A majority of Americans aren't proud to be American: Why the difference between pride and patriotism matters
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2022
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
A recent study found that, for the first time since the poll's inception, a majority of Americans are not proud to call themselves Americans. And those results hold up across party lines. In The Daily Article for July 4, 2022, Dr. Ryan Denison shares why that statistic may not be as bad as it sounds, the difference between national pride and patriotism, and our response as Christians in first being a citizen of heaven before being a citizen of America.
Author: Dr. Ryan Denison
Narrator: Chris Elkins
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Daily Article Podcast for Monday, July to 4, 2022. |
| 0:07.9 | I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison Forum, narrating today's article written by Dr. Ryan Denison. |
| 0:12.8 | He's the Dennis Forum Senior Editor for Theology and has written more than 400 articles for |
| 0:18.0 | Denison Forum. Today marks 246 years since delegates from the 13 colonies |
| 0:23.6 | formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. The process to get there, however, was less |
| 0:28.7 | straightforward than we often think. When the first battles with Great Britain began in April |
| 0:33.3 | 1775, most colonists did not want independence, and those who did were considered radicals. |
| 0:40.2 | It took more than a year of fighting for the majority to reach the point that a break with |
| 0:45.2 | Britain was seen as necessary, and even then it took some convincing before the movement for |
| 0:50.6 | independence had sufficient support to become a reality. Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress passed the vote for independence had sufficient support to become a reality. |
| 0:59.5 | Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress passed the vote for independence, was among the first to celebrate the 4th of July, and they did so with bells, bonfires, and fireworks. |
| 1:05.1 | But July 4th would not become a federal holiday until 1870 when it was used to help a nation still struggling to |
| 1:13.0 | piece itself back together in the aftermath of the Civil War. Given the divides throughout |
| 1:17.9 | our culture today, we could use a similar time of healing. While protests continue to garner |
| 1:23.3 | headlines in response to recent Supreme Court rulings, particularly with regards to abortion, |
| 1:28.6 | America has been in a state of conflict for quite a while, and it's tangibly impacting how |
| 1:34.4 | people see the country. A recent study, for example, found that for the first time since the |
| 1:39.7 | poll's inception, a majority of Americans are not proud to call themselves such. And those results hold up |
| 1:46.5 | across party lines. While Democrats were predictably happier with the state of the nation than Republicans |
| 1:52.9 | and independents, only 46% said they were proud of America. Conversely, a paltry 36% of Republicans and 29% of independence echoed that sentiment. |
| 2:06.0 | But perhaps that's not all bad. Chris Anderson, who helped conduct the survey, |
| 2:11.0 | remarked that many seem to have moved past the days when being proud of America was treated |
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