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Good Morning, What is the difference between a patriot and a nationalist? Sadly, this isn’t a joke. But it is a question worth asking in the light of rising nationalism throughout the world. Can you be one and not the other? Einstein, Orwell and a few Old Testament prophets certainly thought so. Einstein said nationalism was ‘an infantile sickness; the measles of the human race’. Orwell defined nationalism as loyalty to any cause or group - be it creed, race or country - that ‘recognised no other duty other than the advancement of its own interests’. He contrasts this with patriotism which represents a devotion to a particular place or way of life but without any feeling of having to force it on others. A patriot might insist they live in the best place in the world but they have the good humour to recognise the same impulse when someone from, say, Spain makes the same claim. As a boy I sent a letter to my parents. I wrote the address of our house, street, town, county, then added Wales, United Kingdom, Europe, The World, The Solar System, The Universe. Underlining Wales lest the postman wonder where I came from. Nationalism is different to patriotism. I think the nationalist wants to secure power and prestige for whatever cause or entity they have sunk their individuality into, and will often be willing to do whatever it takes to get their way. Where patriotism doesn’t need an enemy, nationalism seems to demand one. It is exclusive not inclusive. And it’s especially dangerous when whole countries become nationalistic. Then the actions of a country are no longer judged as good or bad but by who does them. Mass deportations or the imprisoning of people without trial might start to happen, but are justified because they are the country doing it. Rampant nationalism in its various guises (idolatry, indifference to others, violence) is what most of the Old Testament prophets spoke out against. Often at great personal cost. While false prophets flattered the nation by condemning the actions of people in other lands, the likes of Jeremiah and Amos had the gall to point to similar injustices happening in their own back yard. Look, they said. We deceive ourselves if we don’t recognise that we are doing the same and worse. These prophets challenged people to think about where their loyalties lie: was it to family, town, or country? To the poor? To God? Or should it belong to all of the above. They called people to right action in the affairs of the heart as well as state. In this way they were true patriots. There is in their words the powerful implication that you can’t love your country, without first loving the people you live amongst, and recognising your connection to the people over there, in the world, the solar system, the universe.