Religious Nationalism is an ideology that incorporates religion into nationalism. It seeks to use a shared religion to unite people under a national identity. It typically holds reactionary and intolerant views towards members of other religions, but not always. Religious nationalism is compatible with practically any religion, including Hinduism,
Christianity,
Islam,
Judaism,
Buddhism, etc.
History and Variants
Ideologically driven religious nationalism may not necessarily be directed against other religions, but may be formulated in response to modernity and, in particular, as secular. The imbalance between religious and political aspects and, by appealing to national feelings, such as Islamic identity, as has often been the case in Pakistan and
Indonesia, can lead to regional tensions.
In general, many types of nationalism carry religious aspects, but as a marker of group identity, not as an intrinsic motivation for nationalist claims.
Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalists are more focused on domestic politics, such as passing laws that reflect their view of Christianity. In the United States, Christian nationalism tends to lean towards
Conservatism. Characteristic radical forms of religious or church nationalism appeared in the right spectrum of the political field in various European countries, especially during the interwar period in the first half of the 20th century.
One of the most radical forms of Christian religious nationalism was Christoslavism, the belief that the Slavs can be exclusively Christians, and if they abandon this religion, they cease to be Slavs. As an example,
Bosniaks who converted to Islam were considered by the
Serbs as
Turks. Christoslavism was used as an ideological justification for the persecution (as well as eventual genocide) of
Bosniaks during the Yugoslav wars.
In Poland, a characteristic feature of nationalism has always been loyalty to the
Roman Catholic Church. Groups like
National Revival of Poland use slogans such as "Wielka Polska Katolicka (Greater Catholic Poland)" and violently protest against the legalization of
same-sex marriage and abortion.
In Russia, it is characterized by a common belonging to Orthodoxy. Many Russian
neo-Nazi movements, such as
Russian National Unity, are calling for an increased role for the
Russian Orthodox Church.
Islamic Nationalism
For a variant applied toIndonesia see:
Pancasila
According to the two-nation theory, Pakistani nationalism is very closely related to the Muslim heritage, the religion of Islam and Pan-Islamism. It is also associated with awareness as well as the expression of religious and ethnic influences that help shape national identity.
The Iranian Revolution marks the beginning of
Shia and Persian nationalism.
Ayatollah Khomeini's anti-American, anti-communist and anti-Zionist views attract several European far-right movements (notably revolutionary nationalists) but worry the international community.
Hindu Nationalism
Main article:Hindutva
Buddhist Nationalism
In the context of Myanmar’s political opening since March 2011, Buddhist activism has made headlines over the past two years due to outbreaks of communal violence across the country marked by religious difference, notably anti-Muslim, that threaten to derail Myanmar’s once-promising transition. Many see a connection between these violent episodes and the rise of new Buddhist networks and organizations, including the 969 movement and the Patriotic Association of Myanmar. [1]
Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism is influenced by Sinhalese Buddhist mytho-history that was deployed by monks and politicians in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to assert that Sri Lanka is the designated sanctuary for Theravada Buddhism, belongs to Sinhalese Buddhists, and Tamils and others live there only due to Sinhalese Buddhist sufferance. This ideology has enabled majority superordination, minority subordination, and a separatist war waged by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). [2]
Judaism Nationalism
Main article:Religious Zionism
Relationships
Friends
Theocracies - Best way to enforce religious nationalism.
Hindutva - My more extreme Indian counterpart.
Religious Zionism - My Jewish friend!
Pancasila - Me applied to Indonesia!
State Shinto - Me in Japan, at one point in time.
Christian Democracy &
Islamic Democracy - My moderate friends!
Neo-Ottomanism - What can I say except BASED?!
Indigenism - Eh, you are more spiritual than following a specific religious ideology, but still based.
Frenemies
Clerical Fascism - My extreme self. Oh my...
Esoteric Fascism - Same as above, but even more extreme.
Ba'athism - الله, سوریا و بشار! (even if you're secular)
Religious Anarchism - At least you're religious.
Enemies
Laicism - Heathen!
Progressivism - Your unholy habits have no place in a God-fearing society!
Revolutionary Progressivism - Violent degenerate. How I long for you to be licked by the flames of Hell!
State Atheism - DEVIL SPAWN!!
Globalism - I won't let my nation be poisoned by the world's sinful ways!
Stalinism - Actively persecuted religious figures, so burn in hell!
Neighborstan - You too burn in hell, You sinful country!
Further Information
Texts
Wikipedia
People
Note: Some people on this list were not actively religious themselves, but used religious nationalism as a way to gain support.
Christian Nationalism
Ambrose of Milan (339-397)
Roman Empire
Pope Urban II (1035-1088)
France/
Holy Roman Empire
Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504) Kingdom of Castile
Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) Kingdom of Aragon/Castile
Tomás de Torquemada (1420-1498) Kingdom of Castile
Martín de Valencia (1474-1534)
Spanish Empire
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)
England
George Whitefield (1714-1770)
UK
Theodoros Kolokotronis (1770-1843)
Greece
Alexander Dubrovin (1855-?)
