Sermon for 6 October 2002, 1st Unitarian Church of Alton,, Illinois
PATRIOTISM AND HUMATRIOTISM
Ronald J. Glossop

I. Introduction

A. Since September 11, 2001 we in this country have seen a surge in talk and action in support of patriotism.
1. Flags and slogans like "God Bless America" are everywhere. Patriotism is running wild.

2. Our country has been attacked and we are being encouraged to support efforts to find and punish the attackers, and even others who might become attackers.
3. Some people have taken the view that under these circumstances it is unpatriotic to question the President and other decision-makers. We must follow our leaders.
4. But loyalty to the country and uncritical acceptance of the policies of the existing administration are two different things, as was noted by former President Theodore Roosevelt. He said:
"'Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does NOT mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."
II. There are different dimensions of patriotism.
A. Patriotism can refer to pride in one's country, in its accomplishments, in its ideals.
B. Patriotism can refer to love of one's country, to a desire to preserve it and improve it.
C. Patriotism can refer to loyalty to one's country, to a very high level of commitment to do whatever one is asked to do by those in positions of authority.
1. But here we must distinguish between unthinking obedience and critical obedience.
2. What if those in authority do not seem to be doing what is right?
a. Those in authority may be choosing short-term good over long-term good.
b. Those in authority may be choosing something that is good for the country but
that is harmful for others in other lands.

D. Is patriotism (or nationalism) desirable? It can bring people together in a community. Indeed that is exactly what leaders in many less-developed countries are trying to do in their previously non-unified countries. But patriotism can also be used to generate animosity toward outsiders.
1. Voltaire commented that what is disappointing about patriotism is that people often suppose that in order to be a good patriot they must be enemies to the rest of humanity.

2. The world is changing from a world controlled by nation-states to a world managed by international organizations to a global community where nation-states have become much less important and are sometimes obstacles to a peaceful and just world.

E. Nationalism often is a major part of our self-identification. What are you? "I am a Spaniard" or "I am a Canadian" or "I am a German" or "I am French," and so on. Note how it is language that usually provides the tie for identifying with one's nation, and how national governments usually use their political power to promote what those in authority regard as the national language. It is an instrument for uniting the country.

III. Now is the time when the inhabitants of planet Earth must move from patriotism (loyalty to fatherland) to humatriotism (loyalty to all humanity).

A. We are living at the time in human history when this change must be made, just as in earlier human history we made the transition from tribal identification and loyalty to urban identification and loyalty to national identification and loyalty.
1. It is time to go from thinking "I am an American" or "I am a Spaniard" or "I am a Canadian" or "I am a German" or "I am French" to "I am an Earthling."

B. We need to make use of the same devices previously used to promote nationalism and patriotism in order to promote humatriotism.

1. One of these devices is the pledge of allegiance taught children when very young. Lillian Genser of Wayne State University has composed the new kind of pledge we need for this age of globalism. It goes:

"I pledge allegiance to the world, To cherish every living thing,
To care for Earth and sea and air, With peace and justice everywhere.
a. This pledge is being used every day along with the pledge to the American flag at CBC high school in Richmond Heights.

b. We need to use this pledge or something like it in elementary schools around the world, so that children realize that they are members of a global community too.

2. Another device used to promote patriotism which needs to be used to promotoe humatriotism is a flag which stands for the community. Just as we have national flags for the various national communities, so we need a world flag which stands for the global community. It seems to me that the U.N. flag is very appropriate for this purpose, and it is being used in various places including Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville where I previously taught. One might also use the earth flag of the environmentalists, but I myself prefer the U.N. flag since it represents the human global community which I believe needs to be our focus.

