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Tom Wright on America's exceptionalist justice

America's exceptionalist justice
 
Wild west vigilantism may work while the hero can outshoot 

the villain and his friends, but real justice outflanks 

escalation
 
Tom Wright
Friday May 6 2011
guardian.co.uk
 
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/05/

america-lone-ranger
 
 
Consider the following scenario. A group of Irish republican 

terrorists carries out a bombing raid in London. People are 

killed and wounded. The group escapes, first to Ireland, then 

to the US, where they disappear into the sympathetic hinterland 

of a country where IRA leaders have in the past been welcomed 

at the White House. Britain cannot extradite them, because of 

the gross imbalance of the relevant treaty. So far, this seems 

plausible enough.
 
But now imagine that the British government, seeing the 

murderers escape justice, sends an aircraft carrier (always 

supposing we've still got any) to the Nova Scotia coast. From 

there, unannounced, two helicopters fly in under the radar to 

the Boston suburb where the terrorists are holed up. They carry 

out a daring raid, killing the (unarmed) leaders and making their 

escape. Westminster celebrates; Washington is furious.
 
What's the difference between this and the recent events in 

Pakistan? Answer: American exceptionalism. America is subject 

to different rules to the rest of the world. By what right? Who 

says?
 
Consider another fictive scenario. Gangsters are preying on a 

small mid-western town. The sheriff and his deputies are spineless; 

law and order have failed. So the hero puts on a mask, acts "extra-

legally", performs the necessary redemptive violence and returns to 

ordinary life, earning the undying gratitude of the local townsfolk, 

sheriff included. This is the plot of a thousand movies, comic-book 

strips, and TV shows: Captain America, The Lone Ranger, and (upgraded 

to hi-tech) Superman. The masked hero saves the world.
 
Films and comics with this plot-line have been named as favourites by 

many presidents, as Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence 

[http://www.eerdmans.com/Interviews/lawrenceinterview.htm" title=

"Eerdmans:    Interview with John Shelton Lawrence] pointed out in The 

Myth of the American Superhero and Captain America and the Crusade 

Against Evil. The main reason President Obama has been cheered to the 

echo across the US, even by his bitter opponents, is not simply the 

fully comprehensible sense of closure a decade after the horrible, 

wicked actions of September 11 2001. Underneath that, he has just 

enacted one of America's most powerful myths.
 
Perhaps the myth was necessary in the days of the wild west, of 

isolated frontier towns and roaming gangs. But it legitimises a form 

of vigilantism, of taking the law into one's own hands, which provides 

"justice" only of the crudest sort. In the present case, the "hero" 

fired a lot of stray bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan before he got 

it right. What's more, such actions invite retaliation. They only 

"work" because the hero can shoot better than the villain; but the 

villain's friends may decide on vengeance. Proper justice is designed 

precisely to outflank such escalation.
 
Of course, proper justice is hard to come by internationally. America 

regularly casts the UN (and the international criminal court) as the 

hapless sheriff, and so continues to play the world's undercover 

policeman. The UK has gone along for the ride. What will we do when 

new superpowers arise and try the same trick on us? And what has any 

of this to do with something most Americans also believe, that the 

God of ultimate justice and truth was fully and finally revealed in 

the crucified Jesus of Nazareth, who taught people to love their 

enemies, and warned that those who take the sword will perish by the 

sword?
 
 
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Thanks to Michael Gorman for alerting us about this commentary from 

the former Bishop of Durham.  

American Exceptionalism and the murder of a terrorist

“Romans 13:4, “It does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” If ever there were a just use of force, this was it. The U.S. government carried out its God-ordained task and has acted as God’s minister bringing His wrath upon one who practiced evil. The U.S. government isn’t God’s only minister of the sword. But tonight was our night, and I am grateful that justice was served.”

With these words begin the reflection of Dr. Denny Burk, Associate Professor of New Testament and Dean of Boyce College (the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky). In his statement the professor declared that the “U.S. government carried out its God-ordained task and has acted as God’s minister bringing his wrath upon one who practiced evil.” Can you imagine making such a statement with a straight face? Can you imagine telling the Churches of God around the world that our military has “carried out” God’s ordained task to kill and maim other human beings at the direction of the President of the US, his Cabinet, and the U.S. military high command? Are we well connected with the divine or what? (Forgive my sarcasm attack!)

