Nations borrow religion’s sacred aura even when claiming universality

Evidence

In the imagination of the simple patriot the nation is not a society but Society. Though its values are relative they appear, from his naïve perspective, to be absolute … . The nation is always endowed with an aura of the sacred, which is one reason why religions, which claim universality, are so easily captured and tamed by national sentiment, religion and patriotism merging in the process. — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 9

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing vault material on how ideologies borrow the sacred — and to the Cooper thesis’s account of how coalition partners each bring their own sacred rhetoric to a shared nationalist project. — connects to: The nation’s sacred aura lets patriotism capture and tame universalist religions.; Colonial universalism disguised European Christian values as transcendent truths — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 49

Broader Connections

• The nation’s sacred aura lets patriotism capture and tame universalist religions. #expands (0.85)
• Colonial universalism disguised European Christian values as transcendent truths #exemplifies (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 49