1965) [emphasis mine]
I’ve talked about America, legitimate defense, and acting as if ethics matter, before:
- “Liberal? Conservative? Republican? Democrat? No: Catholic” (July 27, 2024)
- “Truth, Beauty, and the Evening News” (June 15, 2024)
- “Freedom of Speech: On the Whole, I Like It“ (July 6, 2024)
- “Veterans Day, 2023: A Few Minutes’ Worth” (November 11, 2023)
- “War, Peace and a Civilization of Love” (November 12, 2022)
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