Nationalism and the Utilization of Religion

The three readings, which include Schwartz’s “Curse of Cain, Herzl’s “The Jewish State”, and Christian Karner’s article, tackle the issue of religiously related nationalism from various perspectives. By introducing the concept of a primordial nation or people, both Schwartz and Karner attempt to narrow the concept of nationalism and rather view it as an ideological view of history. In particular, Hindutva is the term that Karner uses in reference to Hindu-nationalism. Moreover, Hindu nationalism promotes the unity of the Indian subcontinent under the flag of Hinduism. By maintaining that India from its very origins is defined by the Hindu-religion, Hindu nationalists attempt to create an ancient historical back ground to their claims. In such cases, nationalism establishes its principles on a very particular and ideologically generated understanding of history.

Further, one tool in which an ideological foundation always proves to be influential is religion. Since the 19^th century, nationalist movements have often times demonstrated such use of religion. Despite the fact that their incentive is usually a material need, such as land or resources, religion can inspire a great part of their ideology. In other words, even though nationalist movements begin secularly, as to satisfy a material need, primordial movements turn to religion because it seems to be more appealing, profound and influential. Superficially, Indian, Jewish and Arab nationalism illustrate the increasing interest of nationalist movements in employing a religious tone into their propaganda. First, by the end of the 19^th century and the beginnings of the 20^th Indians, Jews, and Arabs faced the challenge of developing a common identity in which they can define themselves with against another ethnic group. For the Arabs and Indians such questions didn’t come to existence until the decline of the colonial powers that controlled their regions. For the Arabs, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire resulted in a political vacuum. Although later ruled by foreign powers, namely France and Britain, it was under such political disruption that Arab nationalism came to existence. Similarly, Indian nationalist agenda came to rise under the severity of British colonialism. In fact, Indian nationalism evolved over a period of more than 50 years, during which the Indian sub continent was trying fiercely to resist British occupation. Likewise, a similar analysis can be traced upon Jewish nationalist movements.

Moreover, all of those three ethnicities faced a common question which they struggled to address. Namely, “Who is a Hindu”, “What does it mean to be an Arab”, “what makes me Jewish”. Such questions were proposed because of the inherent nature of nationalism calls for addressing them. In other words, Defining Indian-ness and setting exclusive boundaries to such a concept wouldn’t merely narrow the model but it would deepen its influence over the masses. On the other hand, such questions are, as in the case with the Jews and Arabs, are imposed rather than been sought after. Specifically, as Herzl’s mentions in his article, the common characteristics among the Jewish people, who were in Diaspora at that time, were rather imposed on them than being chosen to be shared. He says that “We are one people; our enemies have made us one without our consent.” Such analysis can also be traced back to the creation of Arab, and particularly, Palestinian identity. In particular, the Palestinian people didn’t recognize themselves as one people until the collective memory, which all Palestinians now share, of the “Nakba,” the Palestinian exodus took place.

Furthermore, in the cases of Indians, Jews, and Arabs, it’s this concept of a glorious past that had been shredded away by foreign imperialist ambitions that founds the identity of each people respectively. The Exodus, both in the Jewish and Palestinian literature functions an emotionally strong symbol of unity under oppression. Because of the lingering struggle that a people have to undergo to liberate themselves from oppression, nationalist movements realize that a more profound ideology is needed to function as a stronger incentive for the masses. After realizing the ineffectiveness of their secular ideology, they become more prone to use religion as part of their vision. In this context, religious literature provides a movement with a stronger authority over the people. In other words, religiously-motivated nationalist propaganda deeply attracts believers and appeals to their own religious commitments. Often times they seek religion as the last tool in which they can attain liberty and justice. For example, it wasn’t until the complete failure of secular pan-Arabism movements that Islamism overtook such popularity in the Arab World. Moreover, as with most nationalist propaganda, religious nationalism generates an ideologically driven historical narrative that includes an ideal model of the past coupled with strong loss and disintegration.