Passing patriotism to the next generation

How do we pass on, not only a country, but a reason to love it? Recent polls suggest that younger Americans are significantly less likely to describe themselves as patriotic. As a father of three teenagers, I hear similar sentiments around my own dining table. A generation shaped by 9/11, the Great Recession, and COVID-19 lockdowns, has absorbed our national shortcomings far more readily than our strengths. To be sure, many have fond memories of waving flags on the Fourth of July under starlit nights exploding with pyrotechnic splendor. But sentiment alone is not patriotism, nor is one day of celebration. Every new generation must learn why this nation is worth loving and what is required to preserve it.

June is Fidelity month. I became a cheerful proponent of this initiative as I learned of its resolve to advance fundamental ideals of faithfulness to God, family, and country. It is a welcome emphasis in a world that prizes self-expression over self-sacrifice and autonomy over duty.

I want to teach my children to realize that the virtues necessary for a free society do not sustain themselves. Rather, they must be faithfully cultivated and passed down from one generation to the next. This positive vision for nationhood is entirely compatible with a biblical understanding of stewardship. God has entrusted man with nations and “determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26). Moreover, God has granted Christian parents a vital responsibility to foster ordered love—including an ordered love of country—in the lives of their children.

But how?

If faithful patriotism is going to flourish in the next generation, it will require more than flags and fireworks. We must intentionally pass down three fundamental convictions.

First, we must emphasize positive freedom.

Here we face a basic question, “What is freedom for?” The American experiment was built on an understanding of liberty that went far beyond the notion of being “left alone.” Yes, the framers rebelled against what they considered tyranny. Freedom, however, was not an end in itself, but rather a means towards virtue, responsibility, family, religion, and service to one’s neighbor. This positive freedom as a freedom for is contrasted with the negative freedom, or freedom from. Patriotism flourishes when citizens consider liberty more than just rights to be enjoyed. They are gifts to be stewarded for the betterment of the whole nation.

When my oldest daughter received her driver’s license, she was given a measure of freedom. Yet, she quickly came to realize that this freedom from geographical restraint was accompanied by a freedom for something greater. She could drive herself to school, work, practice, and gatherings with friends, yet she also had to run important errands for her parents. The driver’s license that offered a freedom from restriction also became an invitation to responsibility. The same is true of citizenship. When young people understand that freedom is both from something and for something, patriotism becomes more than an affinity for a place. It becomes an obligation they must steward.

Second, we must teach political theology from a biblical worldview.

What hath politics to do with theology? Quite a lot, actually. Martin Luther asserted that human nature is a little like a drunk man trying to ride a horse, veering off into one of two ditches. Political theology—the notion that our Christian convictions shape our understanding of government, laws, rights, national identity, and civic responsibility—is often met with one of two equal and opposite errors: idolatry or indifference.

Those who idolize the State tend to conflate the Kingdom of God with the Kingdom of Man, some averring that America has been “chosen” for a particular role in God’s redemptive mission in history. Yet many more Christians today suffer from the opposite error, as they reveal an indifference toward civic responsibility that retreats into privatized faith. This side concludes that citizenship has little to do with discipleship to Jesus.

Faithful patriotism therefore rejects both idolatry and indifference. Christians will inevitably disagree on policies, parties, and a path forward, but we must still contend that political engagement matters. Government is not ultimate, but neither is it incidental. The question is not whether we have a political theology, but whether that theology is shaped more by Scripture than by social media and partisan loyalty.

Third, we must recover a robust advocacy for religious liberty.

Ten years prior to the American Revolution, hundreds of Baptist preachers in Virginia were put in jail because they were preaching the gospel without a state-issued license. Early Baptist luminaries like John Leland, Isaac Backus, John Allen, and others played significant roles in what would eventually lead to the First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Thomas Jefferson echoed this conviction in his famous letter to Baptists in Danbury, Conn., assuring them that the Constitution erected a “wall of separation between the church and the state.” Jefferson meant a barrier that prevented government control of religion; not a barrier preventing religious conviction or expression from public life. These critical protections allowed citizens to assemble and worship according to the dictates of their consciences.

Religious liberty has increasingly disappeared from public discourse today, yet it remains as one of America’s most important contributions to the cause of human freedom. Religious liberty is not a concession to secularism; it is a recognition of human dignity and the limits of government power. In a pluralistic society, it protects people of every faith— and no faith—from coercion. History has repeatedly shown that no person, party, or religious group handles unchecked power well. Religious liberty matters because it creates space for conviction without compulsion, persuasion without coercion, and faith that is freely embraced rather than forcibly imposed.

Patriotism is more caught than taught, and what we model matters. Fidelity Month has challenged me to rekindle fundamental commitments of faithfulness to God, family, and country. Few gifts are more precious—or sobering—than liberty, and Christian parents are entrusted with an important responsibility of passing on these convictions to the next generation. If we fail to do so, we should not be surprised when appreciation gives way to indifference.

The future of America will not be determined merely by laws or election cycles. It will be determined by whether we successfully pass down the foundational loves, loyalties, and virtues necessary to sustain a free people. My hope is that my children will do more than celebrate a nation they have inherited. I hope they understand why it is worth loving and what it will take to pass it on.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this column to correct the quotation from the First Amendment.