What an incredible and complete expression of arrogance from our part. We are so righteous, so close to the divine that our purpose as a nation turns into God’s own purpose in the world. This almost reads like the Gospel of the United States, where the US (the new Messiah) and the Father are one. That is to say, the US expresses god’s desires so perfectly that they are one and the same: the US “has acted as God’s minister bringing his wrath.”

We are so right, our cause is so just that the reality lived by other people in the world is insignificant compare to ours, because we do understand god’s will. Although we are only 6% of the population of the world, we know what is best for the remaining 94%. Mr. Bin laden was responsible for the planning of the terrorist acts of 9/11/01. The actions of this man were crimes against humanity not just the US, to say the least. Believe me, I am not crying over the death of a man who lived his life developing machinations to kill people in other parts of the world. He lived by the sword he dye by the sword. But where do we come off so self-righteous? What gives us the high moral ground to make these kinds of statements as if our hands, and I mean American’s hands, were clean from spilling innocent blood, as if we were a righteous nation who only acts in the best interest of its neighbors? Has anyone ever consider that our military is there to protect our national interest. In every war we have been involved it is our interest what has driven our actions not altruistic love for our fellow human beings (regrettably, we do not have room here to expand on these issues but I urge you to do it on the web).

If god is so bent on “bringing His wrath upon one who practiced evil,” as Professor Burk states.Why didn’t God send a group of special forces to take out Henry Kissinger, after he and the CIA orchestrated the Cout d’Etat in Chile? Which caused thousands of Chilean lives (including a few Americans)? Why didn’t God send a group of special forces to take care of President Reagan for his support and organized acts of violence against the people of Nicaragua (and so many other places around the world), which cost thousands of lives to that country? Why didn’t God send that same group of special forces to punish the man who lied to the American people in order to enter in a war that has cost us thousands of America lives and hundreds of thousands of lives to the Iraki people, and people in the region. Why is it that the lives that seem to have greater value in the eyes of this kind of rhetoric are the lives of the US citizens and European citizens? Why is it that every time violence erupts in other parts of the world where the populations are poor and dark skin we attribute their violence to evil forces working through them, but every time that we, and other European nations, take military action we portray ourselves as been sanctioned by God, and, of course, for the greater good?

We must thank professor Burk for his powerful illustration of that theological and ideological doctrine for which we are well known around the globe: American exceptionalism. Indeed, as much as we try to hide it the fact of the matter is that we, as a nation, continue to up-hold this ideology-theology of domination where even the gods, the Christian god in particular, as well as other god’s, collaborate to show that we are God’s chosen people. We are a special people whom the god has placed in this world to bring god’s will. Therefore, we will deliver god’s justice against evil doers (of course, evil and evil doers are defined by us), and we will impose our way of understanding the world over everyone even if we have to kill them. If you think this is far-fetched just think of all those places we have invaded, or collaborated to create “regime” change: Irak, Granada, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Vietnam, Korea. No one expressed this ideology-theology of domination more eloquently than our own Henry Kissinger when he spoke about the situation in Chile: “I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.”

Like this message, there are thousands of examples where we present ourselves as having “superior” knowledge, as the world’s Messiah, as those who know what is best for the world. Maybe professor Burk has adopted this ideology-theology of domination. I, for one, believe that the God of Jesus, the one who gave his son to the world (John 3:15-17), would have a very difficult time accepting this message which all imperial powers have been declaring for centuries as a way to justify the subjugation of people around the world. This same ideology-theology was also used by the imperial powers that killed Jesus the Christ.

You might call me hard-core-liberal, or bleeding-hart-liberal, but I simply call my-self a disciple of Christ. Let us come and walk together with him, let us show to the world that other way of life is possible if our loyalty remains only with Jesus’ message, not with Caesar. As much as I would be willing to give my life for my country, I love Jesus more, therefore my ultimate allegiance is with him alone.

The fallacy that the “U.S. government carried out its God-ordained task” and “has acted as God’s minister bringing His wrath upon one who practiced evil,” only serves the purpose of sustaining the ideology-theology of domination of American exceptionalism. Within this mentality might makes right, this is not Good News (Gospel), if anything it is diabolic propaganda that only serves to fuel more hate instead of peace (Matthew 5:9).

A veteran friend of mine reminded me today that although we might not be pacifist, we do not rejoice in the unfortunate reality of killing another human being even during war times. The taking of a human life diminishes all of us, even when there are no other alternatives. As the scriptures reminds us: "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” (Proverbs 24:17). We are called to be imitators of Christ not of the USA’s cultural mores.