American Exceptionalism
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go4tli
Feb 14, 2012, 6:43:53 PM2/14/12
to CNX-men
It would seem that American exceptionalism is back.
If the term doesn't seem familiar to you, just listen to Presidential
debates for a while. The *term* is new, but the *concept* goes back a
few centuries. The idea is that God favors America more than most
nations on Earth, possibly even most of all.
The Puritans started it. They had a vision for their colony in the
New World to be a "city upon a hill", a "New Jerusalem" that would be
a "light to all nations". They would demonstrate their willingness to
obey true religion, and through that, be an example of God's will and
God's blessing to the world. There's no question that they believed
this; they ended up killing many (often fellow Christians) who
disagreed with them, and attempted to wipe out the Pequot Indians,
using this philosophy as their rationalization. John Winthrop,
governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, appealed to his
understanding of Genesis. He explained that the Indians had not
"subdued" the land (Genesis 1:28), so, by the law of God, they might
have a *natural* right to the land, but certainly not a *civil* right
to it.
During the Jacksonian era, Indians were forcibly removed to open lands
for white settlers; in their minds, it was God's will that the white
race benefit the entire planet by ruling over all other races. (You
may have heard what we call "American exceptionalism" described in
their terminology as "Manifest Destiny".) Slavery of Africans and
slaughter of Indians flourished.
This mentality continued to serve in the backdrop of expansionism
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. People in
Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, and so forth simply needed to
submit to Americans' divinely-appointed sovereignty.
Look. I love being an American. I'm proud of the ideals of my
country, and the cleverness with which our political system and way of
life were forged. And I'm proud of the fact that in *our* country,
there have been several times when, against impossible odds,
marginalized voices were heard and action taken to right deep wrongs.
In a way, our identity as just being somehow superior as Americans and
our tendency to root for the underdog are in constant tension with
each other.
Consider how that relates to Jesus' day. The Jews also had a deep
identity that meant they were favored by God. Jesus reminded those
folks -- and, I would argue, us by extension -- that the reason
blessing and privilege exist is so that we who are blessed and
privileged can *serve the less fortunate*.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham
for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able
to raise up children to Abraham.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew 3:9 (NASB)
Apparently, God doesn't respect heritage as much as people might
expect -- even if that heritage is exceptionally godly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the
days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six
months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was
sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to
a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the
time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only
Naaman the Syrian.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke 4:25-27 (NASB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?"
declares the LORD. "Have I not brought up Israel from the land of
Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amos 9:7 (NASB)
Paraphrase: You're not as special as you think you are. God blessed
people who didn't know or care about Him in the same way that He
blessed His own.
As unpopular as I know this message is, we as Christians have *no
place* in our theology or our thoughts for holding to a shred of
American exceptionalism. Any power we have been granted, in wealth or
prowess, should be used as an opportunity to serve the less
fortunate. After all, we of all people, as God's people, should *know
better*. Of course, I don't exactly expect this message to be well-
received any more now than in Jesus' time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they
heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and
led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in
order to throw Him down the cliff.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke 4:28-29 (NASB)
Note that this immediately follows the bit above where Jesus showed
that another nation got special treatment when Israel didn't. If
you're going to tell God's people that their nation isn't favored by
God because of their history, or just because God's people are in it
doing religion God's way, you'd better make sure you're not
*literally* in a city upon a hill.
Moral of the story: God loves Christians. God loves America. But He
also loves everybody else. Sadly, those who trumpet the rhetoric of
American exceptionalism are also often the ones who champion politics
and policies that benefit only the already wealthy and powerful at the
expense of everyone else. It's time we stopped using our blessing as
an indicator of God's special favor or as a blunt instrument to
bludgeon people down as somehow less deserving.
In the end, I think Stephen Colbert might have hit the nail a little
too firmly on the head.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor,
either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or
we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and
serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't
want to do it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the term doesn't seem familiar to you, just listen to Presidential
debates for a while. The *term* is new, but the *concept* goes back a
few centuries. The idea is that God favors America more than most
nations on Earth, possibly even most of all.
The Puritans started it. They had a vision for their colony in the
New World to be a "city upon a hill", a "New Jerusalem" that would be
a "light to all nations". They would demonstrate their willingness to
obey true religion, and through that, be an example of God's will and
God's blessing to the world. There's no question that they believed
this; they ended up killing many (often fellow Christians) who
disagreed with them, and attempted to wipe out the Pequot Indians,
using this philosophy as their rationalization. John Winthrop,
governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, appealed to his
understanding of Genesis. He explained that the Indians had not
"subdued" the land (Genesis 1:28), so, by the law of God, they might
have a *natural* right to the land, but certainly not a *civil* right
to it.
During the Jacksonian era, Indians were forcibly removed to open lands
for white settlers; in their minds, it was God's will that the white
race benefit the entire planet by ruling over all other races. (You
may have heard what we call "American exceptionalism" described in
their terminology as "Manifest Destiny".) Slavery of Africans and
slaughter of Indians flourished.
This mentality continued to serve in the backdrop of expansionism
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. People in
Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, and so forth simply needed to
submit to Americans' divinely-appointed sovereignty.
Look. I love being an American. I'm proud of the ideals of my
country, and the cleverness with which our political system and way of
life were forged. And I'm proud of the fact that in *our* country,
there have been several times when, against impossible odds,
marginalized voices were heard and action taken to right deep wrongs.
In a way, our identity as just being somehow superior as Americans and
our tendency to root for the underdog are in constant tension with
each other.
Consider how that relates to Jesus' day. The Jews also had a deep
identity that meant they were favored by God. Jesus reminded those
folks -- and, I would argue, us by extension -- that the reason
blessing and privilege exist is so that we who are blessed and
privileged can *serve the less fortunate*.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham
for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able
to raise up children to Abraham.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew 3:9 (NASB)
Apparently, God doesn't respect heritage as much as people might
expect -- even if that heritage is exceptionally godly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the
days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six
months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was
sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to
a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the
time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only
Naaman the Syrian.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke 4:25-27 (NASB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?"
declares the LORD. "Have I not brought up Israel from the land of
Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amos 9:7 (NASB)
Paraphrase: You're not as special as you think you are. God blessed
people who didn't know or care about Him in the same way that He
blessed His own.
As unpopular as I know this message is, we as Christians have *no
place* in our theology or our thoughts for holding to a shred of
American exceptionalism. Any power we have been granted, in wealth or
prowess, should be used as an opportunity to serve the less
fortunate. After all, we of all people, as God's people, should *know
better*. Of course, I don't exactly expect this message to be well-
received any more now than in Jesus' time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they
heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and
led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in
order to throw Him down the cliff.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke 4:28-29 (NASB)
Note that this immediately follows the bit above where Jesus showed
that another nation got special treatment when Israel didn't. If
you're going to tell God's people that their nation isn't favored by
God because of their history, or just because God's people are in it
doing religion God's way, you'd better make sure you're not
*literally* in a city upon a hill.
Moral of the story: God loves Christians. God loves America. But He
also loves everybody else. Sadly, those who trumpet the rhetoric of
American exceptionalism are also often the ones who champion politics
and policies that benefit only the already wealthy and powerful at the
expense of everyone else. It's time we stopped using our blessing as
an indicator of God's special favor or as a blunt instrument to
bludgeon people down as somehow less deserving.
In the end, I think Stephen Colbert might have hit the nail a little
too firmly on the head.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor,
either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or
we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and
serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't
want to do it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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