LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!

You sometimes see it on bumper stickers, and now there is a book by that title, issued by the Augsburg Press. More than this, it is an attitude reflected in the thinking of a lot of Americans these days. If you criticize this country, then get out of it! is the message. I don’t think I would allow my car to bear such a sticker, for what came across to me isn’t good. Here is why I think so.

The implication is that if you criticize this country, then you are not patriotic. And if you are not patriotic, you ought to get out. So what comes across to me is: Don’t criticize America!

I am not much for demonstrations, and I don’t carry signs. Nor am I a peacenik. I don’t sign petitions calling for the impeachment of high-ranking public servants, and I don’t call our President bad names like warmonger. But still I don’t like that sign. While I am not much on criticizing my country, I reserve the right to do so. Nor do I believe that it logically follows that if one criticizes this country, even to the point of protesting through demonstrations and sit-ins, that he therefore does not love this country. He just might criticize because he loves his country.

As for those of us who are citizens of the heavenly commonwealth and are but sojourners in this world (regardless of nationality), there is a question as to whether patriotism is much of a virtue after all. Americanism may not be much better than any other ism. If patriotism means loving one’s country to the extent of respecting its officials, obeying its. laws, and appreciating and preserving its freedoms, then I believe in being patriotic. But if it means a blind and arbitrary loyalty that insists on “My country, right or wrong,” then I cannot see patriotism as a Christian virtue.

Somewhere in his writings Albert Einstein tells of a call he received from Washington about one of his colleagues, a young scientist of great promise who was being considered for a government appointment.” Is he patriotic?” asked the official.” I suppose he is as patriotic as an intelligent young man can be,” was his candid but equivocating reply. Einstein wondered if his answer had hurt the young scientist chances.

Einstein was of course a citizen of the world first of all. He would hardly fit into a crowd of Rev. Carl McIntyre’s followers, gathered’ on the green across from the White House waving a flag. And yet it was Einstein who voluntarily sent the letter to Roosevelt that initiated the research that led to the atomic bomb and that ushered in the atomic age.

The likes of an Einstein might not have palpitations of the heart when he hears the national anthem, and yet it is his kind that has contributed so much to our country’s greatness. He believes in patriotism to the extent that intelligence, responsibility, and concern for all humanity allow. That means that he might criticize. But how asinine it would be to say to an Einstein: “Love it or leave it!”

If being a world citizen would modulate one’s enthusiasm for his own nationality, how much more would this be true of one whose devotion is first of all to him whose kingdom is not of this world? The disciple of Jesus is going to be a good citizen of whatever nation, but his foremost concern will be the kingdom of God. And this concern, which reaches out to all mankind, may cause him to be critical of his nation’s programs and policies. It will not be because he loves his nation less, but that he loves God more.

This “Love it or leave it” attitude abounds in congregational circles as well as in our culture at large. If you criticize the church, then you don’t love it. And to criticize a preacher or an elder is made the eighth cardinal sin. And sometimes when some of our young princes become too critical of the status quo it is suggested that they would do just as well to find themselves another church. They could not possibly belong among Churches of Christ and be critical of their programs and. policies!

The truth is that constructive criticism well placed. is not only a badge of courage but a sign of love. Our best friends are those who are willing to help us move up higher. This may take nudging and prodding. Hardly anyone likes taking pills, but they are sometimes necessary. And even surgery sometimes. Reformation is usually painful and it is born of criticism. Those who love us the most are the ones who are pleading for change.

So I suggest a different bumper sticker, which may apply to a lot of things. Maybe even to babies.

If you don’t help change it, then you don’t love it! — the Editor