Fundamentalism and Patriotism

 I love America, Oh I love this land

I love America, with justice may she stand

Grounded on the word of God, a nation of the free

I love America, the land of our liberty.

Every Wednesday at school, during chapel time, we would sing this song or some other patriotic song. From a very young age, as early as first grade, I was taught that America was the greatest country in the world and that God had blessed this nation. Flags could be found in the corners of our church, of many of the churches I attended growing up. Hymnals would include patriotic songs to be sung during church services. I remember even being taught that every president was in heaven, and every president we ever had who was alive (except for Bill Clinton, of course) would be going to heaven. And of course, we pledged allegiance to the flag every morning, along with the Christian flag and Bible. Even today, you will see flags with crosses on them. The newest slogan is "stand for the flag, kneel for the cross" as though the two were similar and both deserved the same amount of reverence. 

I didn't know it then, but I had been indoctrinated. And of course, at the age of 6, I didn't question it. I didn't know I was supposed to. I didn't realize that this would take me, and many others, down a slippery slope to American nationalism. What I mean by this is, we were given a very white-washed view of what American history actually was. The founding fathers were said to have been God fearing men. The country was founded on God and Christian principles. Totally absent from this was that, in actuality, the founding fathers were mostly Masons and Deists. We were told that George Washington had dentures made of wood or rhinoceros ivory, when in reality they were made from the teeth of his own slaves. We were taught about the Native Americans, and how they were ruthless savages when it was in fact us, who were ruthless and violent towards them. Never once were we told that Thomas Jefferson once likened separating native children from their families, as one would separate a wolf from her pups. Any history that painted America in a negative light was missing from our textbooks.

The more I read about our actual history, the less I believed that we were this bastion of hope and beauty that was so often touted to us growing up. But what could I do? If I spoke out against it, I would be branded anti-American or anti-Christian. At that time, I was scared to take the chance. But after seeing what American exceptionalism has done to this country as a whole, especially after the disastrous presidency of Donald Trump, I could not keep silent any longer. I began posting more political things on my Facebook, and still do to this day. I did this because I believed that it was important for people to open up their eyes to the reality. And that reality is: we are not a blessed nation. We were not founded on Christian principles. We are guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, slavery, murder, and crony capitalism. Speaking out against this does not mean I hate my country; rather, it means that I love it too much to allow it to continue down the road it is going, and I will not be complacent in its wrongdoing. And I certainly won't tout the idea that it is somehow a great country that can do no wrong, when in reality, history shows us otherwise. 

Hearing other people speak up against the injustices this country perpetuates and the idea of us being a chosen people should not deter us, and it certainly shouldn't make us say things like, "if you don't like it you can leave." It should make you stand up and say, "you know what, you're right. We have royally messed up in so many ways in the past. Let's take steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again."