Table Of Content

Series:Religion and Violence Series Editors:Lisa Isherwood,University of Winchester,and America, Rosemary Radford Ruether,Graduate Theological Union,Berkeley A America, m e Amerikkka r i c Amerikkka a , A m Elect Nation and Imperial Violence e Elect Nation and Imperial Violence r Rosemary Radford Ruether i k k America, Amerikkkatraces the historical and ideological patterns of k the U.S.American view of themselves as an elect nation inhabiting a a ‘promised land’ and enjoying a uniquely favored relation with God and a mission to spread ‘redemption’ qua ‘democracy’ throughout the world. This view of unique election has been coupled with racial exclusivism R privileging and marginalizing non-whites as citizens of the nation. o s In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a doctrine of the ‘rights e of man’ excluded the two primary non-white groups present in the m territory,Native Americans and Africans.‘Manifest Destiny’ justified the a expansion across the North American continent,while forcing Mexico r y through war to cede a third of its land,excluding Mexicans,Indians, R Africans and Asians from this expanded citizenry.In the twentieth a century,America’s perception of its mission became imperialist beyond d the continental borders,occupying the Philippines and the Caribbean f o Rosemary Radford Ruether is and claiming hegemonic dominance over Latin America and the Pacific r d Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology islands.After the Second World War,the United States has taken the emeritus at the Graduate Theological role of the ‘Global policeman’ to enforce neocolonial relations over R u Union in Berkeley,California.She is much of the ‘third world.’ Since the collapse of the Soviet Union this e currently an adjunct professor at the imperial reach has been translated into a claim for global dominance. t Claremont School of Theology and h Claremont Graduate University.For The book will also detail alternative protest traditions within American e twenty eight years she was the Georgia culture against this trajectory of imperial violence and racism in leaders r Harkness Professor of Applied Theology such as Martin Luther King.It will seek to formulate an alternative at the Garrett Theological Seminary and vision of global relations between peoples based on justice and Northwestern University in Evanston, mutuality,rather than hegemonic dominance of a ‘Number One’ nation Illinois.She is the author or editor of over all others. twenty eight books and twelve book collections in the areas of feminist and Front cover image:Allegory of Freedom,1863 or after Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.1955.11.4 liberation theologies. By permission of the Board of Trustees,National Gallery of Art,Washington,D.C. Cover design:John Hughes R o u t le d g e www.routledge.com America, Amerikkka Religion and Violence Series Editors Lisa Isherwood, University of Winchester, and Rosemary Radford Ruether, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California This interdisciplinary and multicultural series brings to light the ever increasing problem of religion and violence. The series highlights how religions have a significant part to play in the creation of cultures that allow and even encourage the creation of violent conflict, domestic abuse and policies and state control that perpetuate violence to citizens. The series highlights the problems that are experienced by women during violent conflict and under restrictive civil policies. But not wishing to simply dwell on the problems the authors in this series also re-examine the traditions and look for alternative and more empowering readings of doctrine and tradition. One aim of the series is to be a powerful voice against creeping fundamentalisms and their corrosive influence on the lives of women and children. Published: Reweaving the Relational Mat A Christian Response to Violence against Women from Oceania Joan Alleluia Filemoni-Tofaeono and Lydia Johnson Forthcoming in the series: Weep Not for Your Children Essays on Religion and Violence Lisa Isherwood and Rosemary Radford Ruether (eds.) In Search of Solutions The Problem of Religion and Conflict Clinton Bennett Meditations on Religion and Violence in the United States T. Walter Herbert America, Amerikkka Elect Nation and Imperial Violence Rosemary Radford Ruether First published 2007 by Equinox Publishing Ltd, an imprint of Acumen Published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © Rosemary Radford Ruether 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN-13 978 184553 157 7 (hardback) 978 184553 158 4 (paperback) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ruether, Rosemary Radford. America, Amerikkka : elect nation and imperial violence / Rosemary Radford Ruether. p. cm. — (Religion and violence) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-84553-157-7 (hbk.) ISBN-10: 1-84553-157-4 (hbk.) ISBN-13: 978-1-84553-158-4 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 1-84553-158-2 (pbk.) 1. United States—Foreign relations. 2. United States—Territorial expansion. 3. Imperialism—History. 4. Messianism, Political—United States—History. 5. Religion and politics—United States—History. 6. United States—Politics and government. 7. National characteristics, American. 8. Racism—Political aspects—United States—History. 9. United States—Race relations—Political aspects. 10. Protest movements—United States—History. I. Title. E183.7.R895 2007 973—dc22 2006019370 Typeset by S.J.I. Services, New Delhi This book is dedicated to Maryknoll Sisters, Joan Uhlen, Rita Owczarek and Elizabeth Solmon, faithful witnesses to justice and solidarity with the Nicaraguan people Page Intentionally Left Blank CONTENTS Introduction 1 THE TWO FACES OF AMERICA: THE IDEAL AMERICA AS DECEPTION AND AS PROTEST Chapter One ELECT NATIONS OF EUROPE AND THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN MYTH OF CHOSENNESS 7 Chapter Two THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND THE EXCLUDED OTHERS — THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA AND BEYOND 33 Chapter Three MANIFEST DESTINY AND ANGLO-SAXON RACISM — 1815–1875 70 Chapter Four MANIFEST DESTINY AND AMERICAN EMPIRE: 1890–1934 100 Chapter Five AMERICA’S GLOBAL MISSION: THE COLD WAR ERA, 1945–89 136 Chapter Six AMERICAN EMPIRE AND ITS DENOUEMENT: 1990–2007 173 Chapter Seven ALTERNATIVE VISIONS OF AMERICA: THE PROTEST TRADITION 211 Chapter Eight TOWARD A U.S. THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION AND LETTING GO 250 viii America, Amerikkka BIBLIOGRAPHY 276 INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES 283 GENERAL INDEX 284 INTRODUCTION THE TWO FACES OF AMERICA: THE IDEAL AMERICA AS DECEPTION AND AS PROTEST In his major book, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, William Blum explains why so many Americans are so ignorant of the history of their nation and have a hard time believing that it has continually intervened in the lives of other nations in destructive ways. ‘…It is because the American people see and hear their leaders expressing the right concern at the right time, with just the right catch in their throat to convey, “I care!” they see them laughing and telling jokes, see them with their families, hear them speak of God and love, of peace and law, of democracy and freedom — it is because of such things that the idea that our government has done to the world’s huddled masses what it did to the Seminoles has such a difficult time penetrating the American consciousness. It’s like America has an evil twin.’ This book, with its double name, America, Amerikkka, is about that double identity of America. It is about the ideology of God and love, peace and law, democracy and freedom, and the evil twin that is concealed behind this rhetoric of positive national values and beliefs. This concealment could not happen if it were not that Americans genuinely believe in these national values, and they believe that American actions in the world are motivated by and express these values. Moreover, American leaders know that they touch a deep root of national faith when they use these words. But often they are doing something very different when they intervene in Guatemala, Chile and Nicaragua, Korea and Vietnam, Iraq and Iran. They are pursuing what they regard as policies of national self-interest that many Americans would regard as unacceptable. Thus, these unacceptable realities must be cloaked in the language of national values rooted in a belief that America is uniquely innocent