U n t il r e c e n t y e a r s practically all Americans have been patriotic. The courage and integrity of the founding fathers coursed through all our veins. But patriotism has become almost a dirty word in some circles today, brought about by much international brainwashing carried on in schools, colleges, and not a few theological seminaries and pulpits of all faiths. It is stated that one ought to love and serve his own country above all others, but if he does, he is stared at as though he were some ante-deluvian or one still living in the Victorian era, loving the pomp and parade of empire, ever shouting: “ My country, right or wrong!” “ Brittania rule the waves!” Deutchland uber alles!” or other cliche. “ How out-of-date can you be?” detractors say, with a pitying smile. But patriotism is still a good word, a godly word, a glorious word. Patriot derives from the Greek patris — “ fatherland” — and denotes one who loves and loyally serves his own country. It is also a Biblical term and a Christian experience. God taught the Jews to be loyal to Jehovah, their God, and to love Zion, their own country. To this day a true Jew loves the Holy Land. Many American Jews today are deeply interested in the growth of the Jewish state in Palestine. The beautiful 137th Psalm was written by a lonesome Israelite who had been carried into captivity by the Babylonians over 500 years before Christ. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were driven into Babylon and Persia, many of whom never saw their own land again.
As they reclined in abject sorrow “ by the rivers of Babylon,” (perhaps the famed Euphrates) those who had brought musical instruments with them hung them on the willow trees that grew along the river bank. The Psalm says: “ By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.” When the Babylonian soldiers urged these D.P.’s to sing some of their glad religious songs, they refused, saying, “ How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (or, “ in the land of the stranger” ) ? Then follows the stirring patriotic passage which every godly American should be repeating today: “ If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy” (Psalm 137:5-6). Not only is patriotism at a low ebb in America, but we discover that those who defend the institutions and principles of our republic are more often than not sub jected to vicious attack. We are sarcastically called “ flag- wavers,” “ super-patriots,” “ far-rightists,” “ extremists.” ists.” If you advocate patriotism today, automatically you become a “ radical reactionary” to the leftwingers, who tell you that you belong to a bygone era, that this is the 20th century, and that we must be relevant, and “ conform” to our time — to the internationalism that tolerates no national fidelity. Today’s modus vivendi with many is Keynesian, Fa-
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THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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