America: With God on our side

[rug]

Presidential candidates feel no shame in asserting divine purpose in U.S. policies and actions. In this ubiquitous view of American exceptionalism, the nation is not bound by rules to which others must submit.


(Illustration by Wes Bausmith / Los Angeles Times)


By Andrew J. Bacevich
October 16, 2011

In the United States, despite a Constitution that mandates the separation of church and state, religion and politics have become inseparable. To lend authority to their views, presidential aspirants of both parties regularly press God into service. They know what he intends.

So the claims made by Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in a recent speech at the Citadel managed to be both striking and unexceptionable. "God did not create this country to be a nation of followers," Romney announced. "America must lead the world." Absent the "clarity of American purpose and resolve, the world becomes a far more dangerous place," with freedom itself in jeopardy. To avert this catastrophe, Romney declared, "this century must be an American century," with the United States economically preeminent and wielding "the strongest military in the world."

Whence do these insights derive? "Why should America be any different than scores of other countries around the globe?" Romney asked rhetorically. His answer captures the essence of our present-day civic religion: "I believe we are an exceptional country with a unique destiny and role in the world."

The Hebrew Bible provides no evidence to support this proposition. Nor do the teachings of Jesus Christ and his disciples. Yet the American Bible incorporates a de facto Third Testament, which validates this assertion of American uniqueness. That testament, fashioned from a carefully tailored rendering of the 20th century, recounts the story of a new chosen people serving as God's instrument of salvation, leading humankind onward to the promised land.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bacevich-american-exceptionalism-20111016,0,3240927.story?track=icymi

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[Cirque du So-What]

2. 'God is with us'...lessee...where have I heard that before?

Oh, yeah! Now I remember!

[NMMNG]

3. Such an egotistical, selfish viewpoint.

America the Narcissist.

[Angry Dragon]

4. Which God, Which Bible??

[deacon_sephiroth]

5. Say what you will about Kissinger, but he summed it up nicely:

He wrote in his book "Diplomacy" that due to America's relative geographical isolation and high level of pride, we lend ourselves very easily to extremes of thought in foreign policy, Isolationism, or Empirialism.

The "divine mandate" that you have to have in order to get elected around here is just another sad sad reminder of how truely ignorant and just terrifyingly stupid the American voting public can be.

[trotsky]

6. Complicating matters is the large number of moderate-to-liberal believers...

who support and reaffirm the taboo against questioning anyone's religious beliefs lest one come off as a "militant fundamentalist atheist," and I don't know how anything is going to change.

[laconicsax]

7. WHY NO THOUGHTFUL DISCUSSION?

:hide:

[David Sky]

8. Some of us atheists are becoming "militant" by challenging the assumptions, assertions, and

outright lies and fantasy stories of the "religious" among us.

If my use of my first amendment rights to speak my mind, to speak freely, is considered "militancy", then so be it!

We are tired of being told we must stay silent and not "offend" the believers in the fairy tales and the mythologies!

We know too much science to believe Thor the God of war was angry and sent lightning bolts down onto the farms of northern Greece 2800 years ago. And we ALSO know God did NOT create Eve by extracting a rib from Adam 6000 years ago in an ancient garden of Eden. BOTH of those stories are fictional and can be classified as "mythology"!

[rug]

9. Thank God!

My assumptions, assertions, outright lies and fantasy stories were beginning to bother me.

Thank you so much.

[David Sky]

10. Deep down, I don't think you believe them any more than I do.

But you seem like the type of person who likes to challenge other folks, and pretend to believe all that Greek mythology.

Or was it another mythology you hoisted your flag with?