Study Finds White Evangelicals Believe in American Exceptionalism

The irony in all this is that, in the early 1990s when another recession had hit, many "culture warriors" wanted Christians to ignore economic concerns; Randall Terry's church took out full-page ads in the New York Times and USA Today during the 1992 general election telling people not to vote for Bill Clinton.

Anyway, the real problem with American "exceptionalism" is its focus on authority, not service ("To whom much is given, much is required").

I read this article after watching "God grew tired of us" last night, a film that follows a few lost boys from the Sudan from the refugee camp in Kenya to places like Pittsburgh and Syracuse. A number of "Lost Boys" have been placed in my community.
Blue Deacon is right when he states... "To much is given, much is required." Certainly more can be done. Still many refugees are grateful to individuals and communities which have been welcoming and have seen Jesus in all of humanity.
I simply do not like the question "Do you believe that God has granted the United States a special role in history?" Bad assumptions and poor questions make for bad studies.

This article saddens, but does not surprise me. A recent post on this blog mentions the fear of Anabaptists taking over--definitely an unfounded fear. But would to God that our churches, God's churches, would demonstrate just a tad of Anabaptism's recognition of the danger of too closely aligning ourselves with the kingdoms of this age.

I am a BELIEVER in Jesus; in a way, calling myself "Christian" is like people from Oklahoma adopting the hateful epithet "Okie" when they have never left the state to look for work.

I am Evangelical by practice. I can prove that I am not actually white either...with a Bureau of Indian Affairs issued card.

Most politically conservative folks self-identifying as "Evangelical" are not interested in telling others about Jesus' free gift of salvation nor are they interested in helping people who are in need. Many of them donate money to faith-based religious organizations because they don't want to be bothered with helping the needy personally.

This was interesting ...

In 1927 Jay Lovestone, leader of the Communist Party in America, defined American exceptionalism as the increasing strength of American capitalism, a strength which he said prevented Communist revolution.[22] In 1929, Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin, unwilling to believe that America was so resistant to revolution, called Lovestone's ideas "the heresy of American exceptionalism."[23] In the 1930s, academicians in the U.S. redefined American exceptionalism as befitting a nation that was to lead the world, with the U.S. to serve the older European societies as an example of a liberated future free from Marxism and socialism.[23] More recently, socialists and other writers have tried to discover or describe this exceptionalism of the U.S. within and outside its borders.[24]

"American Exceptionalism" is a red herring. It's the realistic view of the potential for diplomacy, and corresponding higher level of confidence in the military that is the real concern of this writer, and Sojo's staff in general.

LV

"American Exceptionalism" is a red herring. It's the realistic view of the potential for diplomacy, and corresponding higher level of confidence in the military that is the real concern of this writer, and Sojo's staff in general.

LV

So are you insinuating that the people raising these concerns are Communists, Marxists, and socialists?

When one considers how we are all children of God, and how our primary allegiance is to Him, concerns about excessive nationalism come naturally.

"American exceptionalism" is just another way of saying American Imperialism! One of the greatest heresies of American Protestant and often "Catholic" religiosity is the notion that the United States is the New Zion or as those fun loving liberal Puritans would call it " the holy commonwealth". A holy commonwealth that has committed wholesale genocide against native peoples, enslaved millions of Africans, denied workers a living wage and raped the environment among other notable "holy things"!
Bishop Andrew Gentry

American Exceptionalisn, to my understanding, is a militaristic sort of belief system that posits that the U.S. is uniquely moral. Being uniquely moral (according to those who believe in American Exceptionalism), the U.S. can send its troops anywhere in the world to "spread freedom" amd that any means that U.S. troops and their leader use (including torture) are justified by the ends of supposedly planting "freedom" in other countries (whether or not these countries may want the U.S. version of "freedom"). This philosophy basically posits that the U.S. constitutes the Morality Thought Police of the world. This is a very dangerous and arrogant viewpoint.

The U.S. is a great country and I'm proud to be an American. But we are not uniquely the "best" country in the world. I'm sure that Norwegians are proud to be Norwegian, Yemenis are proud to be Yemeni, Japanese are proud to be Japanese, and so forth. Nothing wrong with that as long as we all respect each other.

One aspect of the U.S. is that we are a warrior society. We have citizen-soldiers and are proud of our troops. But as many practioners of the martial arts have found, people can practice warrior arts and practice a "warrior way" without having to foment actual wars in order to show our warlike demeanor. We can be peaceful warriors.

