Nations

My very old dictionary (Webster’s 1965 edition) defines a nation as such:
“A stable, historically developed community of people with a territory, economic life, culture and language in common.”

My very new regional geography textbook (Bradshaw et al, copyright 2007) defines a nation similarly:
“A nation is an “imagined community,” or politicized ethnic group, in which people believe themselves to share common cultural features, usually linked to a specific area of land.”

The concept of a nation is not all I once thought it to be. When I say “One nation under God” I would automatically understand the definition of a nation to a country or state with political boundaries, an established government, and most often an established military. However this is not always the case.

While America is a nation based on its common language, government, and culture to some degree there are, within this country other nations. The Cherokee are a nation, as are the Miwok, the Yurok, and various other tribes.

There is a set of reference books called Stateless Nations which gives a reference to an unbelievably large number of groups of people who can be defined as a nation but have no state, no government, and are not recognized by any large group such as the UN. I think of one of those groups often as I peer into the mirror to deal with my eyebrows which show a distinct Welsh characteristic.

Another good example is the Basque people fighting for their own government and country in Spain. This leads me to the first point of my ramblings.

What do we do for all of these various nations without states? Should the Basques have their own nation? Could Scotland survive if it separated from England to form its own government? What about the small nations around India and China, should they be swallowed up by their larger neighbors becoming nations without states?

When one of these nations is localized in one area what is holding them back from becoming their own nation. Usually it is probably economics or political pride on the part of the larger nation.

Often times the nation is interspersed throughout a country and cannot feasibly claim a specific area and the people would be hard pressed to give up their land to move to a more localized place. Likewise the other people of that country would be even more stubborn when asked to give up their land to let the asking nation have it for their own.

Here in America, we have the problem of the native nations that we have removed, attacked, relocated and mistreated. I can’t imagine America actually giving them land to call their own country, although I would cheer if we did (as long as it wasn’t in the middle of some practically unlivable desert.) A friend of mine suggested we give them the national parks to maintain and dwell in. I think he’s on to something.

There is another point to this ramble. We are all a nation without a state. In Christ we have a home that we are waiting for. When he returns and makes everything new we will have a government ruled by Him. So often when we feel a longing for something more it is the desire to live in our homeland with Jesus. We are, for now, a homeless people longing for the King who will bring healing to the nations and make us truly one nation, under God.