What’s the difference between patriotism and nationalism? One is rooted in love for people and a

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Every American needs to ask themselves this critical question. Am I a patriot or am I a nationalist? Because there is a massive difference between the two.

[00:00:10]I've been reading the book how to end Christian nationalism, which I highly recommend, and one line really stood out to me where the author Amanda Tyler says, "Patriotism is rooted in love, while nationalism is rooted in hate and domination." A patriot loves their country enough to want it to become better. A nationalist worships power, racial identity, and dominance over others who are considered different. A patriot wants freedom, dignity, justice, and opportunity for everyone. A nationalist wants those things reserved for their group and their group alone at the expense of everyone else. Most people who are still part of the MAGA movement don't realize they've crossed that line. They believe they're defending America, when in reality they're defending hierarchy, exclusion, and empire. They're defending a movement built on fear of immigrants, fear of diversity, fear of LGBTQIA+, fear of Muslims, and fear of the other. That's the same nationalism that fueled fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. True patriotism has always involved resisting tyrants and confronting injustice, not blindly pledging loyalty to strong men, oligarchs, corporations, and authoritarian movements. When you actually study American history, the people pushing this country forward were almost always the ones challenging systems of oppression. The abolitionists, labor movements, the civil rights movement, those supporting women's right to vote, and the people protesting child labor, segregation, exploitation, and endless war. Those patriots were called radicals, but they were true patriots because they loved this country enough to fight for the people inside it. And from a Christian perspective, this matters even more.

[00:01:43]Jesus was executed by an empire because he confronted religious nationalism, economic exploitation, and systems that crushed the poor and protected the powerful. So, if our version of Christianity and what it means to be American always sides with empire, billionaires, authoritarian leaders, mass deportations, cruelty, and the suffering of vulnerable people, then we should just own it and say that we would have supported the British Empire over independence and that we would have taken the side of the Pharisees and the Roman Empire over Jesus. Patriotism says, "How do we create a country where all people can thrive?" Nationalism says, "How do we protect our group's power at the expense of everyone else?"

[00:02:21]Those are not the same thing and not the same thing at all and we need to all choose a side because history will remember the difference.