Nations are our largest, stable social structures. We have formed empires, and alliances, but (so far, at least) all of them have unraveled back to nations. It isn't quite that simple, of course. Some nations are huge and diverse, and some are small and fragile, but when we think of our allegiences, we think of "nation" more than--let us say--the European Economic Union, or than the United Nations. To become a stable nation, there has to be a lot in common.
Nations are of many kinds. Sometimes ethnic groups are the creators of states. What probably began as very small family groups, usually expand to extended families, or clans, or tribes, which recognize that they have merged genetics at their hearts. They are Cherokee, or Germanic, or Swedish, or English. Even when they are that large, it has been common to extend the nation's ties by strategic marriages, a signal of the power of that identity. "We are not like other people." We are Jewish. Or Slavic. Japanese.
Sometimes religion is at the kernel of a nation. It might not have begun that way but, particularly in the west, religions define what it is that constitutes the character of a nation. Judaism, for example, may have begun as a conglomeration of nomadic desert people, forced together by already-existing nations around them, but Israel soon expressed its identity around ethics and behavior. "We are the people who ____." Who worship Yahweh. We observe a Sabbath. Who value the things desert people valued, who abhor pork, who fear the sea, who circumcise men and control women.
Today, many nations of the world are built around the religious heritage of Islam.
The Roman Empire borrowed Christianity to help cement the empire. Having borrowed it, the empire very soon shaped the religion to the value system of the empire. In many ways, the empire, even when it broke up into nations, is really fashioned more by Greek philosophical ideas than by the sect of Judaism it adopted. Christian theology very soon began to express itself in terms of Greek philosophy. The trinitarian ideas of Europe are very different than the prophetic ideas of Judaism. "We are the people who believe in these ideas." Democracy. Freedom of expression. Equal rights. Or maybe unequal rights. Ideas.
Nations formed around philosophical ideas write constitutions, and say what those founding ideas and values are. Religious nations turn to their holy books and holy places and holy heroes. Ethnic nations find it very difficult to incorporate "outsiders". It takes a long time to be accepted into the family, clan, tribe, now nation. Often, to explain their systems, they appeal to "common law": what the tribe has always done.
In this country, we appeal neither to our tribal identity, nor to our holy religious books or canons. We appeal to our constitution. We value life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We appeal to free speech, and to a democratic process. We specifically say that you can have any, old religion you want; no one with advantage. We have edged our way toward gender equality, toward racial equality, to religious neutrality, so long as the religious practices do interfere with our constitutional rights.
In this country, people whose ethnic and tribal identity are important, either learn to celebrate their identities as part of a multi-national quilt, or find a corner somewhere out of the way to assert their ethnic superiority. People with paramount religious commitments, either quickly learn that their notions that women are subservient property have to be modified, or they sulk and pretend that God and the women themselves prefer to humiliate themselves. The nation is committed to equality! If religious people--whether Catholic, or Mormon, or Pentacostal, or Islamic--have ideas or practices about family structure, or sexual practices, or educational opportunity that are in conflict with out constitution and laws, they must either hie themselves off to a monastery or a cloister and sulk, or get into line with what this nation is committed to. (Sometimes it takes a few generations of public howling about birth control, or women covering their heads and faces, women being allowed to vote, or the sexual practices of holy men before the issues settle down and the constitution prevails, but it happens: every time.)
There are nations founded on specific religions, each one of which says God is on their side: this isn't one.
There are nations founded on ethnic identity, each one of which thinks it is priviliged: this isn't one.
We are a nation founded on ideas; specific notions of freedom, and equality, and liberty. You can be religious if you want to, and do not interfere. You can celebrate ethnicity if you want to, if it does not abridge or deny what the nation is committed to.
For all of our lamentable faults, we are built on a splendid idea!
Nations are of many kinds. Sometimes ethnic groups are the creators of states. What probably began as very small family groups, usually expand to extended families, or clans, or tribes, which recognize that they have merged genetics at their hearts. They are Cherokee, or Germanic, or Swedish, or English. Even when they are that large, it has been common to extend the nation's ties by strategic marriages, a signal of the power of that identity. "We are not like other people." We are Jewish. Or Slavic. Japanese.
Sometimes religion is at the kernel of a nation. It might not have begun that way but, particularly in the west, religions define what it is that constitutes the character of a nation. Judaism, for example, may have begun as a conglomeration of nomadic desert people, forced together by already-existing nations around them, but Israel soon expressed its identity around ethics and behavior. "We are the people who ____." Who worship Yahweh. We observe a Sabbath. Who value the things desert people valued, who abhor pork, who fear the sea, who circumcise men and control women.
Today, many nations of the world are built around the religious heritage of Islam.
The Roman Empire borrowed Christianity to help cement the empire. Having borrowed it, the empire very soon shaped the religion to the value system of the empire. In many ways, the empire, even when it broke up into nations, is really fashioned more by Greek philosophical ideas than by the sect of Judaism it adopted. Christian theology very soon began to express itself in terms of Greek philosophy. The trinitarian ideas of Europe are very different than the prophetic ideas of Judaism. "We are the people who believe in these ideas." Democracy. Freedom of expression. Equal rights. Or maybe unequal rights. Ideas.
Nations formed around philosophical ideas write constitutions, and say what those founding ideas and values are. Religious nations turn to their holy books and holy places and holy heroes. Ethnic nations find it very difficult to incorporate "outsiders". It takes a long time to be accepted into the family, clan, tribe, now nation. Often, to explain their systems, they appeal to "common law": what the tribe has always done.
In this country, we appeal neither to our tribal identity, nor to our holy religious books or canons. We appeal to our constitution. We value life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We appeal to free speech, and to a democratic process. We specifically say that you can have any, old religion you want; no one with advantage. We have edged our way toward gender equality, toward racial equality, to religious neutrality, so long as the religious practices do interfere with our constitutional rights.
In this country, people whose ethnic and tribal identity are important, either learn to celebrate their identities as part of a multi-national quilt, or find a corner somewhere out of the way to assert their ethnic superiority. People with paramount religious commitments, either quickly learn that their notions that women are subservient property have to be modified, or they sulk and pretend that God and the women themselves prefer to humiliate themselves. The nation is committed to equality! If religious people--whether Catholic, or Mormon, or Pentacostal, or Islamic--have ideas or practices about family structure, or sexual practices, or educational opportunity that are in conflict with out constitution and laws, they must either hie themselves off to a monastery or a cloister and sulk, or get into line with what this nation is committed to. (Sometimes it takes a few generations of public howling about birth control, or women covering their heads and faces, women being allowed to vote, or the sexual practices of holy men before the issues settle down and the constitution prevails, but it happens: every time.)
There are nations founded on specific religions, each one of which says God is on their side: this isn't one.
There are nations founded on ethnic identity, each one of which thinks it is priviliged: this isn't one.
We are a nation founded on ideas; specific notions of freedom, and equality, and liberty. You can be religious if you want to, and do not interfere. You can celebrate ethnicity if you want to, if it does not abridge or deny what the nation is committed to.
For all of our lamentable faults, we are built on a splendid idea!
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