Role of Christian Youth
The Role of Christian Youth in Nation Building National Identity The notion of nation-building presupposes that the nation itself is in need of building; or rebuilding, in some cases. The term nation-building in its original sense referred to newly-independent nations in Africa to reshape colonial territories that had been carved out by colonial powers without regard to ethnic or other boundaries. This would later include the creation of paraphernalia such as flags, national anthems, national days, national languages and so on. At the heart of this lay the deep-rooted need to search for a national identity. For many Asian countries bar a few, this was certainly the case. Countries like Malaysia and Singapore (then Malaya), Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, and so on, have had to grapple with their respective national identities in a post-colonial world. A nation’s identity is usually framed along certain themes. In Malaysia, it has been “unity in diversity”, in dealing with the reality of a multiethnic and multi-religious society. Each nation will have its individual identity based on specific cultural and historical heritage, language, norms and social frameworks. However, can it also be said that our faiths should inform national identity, and hence be instrumental in shaping the nation-building process? What role does Christianity play in the shaping of a nation? The question to ask ourselves within our respective countries is – in attempting to collectively build a nation, exactly what kind of nation do we want to build? What should the nation look like, cultural differences aside? Building what kind of Nation? If we believe that Christian principles are holistic, then they should also inform our ideas about public life. Faith in the public square is very different from imposing strict religious values; rather, it is putting to practice those “kingdom values” espoused by Jesus in His time. This means tuning our senses into a frequency that sees