Russia
Andrey Sheptytsky (1865-1944)
Austria-Hungary/Ukraine
José Félix Uriburu (1868-1932)
Argentina
Billy Graham (1918-2018)
USA
Engelbert Dolfuss (1892-1934)
Austria
Ion Antonescu (1882-1946)
Romania
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899-1938)
Romania
Francisco Franco (1892-1975)
Spain
Plínio Salgado (1895-1975)
Brazil
Jozef Tiso (1887-1947)
Slovakia
Aloysius Stepinac (1898-1960)
Croatia
Vihtori Kosola (1884-1936)
Finland
Gerald Burton Winrod (1900-1950)
USA
Eoin O'Duffy (1890-1944)
Ireland
Syngman Rhee (1875-1965)
South Korea
D. F. Malan (1874-1959)
Apartheid South Africa
William Dudley Pelley (1890-1965)
USA
Georgios Grivas (1897-1974)
Greece/
Cyprus
Ngô Đình Diệm (1901-1963)
South Vietnam
Ngô Đình Thục (1897-1984)
South Vietnam
Osvaldo Lira (1904-1996)
Chile
Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012)
North/
South Korea
Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-1997)
Zaire/
DRC
Lubomyr Huzar (1933-2017)
Ukraine
Seán Mac Stíofáin (1928-2001)
UK
Fred Phelps (1929-2014)
USA
Ronald Reagan (1911-2005)
USA
Jerry Falwell Sr. (1911-2005)
USA
Jaime Guzmán (1946-1991)
Chile
Kenneth Copeland (1936-)
USA
Eric Rudolph (1966-)
USA
Ron Paul (1935-)
USA
Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow (1929-2008)
Russia
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (1946-)
Russia
George W. Bush (1946-)
USA
Pope Benedict XVI (1927-)
Germany
Daniel Ortega (1945-)
Nicaragua
Tony Perkins (1963-)
USA
Dennis Prager (1948-)
USA
Alexander Gauland (1941-)
Germany
Ann Coulter (1961-)
USA
Georges Sada (1939-)
Iraq
Joseph Kony (1961-)
Uganda
Robert Lewis Dear (1958-)
USA
Donald Trump (1946-)
USA
Mike Pence (1959-)
USA
Vicky Hartzler (1960-)
USA
Ted Cruz (1970-)
USA
Viktor Orbán (1963-)
Hungary
Andrzej Duda (1972-)
Poland
Olavo de Carvalho (1947-2022)
Brazil
Jair Bolsonaro (1955-)
Brazil
Jeanine Áñez (1972-)
Bolivia
Nick Fuentes (1998-)
USA
Keiko Fujimori (1975-)
Peru
Pedro Castillo (1969-)
Peru
Vladmir Putin (1952-)
Russia
Salva Kiir Mayardit (1951-)
South Sudan
Islamic Nationalism
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) Najd
Hassan Modarres (1870-1937)
Persia
Ibn Saud (1875-1953)
Saudi Arabia
Noman Çelebicihan (1885-1918)
Crimea
Hassan al-Banna (1906-1949)
Egypt
Abul A'la Maududi (1903-1979)
Pakistan
Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975)
USA
Louis Farrakhan (1933-)
USA
Khaled bin Musaid (?-1965)
Saudi Arabia
Fahd bin Abdulaziz (1923-2005)
Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Yassin (1937-2004)
Palestine
Muhammed Zia ul-Haq (1924-1988)
Pakistan
Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011)
Libya
Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989)
Iran
Ali Khamenei (1939-)
Iran
Qasem Soleimani (1957-2020)
Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956-)
Iran
Ebrahim Raisi (1960-)
Iran
Abbas al-Musawi (1952-1992)
Lebanon
Hassan Nasrallah (1960-)
Lebanon
Hassanal Bolkiah (1946-)
Brunei
Mohammed Omar (1960-2013)
Afghanistan
Akhtar Mansour (1928-2016)
Afghanistan
Hibatullah Akhundzada (1960s-)
Afghanistan
Osama Bin Laden (1957-2011)
Saudi Arabia
Hasan Mahsum (1964-2003)
Xinjiang
Mahathir Mohamad (1925-)
Malaysia
Abdul Hadi Awang (1947-)
Malaysia
Ibrahim Ali (1951-)
Malaysia
Necmettin Erbakan (1926-2011)
Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (1954 -)
Turkey
Anwar al-Awlaki (1971-2011)
Yemen/
USA
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (1971-2019)
Iraq
Dokka Umarov (1964-2013)
Chechnya
Nouri al-Maliki (1950-)
Iraq
Mohammed Morsi (1951-2019)
Egypt
Ismail Haniyeh (1962-)
Palestine
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi (1982-)
Yemen
Judaism Nationalism a.k.a. Religious Zionism
Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1880-1940)
Ukraine/
Russia
Avraham Stern (1907-1942),
Russia/
Mandatory Palestine
Eliyahu Giladi (1915-1943)
Austria-Hungary/
Mandatory Palestine
Meir Kahane (1932-1990)
USA/
Israel
Yehoshua Cohen (1922-1986)
Israel
Baruch Goldstein (1956-1994)
USA/
Israel
Menachem Begin (1913-1992)
Russia/
Israel
Yitzhak Shamir (1915-2012)
Belarus/
Israel
Ariel Sharon (1928-2014)
Israel
Yigal Amir (1970-1995)
Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu (1949-)
Israel
Naftali Bennett (1972-)
Israel
Ayelet Shaked (1976-)
Israel
Ben Shapiro (1984-)
USA
Buddhist Nationalism
Ashoka (268BCE-232BCE) Maurya Empire
Thubten Gyatso-13th Dalai Lama (1876-1933)
Tibet
Thích Quảng Đức (1897-1963)
South Vietnam
Ne Win (1911-2002)
Socialist Burma
Li Hongzhi (1951-)
China
Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara (?-)
Sri Lanka
Min Aung Hlaing (1956-)
Myanmar
Prayut Chan-o-Cha (1954-)
Thailand
Shinto Nationalism a.k.a State Shinto
Emperor Meiji (1852-1912)
Japan
Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989)
Japan
Hindu Nationalism a.k.a. Hindutva
K.B. Hedgevar (1889-1940)
India
Nathuram Godse (1910-1949)
India
Amit Shah (1964-)
India
L. K. Advani (1927-)
India
Narendra Modi (1950-)
India
Yogi Adityanath (1972-)
India
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