National and religious identity can conflict when war pits same-faith enemies

Evidence

One such instance was when I was discussing war with a youth pastor of the evangelical megachurch I attended in high school. In my mind, there was little to no dissonance between the dictates of the Christian faith and the righteousness of fighting to defend our country, which would include killing those on the other side. He asked me, “But what if the person we kill on the other side is a fellow Christian? What then? Did we just send that person to heaven? Is that what God would want for us?” … I was taken aback. I could not stop thinking about the implications of his questions. It was uncomfortable to think about the tension between my identities as an American and as a Christian. I began to see how my categories of “us” and “them” were influenced by much more than my faith. It was awkward to contemplate how being faithful to one identity might lead to being unfaithful to the other. Up until then, they had perfectly complemented each other. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 56

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on civil religion and dual loyalties as the book’s opening framing device. — connects to: Religious minorities become politically suspect when religion ties to national identity; Religion and nationalism mutually constitute identity and resist clean separation — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 292; Post-Cold War American identity depends on having a Muslim enemy — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 54

Broader Connections

• Religious minorities become politically suspect when religion ties to national identity #corroborates (0.78)
• Post-Cold War American identity depends on having a Muslim enemy #exemplifies (0.75) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 54
• Religion and nationalism mutually constitute identity and resist clean separation #complicates (0.72) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 292