Patriotism and Religion
"The Russians," said Dr. Leslie Burgin last Saturday, "have something beyond military efficiency—intense pride in their country, which makes them in the true sense a deeply religious people." The sentence is worth quoting, not for any particular bearing that it may have on Russia or on Dr. Burgin, but because the obvious fallacy in its last clause passes muster much too easily nowadays. Look at it in another context ; no grouping in Europe, probably, has a more "intense pride in their country" than the German Nazis ; but would anybody who knows their movement contend that they are "in the true sense a deeply religious people " ? Surely one of the first lessons that the recent years should have taught us is that patriotism is not a substitute for religion. The two things differ fundamentally ; and most of the trouble in Europe has arisen because Nazis and Fascists have won acceptance in their respective nations for the view that, if you are intensely patriotic, you can and should find your religion in that fact alone, and give any other form of religion a miss. The case of Russia is a peculiar one, but this much may be said, that either in due course some religion apart from state worship will develop in Russia, or else there will inevitably be danger of her following after victory the evolution of material's Germany since 1871.
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