In fine Obama is a Creedalist in his patriotism; and he may have (we cannot yet know) evaded a crippling political blow by means of the vulnerabilities of this theory. Put another way, Obama managed to escape the fact that he and his family have sat under the teaching authority of an openly anti-American preacher, by means of an appeal to the ideals of America.Read the whole thing.
The difference between creedal and non-creedal patriotism is one I have never encountered before, but I have to say that my gut reaction is to be a non-creedal patriot. My strongest earthly loyalties, such as those to the Wolverines or the state of Michigan in general, are not due to their inherent material superiority, but simply because they are, in a sense, "mine." Ancestrally, in a way. And I think there is a certain virtue in showing loyalty to something simply for loyalty's sake--in fact, it seems as though there is something self-seeking in a loyalty rooted in the superiority of the thing to which one is loyal.
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