Nations, races and denominations

If you are watching the XXX London England 2012 Olympic Games, you must have noticed that there are many nations represented. I think the number is 204. 204 flags, 204 national anthems, 204 sets of uniforms and insignia/logos. During the opening ceremonies, each of the delegations from the participating countries paraded through the Olympic Stadium with their respective fans and countrymen cheering with great pride. National pride. It seems these days that, aside from sports, embracing your national heritage is so 19th/20th century. I mean, we have entities like the United Nations, NATO, World Trade Organization, the European Union, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations,) and the signatories of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to name just a few of the cross-national groups/ affiliations. There are many that advocate minimizing the significance of national borders and national sovereignty. But, national pride is alive and well at the Olympics. But also, look at what happened after the downfall of the Soviet Union. Just as an example...the former Yugoslavia, which was roughly the size of Oregon is now Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. How did that happen? While there is an ethnic element to the restoration of these countries after the fall of communism, nationalism was a major factor. A look at the very complex Israeli- Palestinian conflict shows the desire for people to have a national identity and geography. Many years ago we began to hear about a movement towards a "one world government." I'm not so sure about there being an underground conspiracy to migrate to "one government." I am confident that there are many people that would find that appealing since many are critical of the whole idea of nationalism as we know it today.

If you have ever filled out a US government form that included demographic data, you likely had to indicate your racial identity. A 2005 government form gave the following choices (but it said check as many as apply??)

American Indian or Alaskan Native
Asian
Black or African-American
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
White

That list didn't seem to be very exhaustive. Some of those "races" sounded more like colors than races. White? Didn't this used to be called Caucasian? Sixty years ago, "Black or African-American would have been labeled "Negro" (Spanish word that means black.) That being the case, why weren't "whites" described as "Blanco." Hmmm.

The 2010 US Census expanded the racial labels:
White
Black, African-American, Negro
American Indian or Alaska Native
Asian Indian
Chinese
Filipino
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Other Asian (it lists some examples)
Native Hawaiian
Guamanian or Chamorro (I had to Google this one)
Samoan
Other Pacific Islander (once again some examples are offered)

Then, I love this last category (which is a fill-in-the-blank):

"Some other race"  ...yes, that's what is says on the form..then you write something in.

Hey, Mom, what race am I? "Some other race" she says. That will leave you beaming with pride.

But, there is such a thing as racial pride. Thankfully, we see people of all persuasions showing pride in their racial heritage. Even "whites" who have the least exciting racial identifier (sounds more like a setting on the washing machine than a race) have some pride (I like to embrace my Irish roots.) As more and more children are born to parents from different races, these racial identifiers become a bit more complicated. Tiger Woods' ethnicity is pretty diverse. Even our president has some hyphens in his racial identity. Is race something we should take pride in? Some think not. Ethnic or racial pride can be misconstrued as racism...a feeling of superiority by virtue of race alone. This same feeling of exceptionalism or superiority based on national identification does not typically generate the same type of reaction. We hear shouts of "USA, USA, USA" at the Olympics but we would cringe more than a bit if we heard loud chants of  "White, White, White."  Some would say that there is a history of oppression that is based solely on race so that's why there is sensitivity. Nations oppressing other nations isn't really a historical issue so it's OK for the British to chant "UK, UK, UK" when playing against the team from India. Really? Hey, I'm just asking the question.

So, let's tackle the issue of religious denominations. In the US, we have many religions...Catholicism, Protestantism (more on this), Judaism, Islam, Wiccan/Pagan/Druidism, Unitarian Universalism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Baha'ism, New Age, Scientology, Taoism  and many, many more. The Protestants can be broken down to include Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist/Wesleyan, Baptist (more on this), Episcopalian/Anglican, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist, Congregational, Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter Day Saints/ Mormon, Assemblies of God and a few more.

Baptist. Do you mean American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Evangelical Free Baptists, Full Gospel Baptists, Alliance of Baptists, American Baptists USA, Reformed Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Primitive Baptists??? (There are too many to list...you may get where I'm going) Is there some pride involved in what religion (or no religion) you may identify with? You think? Just watch the River Street Methodist Church play the First Baptist Church in a church league softball or basketball game. You'd think you were at the World Cup final. I can hear the chants of "FBC, FBC, FBC." And don't forget the occasional sniping that you might hear in the respective pulpits. Unfortunately we do see and hear Christian churches/groups "attacking" or mocking other Christian churches/groups. I thought that Jesus established THE church...HIS church. Look what we've done to it. Looks more like a softball league now with fans shouting across the field at each other. Is there a place for different denominations in the church of Jesus Christ? I'll have to dive deeper on that one in another blog.

204 countries participating in the Olympics representing dozens of racial groups that may or may not identify with what could be one of hundreds of different religious denominations. What I love about the Olympics is that we get to shout and show the pride we have for our favorite country, our favorite sport (sorry, badminton does not count), our family athlete favorite and, at the end of the day, genuine respect and sportsmanship almost always prevails. We are who we are. It should be OK to shout that out boldly.

If the athletes in London can get this right, why can't we? Can we show pride in our nations, our racial/ ethnicity and our religions without fear of being perceived wrongly and/or generating ill will with people that have different backgrounds? It does take some responsibility on our part. We shouldn't exhibit that pride with feelings of being "better than" anyone that does not have the same identification. We can be better AT something (like swimming and basketball) without thinking we are better than somebody. There is a difference.

So, who are you? I am thankful to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ who expresses my faith in the Baptist tradition...I'm a white guy that is mostly Irish and French Canadian, who is an American (and I love the Georgia Bulldogs.) Somehow I need to come up with a chant that includes "JESUS", "Erin go bragh" USA, and Go Dawgs! I'll work on that one.

I wrote an earlier blog about labels. You might find that article interesting to read if you found this one worth your time.