On Nationalism, Immigration and Identities

While reading Peace is the Way back in December of last year, Deepak Chopra introduced an idea that struck a cord with me. He argued that one of the stumbling blocks to peace is nationalism. This was a radical idea to me but reading his articulation of the idea and thinking about it since then has allowed me see many issues differently.

From the time I was little I was taught that I was a child of God. I was also taught that all people throughout the world are children of God; part of the family of God - my family. I think even as a teenager I had a grasp of what that truth meant at some level, but I continue to have insights into my relationships with others as I experience life, meeting and interacting with others. I don't pretend that I live up to that truth every day, but I try. I've found that my greatest treasures in life are the relationships I have with others. I've had opportunities to meet and speak with people from almost every nation on earth when I was in Toronto serving as a missionary for the LDS church. I've learned over and over that I am first a child of God, part of his family, and all other identities are secondary to that. Such secondary identities to me include such titles as Mormon, Christian, certainly American - even Father and Husband are not as meaningful if I forget that first identity.

How is it that we let the arbitary lines of national borders determine so much of what we see overselves and others as? I'm American, you're Mexican, you're Russian, your Iraqi, you're Chinese! Should we really care more about those of our nation than those who are not of our nation? Although it may be so contrary to the way we view so many issues, how do you think God feels about those on either side of a national border?

I am grateful to be part of a nation, having a place and a people to call home. I am grateful for the freedoms I have because I am an American. I think that gratitude is a healthy manifestation of nationalism. You can surely come up with many examples of negitive manifestations.

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This weekend was the General Conference of the LDS church. In the priesthood session, President Hinkley spoke briefly but forcefully against discrimination and condemning the use of racial slurs. Elder Oaks spoke at length about all being alike unto God. With immigration issues on my mind I could not help but make connections. I dearly hope others did also.

As I approach immigration issues, I am trying to do so without compromising my first identity.

I certainly can't speak for the LDS church, but I think there is a lot to learn from how the church is dealing with immigration. In the 1800's the church had a fund called the Perpetual Emigration Fund. Below are excepts from a speach given by LDS Church President Gordon B Hinckley in April of 2001.

What was known as the Perpetual Emigration Fund was established. Under this plan, funded by the Church, notwithstanding its serious poverty at that time, money was loaned to those members who had little or nothing. Loans were made with the understanding that when the converts arrived here, they would find employment, and as they were able to do so, they would pay off the loan. The money repaid would then be loaned to others to make it possible for them to emigrate. It was a revolving resource.
...
When the Perpetual Emigration Fund was no longer needed, it was dissolved. I believe that many within the sound of my voice are descendants of those who were blessed by reason of this fund. You are today prosperous and secure because of what was done for your forebears.

Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Perpetual Education Fund,” Ensign, May 2001, 51

The church now encourages its members to stay where they are, to build up the church where they are at and better the communities in which they live. The church no longer encourages immigration, (and hasn't for quite some time). In the same speach I quoted from earlier, President Hinckley introduced the Perpetual Education Fund, a fund to educate people in their home countries.

I was in an immigration discussion this evening in which someone pointed out that problems in other countries make immigration to the U.S. a solution, which in turn creates problems for us. As we look at immigration "solutions" we should consider what effect that will have on other countries. If it creates more problems in other countries, our efforts may backfire, creating more incentive for people to immigrate here (and likely illegally). While I agree that we can't solve the world's problems, we can certainly look at how American policy and business effect the rest of the world.

This is getting a bit long, so I better cut it here. This is my first written attempt at expressing most of these ideas and I hope those who read this will take that into consideration when commenting.