As an American born into a conservative Christian family, I grew up surrounded by chauvinist messaging that I was living in “the greatest country in the world”. This message was reinforced in the popular media I was allowed to consume, and also at home, at church and in my Christian school, where pupils’ inculcation in Christian nationalism extended to the recitation of not just one, but three pledges every morning: to the American flag, the Christian flag and the Bible.
These were the waning years of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan, president of the United States at the time, made a regular show of putting pressure on the Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, as part of his performative patriotism – and we evangelicals loved it.
Of course, Soviet citizens were also frequently told – just like us Americans – that they lived in “the greatest country in the world”.
