The challenge facing Wales is how to protect our identity without becoming narrowly nationalistic, the Archbishop of Wales will say today (March 1).
We need to learn how to preserve the sense of who we are and celebrate our national identity without being hostile and aggressive towards outsiders, Dr Barry Morgan will say in a sermon tonight at the chapel of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Lampeter.
He will warn of the human cost of extreme nationalistic views seen in conflicts abroad and in treatment of asylum seekers at home. He will stress that people in Wales belong to one common humanity and not an exclusive club.
He will say, “The challenge we face, as a nation, is keeping our identity and rejoicing in it without at the same time becoming narrowly nationalistic, xenophobic even, exclusive. Nor is this a problem just for Wales. You only have to read the correspondence columns of the daily papers to see the extreme views that people have about asylum seekers. That debate is about race and nationality but of course we all like boundaries and perhaps we all need boundaries because boundaries give us a sense of security. They help to define who we are – family and non-family, Welsh and non-Welsh.
“Most people across the globe make distinctions of this kind and we cannot somehow survive without them, and yet we cannot either survive if the distinctions become so rigid that people react to outsiders with terrible aggression and hatred. How can we preserve our identity, be that as a family unit or a nation, to stop us being overwhelmed and engulfed by strangers and losing a sense of who we are and yet not allow that protection to become destructive?”
He will add, “Our sense of national identity and nationhood and heritage is a gift of God in which we should rejoice and that, for Wales, might involve further self determination. Yet we also need to say that the gifts that we have been given, the distinctiveness with which we have been marked is not for ourselves alone, but for the enrichment of humanity.
“We must never forget that we belong to one common humanity and one undivided human family. We must not have a narrow view of nationhood and national identity, limited to particular people and excluding others. The nation must not be made into a God. The Gospel of Jesus warns us of the danger of trying to establish an exclusive club and challenges us to reject the drive that can make us as individuals, as families, as nations exclude others.”
The Archbishop will be preaching at Choral Evensong at the chapel at University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Lampeter. The service starts at 5.30pm and all are welcome.