"Additionally, an especially regretful 73 percent of those who identify with the Tea Party chose military over diplomacy."

Aparently torture and an aggressive military is some people's idea of "small government".

In more general terms how did people come to accept that small government was a free market, restricted unions, low taxes and therefore limit social programs, big aggressive military and strict moral laws? Certainly some of these features are small government but most of them are what i'd describe as very large government. Incidently the states with the "smallest governments" by the way conservatives measure them are United arab emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Libya. Do these sound like "small governments" to you?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_revenue_as_percentage_of_GDP

off topic what do you think of the new harry potter?

That's because "small government" had to do only with protecting their turf and keeping their means out of the hands of "others."

Ngchen,

The author of Exceptionalism and the American roots of it first originates from the Historian Toucville "sp" from France . He described America in a way that we blessed by God , a religious people with exceptional Faith . .

The author above here gives the link if you think America is exceptional you are more likely to believe torture is the way to go.

I take it to be a progressive you have to agree with Obama even on this ? Because if you are a progressive and happen to think America is a country that has been blessed with freedom and opportunity you would feel perhaps put out having your opinion linked to torture ? Would you ?

I guess also a link can be drawn to believing in exceptionalism with the need to drink water also . ;0) From either side your on by the way.

But there are many reasons why I believe America has been blessed by God, and it is obvious to the Christian understanding it has nothing to do with Americans in regards to our exceptionalism , but I would suggest there is a good reason why some white, black, asians, gays, etc may consider America perhaps more tolerant , dedicated to the individual freedoms than other countries the past couple of hundred of years . I would also point out that in my opinion the very doctrines this nation was founded on were quite liberal . No equating the political idealogy seen as from the left of MSNBC , but the liberal essense of giving all men equality , giving all men the equal opportunity to go their own way , to be rght or to be wrong . The First Amendment , the Constitution and the role of government to protect our right, the INDIVIDUAL to be wrong was quite a liberal and brave new way of looking at government.

I happen to believe part of the reason we have been has blessed by God is our dedication to the Constitution , a secular document may I point out. But it points out our individual ability to disgaree, it allows us like God does , to be wrong .

Because His Grace, our Constitution perhaps, our Christian roots, or whatever has blessed this people with so much we should be Thankful for . To suggest we have not received so many belssings from above suggests to me we have come by them by own works. To me that is arrogance , considering how we botched things up so many times as a nation and as a people.

Glad you got the negative link to those whothink America is unexceptional with linking it to communist roots. A Glen Beck trick for sure. But Evan's article was the Beck from the left view on this subject and demonized in the opposing manner.

LV has it right , it was an anti war essay using Exceptionalism as a red herring . No wonder liberals keep loosing elections despite eeven when the republicans mess up . Whats wrong with thinking America has been blessed and write an article speaking to the evil of war .

Would have allowed for more people to get the point .

Here's a thought that will cause heads to explode throughout Sojoland: 58 percent of US residents believe that God has granted America a special (ie exceptional) role in world history. What if they're right?

LV

Last I checked, truth isn't determined by majority rule.

The real problem is the arrogance in which this view is generally supported, that whatever is in America's interests must necessarily be good. Since we know that's categorically false, where do we then go? On top of that, it really has no sense of justice, especially for those not in control of things.

By the way, the social critic you mention is Alexis de Tocqueville. But he also said, in essence, that "America is great because she is good" -- which, frankly, is idolatry.

Nor is it invalidated by a majority's opinion.

LV

BlueDeacon wrote:

"By the way, the social critic you mention is Alexis de Tocqueville. But he also said, in essence, that "America is great because she is good" -- which, frankly, is idolatry."

Just curious, Deacon, when you wrote that, what the heck did you mean? Who was worshipping what idol?

LV

I've noticed that Sojourners posts many articles about the economy.

I guess that they, too, are guilty of American Exceptionalism (which, is not a word, btw).

Well, since the belief in American Exceptionalism is only "right" if pride is no longer one of the 7 deadly sins, I'm not anticipating any cranial explosions throughout "Sojoland," as you so dismissively label it :).

It assumes that America is by definition good, which (Biblically speaking) means worthy of worship. At my prayer meeting today I read a devotional from a passage by MLK Jr. which warned against such arrogance.

Beside the point.

"Exceptionalism" (which, is not a word, btw).

According to Miriam-Webster it is:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exceptionalism