This is a totally frightening poll:
Yes, you read that right: 42 percent of Christian Americans are Christians before they are Americans. In general, Christians in America are about as conflicted in their identities as Muslims in France. And they call atheists un-American...
I'd be curious if there's any historical data on this poll question. Have Americans become more likely to self-identify as Christians over time? My sense is that one of the side-effects of globalization is to minimize the perceptions of difference between the citizens of different nation-states. Everybody drinks the same cola, and drives the same car, and wears the same clothes, and listens to the same music, and eats at the same fast-food chains. Being an American no longer makes us so unique.
My hunch is that globalization makes people search for other ways to understand their personal identity. The sameness of everybody everywhere makes tags like "I'm an American" a little less meaningful. If everybody eats McDonalds and drives a Camry, then people have to distinguish themselves in some other way. This is where religion comes in. Believing in God gives you a meaningful identity and social community. It lets you distinguish yourself from all the Chinese and French and Brazilians who are also obsessed with Britney Spears' haircut. In this sense, even as globalization collapses all sorts of old distinctions, it leads people to exaggerate the differences that still exist.
I'm also curious how the various presidential candidates would respond to this question. Is Romney an American before he's a Mormon? What would Brownback or Huckabee say? It seems to me that if you aren't an American first, then you shouldn't be running for president.
Update: Perhaps I should explain why I find this poll frightening. Unlike Dawkins and Harris, I believe that the primary historical lesson of the 20th century is that excessive nationalism is very dangerous. (Too much religion can also be very dangerous, but that may be the historical lesson of the 21st century.) So I'm not scared by the religious beliefs of Americans per se. What I'm more troubled by is the shattering of collective identity. I'd naively assumed that most Americans are Americans first. That's our common denominator. But if everybody is something else before they are Americans, than a pluralistic society seems like a pipe-dream. I'd always understood that first generation immigrants might have conflicted identities - that's only natural - but I'd never suspected that 42 percent of Christian Americans would also have conflicted identities. So that's what I find frightening. Our great melting pot might really be a collection of separate moieties.
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Is that really that frightening? I think excessive nationalism is probably more dangerous in contemporary America than excessive religiousity. The comparison with France is also a little shaky; the French seem to be very nationalist compared to the other European nations for both Muslims and Christians.
It's a little frightening, to be honest. My fear has less to do with the tradeoff between religious zealotry and nationalism. Both tendencies are, of course, dangerous when taken to the extreme. Unlike some other Sciencebloggers, I'm not inherently opposed to religious belief.
What I'm more troubled by is the shattering of collective identity. I'd naively assumed that most Americans are Americans first. That's our common denominator. But if everbody is something else before they are Americans, than a pluralistic society seems like a pipedream. I'd always understood that first generation immigrants might have conflicted identities - that's only natural - but I'd never suspected that 42 percent of Christian Americans would also have conflicted identities.
I'd also like to see this ranked by not only nation and religion, but groups like the EU, and the world/humanity.
I have some doubts about those figures, although I have no evidence to support the doubts. Mainly I wonder about the European numbers, especially Germany, since I thought that religion there was almost a civic responsibility rather than a deep, personal belief. My impression may be incorrect, but if not, then I wonder about how well the responses actually represent the true situation.
Oh, this is easy. I mean, aren't they the same thing? Isn't every patriotic American's duty to be a Christian?
I don't get it. Why wouldn't someone who believes their real self is a soul whose real home is in heaven with God think of themselves as that first? If you really believe that this life is just a small part of your experience, then certainly the nation you happen to have been born is of no great concern.
Personally, I find nationalism to be just as frightening. The only thing worse than either is both together.
Why do you make the assumption that the situation is an either or situation. I think this is the silent error of this poll. I know many Christians who believe that their faith makes them mighty fine Americans. And, I think they do also. There is no conflict here.
i think people take their nationality for granted. everyone is born with a citizenship, however, people chose to believe in religion. It's a reflection of their free will and I think they like that. They value their own choices more than what's given to them. If everyone has to fight for their citizenship or has the option to choose, he/she might value it a bit more.
Let's see, I seem to remember what's called the first commandment for both Jews and Christians. Oh yeah, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Now people can call themselves Jews or Christians without taking any verse in the Bible that seriously. The poll result that so many people put their country before their God is witness to that.
But it is a basic idea in Christianity that Jesus Christ is my Lord, and God is my primary loyalty. Modern nationalism has made people identify with their country when at one time they might have seen themselves according their state or locality. I don't know if national identity has replaced some religious identity or just the more local political identities.
None of that means there is a conflict. I've had jobs that required me to swear or affirm to defend the Constitution of the United States. I'm unaware of any conflict with my faith in that, but if there were, my loyalty is clear. It's to God. If that's frightening to someone I suppose it's because they fear those whose faith seems to include making all sorts of rules. That's not my faith. My faith is much more global and liberal than my country is.
I don't know how accurate it is, but the movie A Few Good Men depicted marines as having a very clear hierarchy of loyalties. For them "country" only came in fourth, I believe, also behind God. You have to know what that means before making conclusions about it.
I thought I'd look on Google rather than rely on fiction. Apparently many marines are taught their loyalties in boot camp: God, country, corps. Some say this as corps, God, country. In A Few Good Men it was unit, corps, God, country. One said God, country, family, corps. It looks like whatever variation someone learns, it's God before country, and no one seemed conflicted about that order.
It sounds like a good warrior to me.
What's wrong with being a Christian first?. I consider myself a Christian before i am an American, or anything else. I have no conflict with that. I, like Paul,Peter, the other Apostles, and 2 billion other adherents who call themselves Christians ( Acts 11:26) belong to Christ first, not America,Islam or any other identity.
This really figues in this age, you can't be too American and you also can't be too Christian because that will be to offensive for the world.
I'd also like to see this ranked by not only nation and religion, but groups like the EU, and the world/humanity.
The more some peole push to make everyone the same, espcially in religion the more people will hold on to being a Christian first and everything else is second. That would be ironic.
Here is something that will knock your socks off. I consider myself to be a Biblical Christian as opposed to other kinds of Christians. Narrow minded? Maybe, but true to myself of who God made me to be and true to who I am.
Have a Merry Christmas.
I claim to be a Biblical Christian, and nothing else. If that offends or is unpatriotic then so be it.