Estimating/Measuring Religious Nationalism

Measuring the religious content of a country's nationalism is difficult. Nationalist struggles bring together a broad spectrum of ideas and groups. However, there is usually some specific culture, religion, language, ethnicity (or aspects thereof) that are prioritized, highlighted and repeatedly mentioned to inscribe them to the nation’s memory. Even primordialists, those who believe in immemorial, unchanging nations, now agree that nationalists have to choose from tens, if not hundreds, of different folk tales, martyrs and myths to help the ‘rebirth’ of the nation.

It is difficult to quantify the role of religion in a country’s nationalism but effort can be made to at least come up with criteria on the basis of which a reasonably fair assessment can be made and countries can be compared. Three criteria can be selected to assess religion’s role in nationalism of a country: founding fathers statements/actions during and after nationalist struggle; national mottos, crests, emblems, anthems, flags; and public pronouncements of leaders on national holidays. The more religion figures in these three criteria, more is its role in nationalism.

Founding Fathers' statements/actions

Period of independence is important in studying nationalism as it is the period when leaders decide, devise and employ the nationalistic myths, martyrs, narratives and slogans to arouse and mobilize people. After the independence is won, this is the period which people look back on to decide who they are.

Aviad Rubin in his article (The status of religion in emergent political regimes: lessons from Turkey and Israel, 2013) argues that the period of new regime formation is very important, ‘The conditions in place at the moment of regime formation are of crucial importance to the future status of religion in the state…Following the establishment of the new regime, the emerging political elite is likely to implement the fundamentals of its political agenda... After being solidified in institutional and constitutional arrangements, the initial structure can remain resilient for many years despite significant social and political changes.’

Mottos, crests, anthems and flags

Symbols are very important to nationalism. They define nations and make them visible. As Michael Walzer in his article (The Facsimile Fallacy, 1967) contends flags, anthems and other national symbols are required because nations had to be personified and seen before they are loved. Gabriella Elgenius in her book Symbols of Nation and Nationalism: Celebrating Nationhood (2011) argues that national symbols ‘repeatedly illuminate boundaries and raise awareness of membership’, hence they are crucial to nationalism. Geisler in his book National Symbols, Fractured Identities: Contesting the National Narrative (2005) explains why these symbols are significant part of nationalism and nation-building effort.

‘Yet national symbols perform an important function not only as catalysts for the formation and maintenance of national identity. They take on a particularly crucial importance in fusing a nation to a state. For especially in those cases where the territorial boundaries of the state do not correspond to the geographic outlines of the ancestral “homeland” claimed by a nation, or where a state is created without the ideological support structure of a nation, national symbols are charged with the difficult task of creating a nation’. 

Flags, anthems and mottos are symbols that are recognized as related to a nation’s identity both inside the nation and internationally. Flags and anthems stir emotions across nations as they are considered embodiment of nation’s history and pride. Therefore, for understanding religion’s role in the nationalism of a country flags, crests, anthems and mottos can be analyzed for their religious content. Following symbols can be particularly useful:

1.      Official country motto, crest/emblem, anthem

2.      Mottos of the three/four armed forces, anthems

3.      Mottos of the states/provinces

National Days

Similarly, national days are important national symbols. If flags and anthems are visual and auditory symbols of a nation, national days are temporal symbols of nationalism. The selection of national day inform us how a nation sees itself and what is important to a nation. Beside the basis of selection of national days, what is said and done on a national day also shows the kind of nationalism (ethnic, religious, civic etc.) a nation believes in.  Therefore, to ascertain religion’s role in a country’s nationalism, not only the selection of the national day has to be analyzed but also the speeches of the head of government/state on that day. Number of references to religion/religion-related symbols in the public pronouncements by the President and Prime Minister (or head of state/government) on the most important national holidays would inform whether the nationalism is religious or not.