Why don't Christians see a conflict between the ideologies of Christianity and Nationalism?

I wholeheartedly support both, but I see the conflict.
I know we should teach Bible history in school, but I understand the need for seperation, so I don’t have an issue here.
Not all Christians are dicks.

You’re not the first, but your thought is no less valid.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are strictly apolitical, for that very reason. They refuse to vote, say the pledge of allegiance, stand for the national anthem, or serve in the military, which has gotten them into some deep doodoo at various times. I’m not aware of any other Christian group that has taken that firm a stand, though there may be some.

I think Nationalism can definitely take on a religious fervor. Look at the way many Americans talk about the Constitution as if it were the bible, or the founding fathers as if they were some infallible authority. It definitely seems to me to rise to the level of idolatry. Ironically, it seems that these same individuals are often the most likely to espouse Christian beliefs and argue that we are a Christian nation.

First of: I think one has many Cristians in all kinds of flavors.

Quite often, I feel, the bible’s literal texts in the bible about the words of Jezus are not the single most important to all Christians.

At par with those texts, are the church and the community it generates. An important aspect of Christianity, especially in the US, I feel is a feeling of “belonging to a community”. Along with such a spirit of belonging to a community (a group), nationalism works pretty well.

I think you can be a Christian and a nationalist, because there are a lot of areas where the tenets of Christianity do not conflict with economic and political self-interest. The problem is that Christianity holds that there are more important things than money and power, and so when the two conflict, you can tell just how faithful a Christian a person is.

Nationalism and patriotism are not exactly the same. Going hand in hand with Christianity? This might be the case for the religious right in the US and their (hidden) political agenda. But they don’t speak for the vast majority of Christians worldwide.

Probably because the contemporary “Christian” bible is a bastardization of the earlier bible to make it more “relevant to contemporary life”. Maybe the “render unto Caesar” part got left out because it was too easily confused with Caesar’s casino.

I think it’s the whole give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God thing. It’s that they want to be able to tell Caesar what is and isn’t his, so to speak.

In God we trust.

Interestingly, one of the running themes in the OT was the discontent of the Israelites with theocratic governance. They clamored for a more tangible earthly government in the form of a human king, which God allowed as a sort of “be careful what you wish for” learning experience.

The Christian-era version of the same impulse has been to throw support behind earthly governments to whatever extent those governments make some show of embracing Christian values. If that “nod to God” is there, that seems to be enough to sanitize the worldly aspect and make the government appear to have God’s smile.

Maybe it just comes down to the desire to cover all one’s bases. It’s comforting on one level to think that God is working behind the scenes in your best interests, but it’s also nice to think you have the easily tangible power of the military and law enforcement on your side.

I think that it is important for people to take pride in the places that they live. In fact, Christians should pray for and contribute to the well-being of the places where they live. However, I will always be Christian first and American second. My primary identity, the identity which shapes, molds, and conditions any other affiliation or association that I might have is my standing as a baptized Christian. Any affiliation that would supplant that identity is idolatry.