God and Nation, nationalism and patriotism - Lent 2022: Day 27

If there's one thing that upsets me more than anything else about organised religions it is how easily they can become co-opted by the nation state to foment hatred of other nations. Appreciating a universal God - as in God of the Universe - "all things visible and invisible" - a Universe of billions of galaxies each of billions of stars - it is utterly ridiculous to appropriate that one God to one's nation. Patriotism means taking pride in your nation; nationalism means degrading all other nations to inferior status.

Behold the belt-buckle of German soldiers in WW2. "God With Us", it proclaims. "God is with us - and therefore not with other nations, enemy nations." Given the powerful social control mechanisms inherent in organised religion, it is relatively easy to align them with nationalistic strivings to crush other nations. Which is both sad and scary - taking the Gospel of Christ and turning it into a pretext for barbarity.

Patriach Kirill of Moscow, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, holds similar views. He approves of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and has blessed the Russian soldiers fighting there. The Moscow patriarchate views Ukraine as a part of its territory. Kirill has said that "the Russian army has chosen a very correct way".

The notion of 'God' choosing sides in a fight between two nations is bizarre. A choice between good and evil I can get my head around, but an all-round slaughter such as the First World War, a war between empires not hell-bent on exterminating peoples based on race, nation or class cannot be classed as a war between good and evil. 

Personally, I believe that God exists subjectively - not objectively. As a non-falsifiable proposition, science is unable to prove or disprove God's existence. As such, I can claim, on the basis of my subjective experience, that 'God is with me' (the corollary to my father's question "why have I been so lucky?"). But I would never claim that God is with my nation to the exclusion of other nations. Or to the exclusion of other species. Or of other planets hosting conscious life.

The Polish Catholic Church is in a big muddle over this. Part of it is knowing where patriotic hymns end ("O Lord, protect our nation") and nationalistic ones ("O Lord, smite our foes") begin. The choice of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Poland is theologically bizarre. I feel that since the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, the Catholic Church in Poland has been drifting away from anything that I could associate with my own belief system, however metaphorically.

This may be a character fault; I have difficulties with seeing worship as anything other than an individual practice based on prayer and meditation. Coming together with others to worship God is not something I do. Can you pray for you nation? I believe you can - in the same way that you can pray for health, contentment, peace of mind, security, freedom from discomfort, acceptance, a satisfying job - and you can pray for these for your loved ones. But you cannot pray for lottery wins or power. Praying for your nation to find its way, peacefully, to internal and external harmony yes - defeating weaker neighbours - definitely no. And your football team beating a rival club in the local derby - also a no.

This time last year:
Medicine, mindfulness and miracles

This time two years ago:
Divine intervention

This time three years ago:
Oblique views of Warsaw from the air

This time eight years ago
On Calton Hill, Edinburgh

This time nine years ago:
Doomsday - the Last Judgment

This time ten years ago:
Sunny Scotland at 23.9C 

This time 12 years ago:

My road bike, ready for action