Guest Blogger: Daniel Farrell
God Bless America and no one else
The authors are in the heart of their message at this point. They point out a very interesting thing about the word bless… the bible doesn’t use it like we do. First, it doesn’t use it near as much as we do, and most of the time it’s about us blessing the Lord. Hmmm…and yet we nationalistic manifest destiny theology makes us think that America is a special nation like Israel was in the old testament. That we (the country) are God’s chosen ones. Were you raised with that understanding? Do you ever wonder what that looks like to people who weren’t born in America?
What about Hitler?
Next we move on to discuss a common sticking point to opponents of nonviolence. The idea that it wouldn’t work for people like Hitler. They share the story of Bonhoeffer and his involvement in an assassination attempt of Hitler. Most of us would think that it would be something he would be proud of, but Bonhoeffer asked for God’s forgiveness because he knew he was doing wrong, even if he didn’t think he had an alternative. They then share the other side of that story from the documentary Blindspot which is the story of Hitler from his secretary’s perspective. She recalls how the failed attempt on his life encouraged to go on and that he felt like God was protecting him to fulfill his mission. The attempted use of violence caused more violence. This is a big one for people, especially since many of us lost family in defeating Hitler. My great uncle didn’t come back from WW2 even though both of my grandfathers made it back safely. I wouldn’t want to belittle the sacrifice made by those brave men at all. But I can’t help but feel like Hitler could have been stopped early on. If the church hadn’t supported him he wouldn’t have come to power. If some previous German theologians didn’t have anti-semitic viewpoints then he would not have had the moral ground to stand on. Those types of things are what come to my mind. What do you think? Do you think there is a way to nonviolently prevent people like Hitler from becoming “Hitler”?
Daniel Farrell is a follower of Jesus, a husband to Alicia and owner/operator of Farrell IT. He lives, works and plays in Richmond, VA. You can follow along the Pilgrimage that Daniel finds himself on here.
Filed under: Christian Nonviolence, Discipleship, Jesus, Jesus For President, Politics, Shane Claiborne, books, church, empire
I remember reading in my Church history class about the puritans who left England (because they disagreed with what the government was condoning in the church) and they came to America hoping to develop a new Jerusalem (if you will) the new ‘chosen’ people.
I found this very interesting
There is something to be said for religious fervor, the things I believe to be true, I also believe strongly. If the government in Canada made being Vegan illegal I would probably leave. But in some ways it is also arrogant, to believe that one view is the only view to have.
As a Canadian looking into the American dynamic, I can say for the most part no one I have met thinks that America is ‘God’s country’ …some are even hostile to the idea. Most Christians I know in the West (in general) would dub All of North America and Brittan as less Christian than much of the rest of the world because of it’s lack of generosity and superiority complex.
How does one convince another to be generous, to be open minded and tolerant, to be loving with non-violent solutions? We want to do things on mass because our society has trained us to want things fast…fast is better…”dropping a bomb sends a message pretty quick…don’t mess with us.” Yep it does, but the ramifications long term aren’t good. So skip the bomb and try for some good, peaceful solutions…it will take time, it means training the generation under us to do it differently, it means talking about it in small groups and changing our own bad habits. It’s not a fast solution, it means anger and hate may still reign for a while, but we will get there.
One of the common facets of life today is for people to see evil lurking behind every statement. While some people who pray for America feel it is devinely arrived spirturally superior, for many people, “God Bless America” is a simple statement of love, which need not be an exclusionary statement.
Paul – thanks for joining the conversation. Let me push back on your comment…
Can you see in “a simple statement of love” how it is used and is being used to bolster our beliefs that we are superior to the others and thus are given the “right” to do as we wish because we have the blessing of God?
I think the quote/prayer from Rumsfeld after 9/11 makes a strong point…
“Ever-faithful God, in death we are reminded of the precious birthright you endowed in your American people. You have shown once again that these gifts must never be taken for granted… We seek your special blessing today for those who stand as sword and shield, protecting us from tyranny of the few.”
I think the point Daniel was making about the Bible’s use of blessing… “it doesn’t use it near as much as we do, and most of the time it’s about us blessing the Lord” is an important one. When we are the business of blessing God, we might find ourselves working for the reconciliation of all things instead of just following our own nationalistic ideas which don’t always reflect the mission of God.