Blood Sacrifice and the Nation
Well, I finally finished my semester at St. Thomas and I’m thankful to have come out of the mess mostly alive. I have about a month off now to relax and hang out with Marcia and Owen. Although I find it deeply disturbing, I’m thoroughly enjoying Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Totem Rituals and the American Flag by Carolyn Marvin and David W. Ingle. Lately, the notion of American ”civil religion” has been on my mind and I think Marvin and Ingle do a superb job of bringing to light the deeply religious character of nationalism. 
Here are a few interesting quotes from the first couple chapters:
”Though [religious] denominations are permitted to exist in the United States, they are not permitted to kill, for their beliefs are not officially true. What is really true in any society is what is worth killing for, and what citizens may be compelled to sacrifice their lives for. . . despite a sturdy American tradition of separating sectarian faith from the state, national faith is inextricably wedded to governance, which is ultimately the question of who shall live and die. Only nationalism motivates the sacrificial devotion of citizens, without which there can be no effective governance. In relation that faith, sectarian religion is best understood as a jealous competitor” (9-10).
The purpose of Marvin and Ingle’s work is to “show that the totem system of American patriotism is a symbolically coherent, deeply primitive, powerfully religious enterprise organized around a violent identity-crystallizing mechanism. We propose that the totem is the violently sacrificed body symbolized by the flag. The flag ritually transformed is the god of society renewed” (11).
Yesterday I was watching Lewis Black on the Daily Show, and he, at one point, crumpled up a one dollar bill and threw it backwards over his shoulder. This wasn’t in the context of degrading America, it was simply an easy way for him to remove the bill from his hands so that he could continue with his monologue. But part of me stopped for a moment, realizing that there might be people who would object to such disregard for a symbol of the US, as there are many people who follow an unofficial flag code of their own (as opposed to Title 4 of the United States Code, which is law, but which carries no penalties and is not widely enforced due to First Amendment issues, so Wikipedia). For most people symbols provide a chance to glimpse something greater than the self, something made up of multiple people, which gives people a chance to feel as if they belong. It would seem to me that it is that positive notion of “us,” along with the negative notion of “them,” that causes individuals to be willing to sacrifice their lives bodily.
I like the quotes that you give above, Ry, and, after reading the excerpts on Amazon.com, I now hope to read this book at some point, once I can get my hands on a copy. I’d really love to hear more of your thoughts on the book as you get farther into it.
Mike Harris
December 27, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Very true, Mike. I mean nation-states are a construct of the imagination. They are sustained by notions of “us” and “them.”
I hope to post more thoughts on the book soon.
roflyer
December 28, 2007 at 12:53 pm
heavy. i think about all the days i pledged allegiance!
Roger Flyer
December 28, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Interesting definition of truth: What is really true in any society is what is worth killing for…
If that could be rephrased to be what is worth dying for, then it would be one that could also include those committed to nonviolence. I suppose that would take the specific force out of the critique here though.
Sounds like an interesting book.
Matt Wiebe
December 29, 2007 at 12:07 am
thanks for posting this quote ry, its important and uncomfortable.
it does beg the question for me, what is the church supposed to do about it?
what does its resistance to this bloody symbol look like?
begging the questions after that
what would our most comfortable resistance be?
and
what resistance are we called to?
i believe there is a resistance which is based on our own distinction from the religion of the nation state, this resistance is not sufficient. it is not sufficient to simply show that we are not in allignment with the nation state as god.
we must instead have a resistance of a different community(this is not new stuff to you ry), a community of practice and witness to another lifestyle, another god.
when we begin to sense that the gospel is actually being preached to us, then we are closer to the atmosphere which would bear forth an effective resistance of the primitive and effective machine that is the nation state.
joel mason
December 29, 2007 at 3:26 am