Exceptional?

In Time of War #5

Is America exceptional? When the Pilgrims landed in North America many saw this new land as a promised land of freedom from religious oppression and the reign of Satan. Basing their thoughts on the Book of Revelation, they saw America was a virgin land, free from the Whore of Babylon. It was the desert to which the Woman in Revelation 12, representing the church, fled to escape the dragon. It was not only Protestant anti-papists who thought this way. Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C., founder of the University of Notre Dame, expressed the thought that this new land of promise was free of the satanic powers that roamed through Europe. The forests and lakes of northern Indiana offered a chance to start again with a bright future, free from the Old World’s corruption. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, “Amerika, du hast es besser”, that is, “America, you have it better than our continent, the old one.” In 1630 John Winthrop described America as a “city upon a hill”, a phrase from Matthew’s Gospel that Ronald Reagan would repeat in his farewell address in 1989.

In many ways the United States has been exceptional. Bordered by two great oceans and weaker neighbors to the north and south, the US has not had to worry so much about foreign invasion as have European powers. It enjoys a vast and fertile land, amply watered, in a temperate climate. A wisely designed constitution and traditions of law inherited from Great Britain have enabled the American people to get about their business and to prosper while doing so. The United States has become a wealthy country in which anyone, regardless of the circumstances of birth can prosper and even become rich. It has been a beacon of freedom, attracting immigrants from all over the world seeking peace, freedom, and a good life.

Many of those who speak of American Exceptionalism take this exceptionalism in a deeper sense as something granted by God. In the 1970s and again today, some religious leaders have appealed to this important text from the Scriptures:

if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

It is a mistake to read this as though it is addressed to this country, the United States of America. The people called by God’s name referred to in Second Chronicles is the Kingdom of Israel, whose King Solomon had just dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, the temple that was to be the seat of God’s presence to his people. So, although American Christians do well to humble themselves and pray, seeking God’s face, this promise is made to them as Christians, not as Americans.

The United States has a very good Constitution, which became a model for those who followed us. Indeed, the Kingdom of Poland was so impressed by the new American project that on May 3, 1791, Poland adopted the first modern constitution in Europe. Unfortunately, the neighboring autocracies of Prussia, Russia, and Austria were so alarmed by this sort of government that they partitioned the country, each claiming a part for themselves, thus eliminating Poland as a sovereign nation for one-hundred-twenty-three years. The notion that the people should govern themselves was intolerable for the autocratic regimes of Tsar and Kaiser.

Neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution of the United States is a work of God. Although most Americans have been nominally Christian, this country is not Christian. After affirming that all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” the Declaration goes on to assert that government “derives its just powers from the consent of the governed”. Our president, Congress, and judiciary do not govern by divine right. Contrary to what some religious voices said at the time, the forcing of Richard Nixon from office in 1974 was not rebellion against God. Therefore, the Constitution of this country begins with the words,

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

God is not the author of the constitution. The people of the United States, not God, ordain and establish it. They do so not to recognize Jesus Christ as king for the glory of God or to hasten the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Constitution is adopted to provide for domestic tranquility, protection from hostile powers, and a peaceful land that will last for a long time.

This is a good constitution, because it provides for a government with strong powers which are not all centered in one place. However strong or ambitious a president may be, he cannot make laws. The Congress can pass any bill they want, but it is not law until the President signs it, and even then, it is susceptible to review by the federal courts. The framers of the Constitution knew that because people can be wicked, governmental powers must be separated. It is a constitution for sinners, not to change them into saints, but to forestall the worst evils of human perversity. As such, it is a good constitution, a product of human wisdom and prudence. It works well as long as the men and women of the USA use it well.

America is not exceptional. The people of the United States are not God’s chosen people. The United States is a Christian nation only to the extent that her citizenry and their values are preponderantly Christian—and that is not at all certain. One sure sign that we are not a Christian people—or even a people who believe in God—is the extent to which we accept the legitimacy of abortion. Most Americans regard the matter of the rights of the unborn as a “political” issue. The Scriptures, both Jewish and Christian, state at the outset that God created man in his image, “male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27), but in the United States the existence of two sexes and the real differences between them have become and remain a matter of controversy. As a country we do not accept what the Bible says. Indeed, it is not at all clear that we have a shared religious heritage.

Christ has given us a commission, indeed, a great commission.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28: 19)

This is the Lord’s commission to his followers. As much as with any other nation—be it Mexico, Ireland, China, or Iran—the people of the United States need to hear the Gospel message of love and mercy—and to hear it from us who are Christian.