a. One might even want to go back to TheWild Flag (an iris) mentioned on Christmas Day, 1943 by J. B. White in his editorial in The New Yorker. In that editorial White tells of a dream he had about when the third world war had ended and only 200 people from 82 countries remained. (This was published in 1943 before there was the atomic bomb was developed! I am quoting from the book The Wild Flag, published in 1946 by the Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston, pages 20-23.)
b. Let me now quote directly:
"Each delegate brought the flag of his homeland with him--each, that is, except the delegate from China. When others asked him why he had failed to bring a flag, he said that he had discussed the matter with another Chinese survivor, an ancient and very wise man, and that between them they had concluded that they would not have any cloth flag for China any more.
"'What kind of flag do you intend to have?' asked the delegate from Luxemburg.
"The Chinese delegate blinked his eyes and produced a shoebox, from whih he drew a living flower which looked very like an iris.
"'What is that?' they all inquired, pleased with the sight of so delicate a symbol.
"'That,' said the Chinese, 'is a wild flag, Iris tectorum. In China we have decided to adopt this flag, since it is a convenient and universal device and very beautiful and grows everywhere in the moist places of the earth for all to observe and wonder at. I propose all countries adopt it, so that it will be impossible for us to insult each other's flag.'
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"The delegate from Patagonia spoke up. 'I fear that the wild flag, one for all, will prove an unpopular idea.'
"'It will, undoubtedly,' sighed the Chinese delegate. 'But now that there are only a couple of hundred people on earth, even the word 'unpopular' loses most of its meaning. At this juncture we might conceivable act in a sensible, rather than a popular, manner.' And he produced eighty-two more shoeboxes and handed a wild flag to each delegate, bowing ceremoniously.
"Next day the convention broke up and the delegates returned to their homes, marveling at what they had accomplished in so short a time. And that is the end of our dream."
c. But I do not agree with White's suggestion that we get rid of national flags altogether. I believe that national communities need to be retained, just as the various states of the United States were retained when the U.S. federal government was created over them. We need to preserve diversity at the same time that we move forward toward greater unity at the global level.
3. Still another instrument now used to promote patriotism that should also be used to promote humatriotism is the celebration of holidays.

a. Nationally we have holidays like Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day which promote patriotism.

b. Globally we should have days like U.N. Day (October 24, which according to a resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly in 1971 should be celebrated in all countries) and Human Rights Day (December 10, observing the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948). Such holidays celebrated by the whole world would promote humatriotism.
4. To promote humatriotism we could also give as much emphasis to the study of world history as is currently given to the study of national history.

5. Another device used by national governments that we could use to promote global community would be a world anthem. The music would probably not pose a big problem, but what about the words. Which language would be used for the words?

6. We have already noted how important language is for identification with the larger community. We need a language for the world community, and not just for the world anthem. This language for the world community should not be the language of any national community. The readily-learned language Esperanto was created just for this purpose by L.L. Zamenhof 115 years ago. As a completely phonetic totally rule-guided designed language, it can be learned in one-fourth or less of the time it takes to learn other languages. If all children throughout the world learned Esperanto as a second language, they would be ready to be members of the global community, civitanoj de Tero [citizens of Earth]. Unfortunately, this very proposal was voted down by the League of Nations in 1920, stopped by the view of France that there already was a world language, namely, French.

IV. To complete the transition from patriotism to globalism, we will need to do more than just change attitudes, however.
A. The inter-national United Nations will need to be converted into a democratic world federation which will have control over the world and national governments similar to the way that the U.S. federal government has control over this country and the state governments. Loyalty to national governments will be subordinated to loyalty to a democratic world federation, just as in this country loyalty to the individual state governments was subordinated to loyalty to the U.S. national government.
B. Even now individuals can begin not only to think of themselves as world citizens but also to act as world citizens. They can support international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States but also international non-governmental organizations such as the World Federalist Association, the Universal Esperanto Association, Amnesty International, the United Nations Association, Doctors without Borders, CARE, and so on.
V. This is an exciting time to be alive as we participate in this transition from patriotism and nationalism to inter-nationalism even on to humatriotism and globalism.
A. Furthermore, we live in the country that could lead the way in this transition rather than being an obstacle to it as we have been for the last 20 years.