I suppose an ultimate allegiance may supercede one's nation if one's religious doctrine says that their belief in their creator or higher power or god is the final, "say" in all things.
Having said that, one can still be patriotic, and not violate one's religion if the specific doctrine of the religion tells them to respect their fellow man, to obey the laws of their nation(as long as those laws do not violate their god's laws).
Apostle Paul always addressed the Roman leaders of his time with respectful title, and humility. He also emphasized in one or more of his epistles(books) that we/Christians should subject ourselves to the governing authorities as they have received their authority ultimately through God's permission. Therefore whatever God has allowed, is to be respected,......but.....if this ruling authority abuses it's God given authority, (because of the free-will of man to still do as he wants irrespective of his creator..i.e. Hitler, Stalin,), it nullifies or frees the Christian to disobey or give obedience to their God over prevailing earthly or national authority.
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Sorry about the long sentence.
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Also Jesus was put to "task" by the Pharisees over the paying of taxes to the Romans, or probably any ruling, governing power over the Jews at that time.
It was a "trick" question in order to prove to all that Jesus was a hypocrite. Jesus, merely picked up or held a Roman coin and asked all there, "Whose face is on this coin?". The reply, was, "Caesar's". Then Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and render unto God what is God's". The man was brilliant!! Why wouldn't God be brilliant?
Paying taxes aren't immoral in a sense yet possibly if they became so extreme that they literally endangerd the existence, of nation as a whole, there maybe something to be said in the area of morality.
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Now, there is such a thing as civil disobedience. I grew up during the time of much unrest back in the 50's and 60's when many folks traveled to the Southern states to protest against segregation. At the time these states had ordinances/laws that truly divided one race from another. It gave partiality to white over black Americans. Now, those Freedom Riders, and bible Christians that went down there and were beat-up and maligned and even murdered were following a higher law, that superceded the laws of Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and many other states at that time.
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Did Jesus come to free slaves from the bondage of the Romans and Jews........No, His ministry covered a spiritual realm of human life that superceded the physical conditions of individuals. He offered a freedom that allowed freemen and slaves to both be free in totality, not in physicality necessarily.
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He didn't come to lead rebellion against a government, but actually a rebellion/war against a spiritual condition of man that had led to physical human bondage as it's outcome.
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Jesus humbly walked to His crucifixion. If anyone had a right in human history to rebel, or say, "hell No, I won't go!", it was Jesus. He didn't. He submitted to the governing authorities, and was executed by that authority.
He did not mock Pilate, the governor, or spit back at the soldiers that ridiculed, and spit in his face. He didn't plead his innocence either.
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I think that this reveals a major chasm between Islam and Christianity. Islam actually promotes a violent type of disobedience in obedience of a higher calling when their doctrine conflicts with prevailing authority. It is more of a Barrabus-type of response to injustice or religious conflict with governing authority.
Jesus had one possible time of release when He and Barrabus were offered before the Jews for clemency from death. They chose Barrabus, the patriot. The man of violence, the one who fought the governing authority with a sword and spear. They rejected the other rebel, that said, "blood just begets more blood. One who lives by the sword will die by the sword". Jesus was calling Jews to look to something greater than the nation or the Roman occupiers. He was trying to raise their spiritual eyes to the ultimate authority, and by doing this all the conflict on the human level would become moot to all submitting parties.
Barrabus's followers were patriots. They were Jewish patriots. They wanted the filthy occupying Romans out of their God given land. They saw only the sword as the answer.
Jesus's Apostles defeated the prevailing Roman occupiers by truth, and love. Roman sensiblities were brought to confusion by the humility of Christians as they walked to death in the colliseum in Rome. This love that the Christians had for the very one's that maligned, and hurt them was totally opposite of the Roman way of strength through force, weapons, discipline and great numbers.
Well, we know what happened to the patriotic jews. Their nation was steam-rolled over by the Romans in roughly 70 A.D.. The conquerers had enough of this upstart, prideful, little nation of monotheists.
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Christians have been in the service of many nations for thousands of years, in many capacities. Some as soldiers, some as diplomats, actual leaders/presidents/premiers.
Some have risked their reputations and livelihoods to address "wrongs" and "injustices", knowing, and trusting by faith that their ultimate national citizenship would be after death, in their God's kingdom. This gave them courage to face death, rather than bow a knee to dictates or laws that went against their Creator's authorship.
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Again, can this be said of Islam, if we remove the radical elements from their religion? I don't believe that the Koran encourages respect for people of other beliefs other than their own belief system, and it encourages no respect for governing authorities as long as those authorities are infidels.
Paul was respectful to Roman and Jewish authority as long as it didn't violate his God's laws. He/Paul did not differentiate between converted and unconverted when it came to respect of his fellow human beings. Can that be said of Muslims? Are they taught to live with respect for those that have a differing religious or no religious belief?
It appears to me, that radical Islam is not a sect that's out of balance with Islam, but actually a reflection or revealing of those who embrace Islam and actually live very closely by it's tenents. That means that the bulk or majority of Muslims that don't participate in terrorist acts or other violent acts as exemplified by 9/11 are actually not doctrinally living as Mohammed their prophet has taught them in the Koran.
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As for Christians, more specifically,.....the ones that bomb abortion clinics, or protest at G.I. funerals, or scream for clemency for serial killers; they are actually living out a non-biblical/non-doctrinal cultic/sect type of Christianity that would bring much scorn from Paul, Peter, John, Timothy, titus, Luke, etc. of the New Testament.
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It was Christians that promoted and maintained the underground railway that stealthily moved slaves to Canada back in the 1700's from the U.S.. They broke U.S. law. It was Christians that walked hand-in-hand with black Americans in the South when danger of life and limb wasn't far away. It was young and old biblical Christians that took the beatings of sherrif's batons in Mobile, along with their fellow, black Americans.
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One attribute of God that you will not find in Islam. Try and find, "love". Islam can match eye for eye every Old testament and New testament attribute of God, but one.......and that is "love". Interestingly, love is the capstone of all of the N.T. letters/epistles. Paul says that love trumps every other great human attribute/trait. Without love, anything done or said, in God's name is worthless.
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Have you noticed that the Islam that you see, revealed in the media, reveals a brotherhood, of love amongst like minded Muslims, but it does not extend beyond that unto God's humanity in total? Thats very revealing. It means in my opinion that ultimately, Islam cannot live in peace with prevailing government authority if it's lead by infidels, and it also means that under those circumstances, those Muslims living under that authority cannot be patriotic, without violating the very tenents of the prophet's teachings.
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As usual, deadbrain liberals cant stay on topic and confuse the point of an issue. Just like with the abortion issue, its about the RIGHT TO LIFE for the baby, no other, NO OTHER right trumps the right to life.
