If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, it might serve for clarity to read that one before this one (hence the numbers 1 and 2). But if you have read it, on we go. Back to nuancing our way through the Pledge of Indivisibility.
I believe it’s safe to say that those in support of reciting the Pledge associate their involvement in the act with a demonstration of patriotism. The more focused the participation, the more fervent the patriot. Thoughtful individuals boil down the responsibility every citizen has to be a patriot. Typically, a Christian will derive the necessity for patriotism as an extension of loving thy neighbor, among other things. I would include myself among those Christians. Loving your neighbor does extend to loving your country, and hence, patriotism. I wouldn’t, however, equate being an American Patriot with reciting the American Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps that’s where some of us divide (in spite pledging for indivisibility).
It is helpful and accurate to understand patriotism as an expansion of Christ’s command to love your neighbor. We are committed and have a sense of dutiful loyalty to our government because our polity is composed of our neighbors, near and far, and we are called by God to love them. Americans are also in a bit of a unique situation, because our American identity is not found in our blood, as is the case in other nations. The British, the Germans, the Russians, and the Chinese are not simply united with their passports. They’re united with their ancestry. Their patriotism is an extension of honoring their parents. However, Russian propaganda about fighting for the Fatherland wouldn’t work as well in America, because we don’t all share the same father. We all come from immigrants, whether further or closer upstream. What unites us Americans is our commitment to the cause outlined in our Founding Documents, and our commitment to our neighbors as we live out that cause among them. Americans share a responsibility to “love thy neighbor” in a way that other nationalities don’t.
So far, so good. But, like a good cocktail, here’s the lemon twist: our care for neighbors doesn’t start from the far encompassing the near. Rather, loving your neighbor always starts from the near extending to the far. Our love for neighbor first starts with those within our household, expanding from there to our local community, expanding further still to our state border, going on to our national neighbors, and finally encompassing the world. It’s this specific point that the Pledge of Allegiance resists by effectually setting us against our local neighbors as we ally ourselves with one, indivisible nation.
A question to ponder: Why do we start our definition of Patriotism at a national level? Why don’t we go further? Why don’t we support full imperialism with open borders and global citizenship? Isn’t the entire world composed of our neighbors? Because we understand that neighborly love doesn’t start there. A “neighbor” is not a hypothetical concept. He has a name, a face, and a hand I can shake. Neighborly love starts with the bedroom across the hallway, extends to the house across the street, and to the town across the bridge. It’s this same concept that many pastors fail to grasp when they devote themselves to their “global flock” while their sons and daughters are set on the highway to hell.
As a matter of fact, not only does love for neighbor not start at the macro-level, but many times the macro is the threat to my neighbor. If the town across the bridge threatens my town, out of love for my neighbor I have a duty to defend my town. It would be a failure to love my neighbor if I fail to defend my household against potential threats coming from across the street. It is the spirit of the Tower of Babel that tries to create global unity at the expense of local commitments.
During the American War Between the States, there were many generals, officers, and soldiers fighting for the Confederacy who did not support everything the Confederacy stood for. Many of them didn’t care what it stood for. They fought for it because they understood what duty and love for neighbor means. Robert E. Lee did not accept Lincoln’s proposal to fight for the Union, even though he agreed with the cause, because he loved his country Virginia and couldn’t imagine fighting against his neighbors.
On the other hand, us modern Americans consistently align ourselves to a vague concept of an indivisible nation. If we believe all our words carry tangible weight as our Lord taught us (Matt. 5:37), and especially a pledge we make (Deut. 23:21), then at the point that our neighbors threaten national unity, we must set ourselves against them in fulfillment of our vow, behaving like Redcoat Loyalists. The American Pledge of Allegiance makes rats of us all.
Instead of necessitating our participation in the Pledge, our love for neighbor prohibits us from it. There is a difference between Neighbor and Nation. There is a difference between Patriotism and Statism. If we participate in the Pledge of Allegiance, we are not demonstrating a love for our neighbor, whatever our intention, but are committing ourselves to national interests over against those of our neighbor’s. It’s the difference between loyalty to hypothetical abstractions and ambiguities, and loyalty to people you can name.
“One nation, indivisible” was not a new concept with the introduction of the American Pledge of Allegiance. That specific term originates back in history an entire century prior. After the Modernistic Revolution starting in 1789 overthrew the French Monarchy, a national convention was founded to establish the First French Republic and draft a new constitution. The French Constitution of 1793 begins by defining it’s Republic in this way:
French Constitution of the twenty-fourth of June, 1793.
Of the Republic.
1. The French Republic is one and indivisible.
The stated goal of the French Republic during the French Revolution started with having an one and indivisible republic, breaking the damn to flood in two centuries of tyrannical overreach, still counting. Every tyranny since then demanded unapologetic and committed loyalty to the Central Nation, including the anthem of the Soviet Union, which begins with these words:
“Unbreakable union of free republics
Great Rus’ has united forever to stand!
Long live, created by will of the peoples,
The united, the mighty Soviet Union!”
How much blood has been shed throughout the world over the past 200 years on this specific principle of protecting one, indivisible nation? How much families have been betrayed by their neighbors in allegiance to this ideal? Many political prisoners in the Soviet Union, including my Grandfather, were turned in to the authorities by their neighbors. They were charged with slander against the national government and instigating civil unrest, because the Union was to be unbreakable.
Indivisibly is an attribute only our Triune God holds. It’s no wonder every tyrant grasps for it – grasps, but doesn’t attain. The “Unbreakable” Soviet Union has been broken. The “One and Indivisible” French Republic of 1793 was divided over and over. Yet, the Indivisible Trinity remains, and commands us to love our neighbor.
Foreseeing the consequences of Enlightenment virtues, our American Founding Fathers set up a government where neighborly and familial loyalties are prioritized and encouraged with the unique and insightful design of State Sovereignty within a Constitutional Republic, valuing the local over the national. Fighting against that design, the Modernistic Revolution infected American minds with the notion of one, indivisible nation, for which the National Pledge of Allegiance stands. Pitting neighbor against neighbor, citizen against local government, and encouraging a practical ingratitude for the structure of our nation, the intent of the Pledge of Allegiance has now been effectually propagated from sea to shining sea.
However, not every American resembles the citizens of Oceania. There are many who honorably love their neighbors and want the good of their city, even if they pledge to an “indivisible” nation. If we value our local commitments, it would make sense to align our vows with our values.
“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.” – Deut. 23:21
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