It’s the Bad Theology, Stupid

It’s the Bad Theology, Stupid September 8, 2007

Whenever I talk about disaster that is the war in Iraq, I am often accused of being motivated entirely by Bush hatred. So blind I am, so the argument goes, that I play down the significance of groups like Al Qaeda, since they are “just fighting horrible America”. When I point out that hardly any of the Sunni insurgents in Iraq are members of Al Qaeda, suddenly I am indifferent to the suffering brought about by these murderers.

Let me state this quite bluntly: this is not about Bush, or Cheney, or anybody else. This is bigger than any one person. It is about an outlook, an ideology, an ill-formed Protestant theology. This truly bad theology permeates and underpins much of American foreign policy, and has taken on new and dangerous relevance in recent years. As Catholics, as believers in authentic historical Christianity, we need to oppose this theology. But first we need to understand it.

I’ve discussed this before, as have my Vox Nova colleagues. It ultimately derives from a derivative form of Calvinism whereby the world can be divided into good and evil, the elect and the damned. From its earliest days, America has seen itself as God’s chosen nation, the idea of the Calvinist elect projected onto a country. The role model, of course, was ancient Israel. The early settlers were the “elect”, chosen by God to be saved through no action of their own. And America was their country. This concept resonates deeply among the American evangelical culture today. There was much outcry over Jerry Falwell’s comments after 9/11, when he was accused of blaming abortion, gays etc. for the catastrophe. But what Falwell really said was that God had withdrawn his shroud of protection from America. That presupposes that God was protecting America in a way that other countries could not access.

We know the history. Wiping out the native inhabitants (remember Joshua’s “curse of destruction”?). Manifest destiny. A Calvinist minister’s son named Woodrow Wilson who believed that the United States had been chosen by God to teach the nations of the world to walk in the paths of liberty. Committed Calvinist John Foster Dulles who viewed the United States as a providential nation. Ronald Reagan who re-evoked Winthrop’s city-on-a-hill speech, viewing America as pure and the Soviet Union as an “evil empire”. And George Bush, embracing American exceptionalism on steroids, desiring to re-make the world under the tutelage of the United States.

None of this should be taken as an attack on sincere Calvinists; as a Catholic, I have obvious theological disputes with them, but what I am getting at here is a distortion of Calvinism. Indeed, some observers reach back much further and claim it is Gnosticism in modern garb. Harold Bloom believed that Gnosticism was the true American religion, and pretty much all religions created in America are indeed Gnostic (Mormonism, Scientology, New-Ageism). Gnosticism is underpinned by a profound metaphysical dualism that matches the way certain Americans view he world perfectly. Good and evil, light and darkness, an eternal struggle (some will dress this up in Catholic terms by referring to the supernatural, but they are ultimately invoking Gnosticism). And if creation is not fundamentally good and in need of renewal, then why should be it not exploited through violence and environmental degradation?

Gnosticism is also elitist, with hidden esoteric knowledge available only to a select few (read: America). America becomes the teacher of truth, and liberation follows acceptance of such truth. And then there is a deference to the wisdom of political authority (Catholics like George Weigel can adopt Gnostic-sounding nostrums like the “charism of political discernment”). And, of course, Gnosticism is the ultimate religion of individualism. The classic Gnostics believed that they did not require doctrine or a teaching authority, as all they had to do was release the “spark of the divine” within themselves. Latter-day fundamentalists believe their natural destiny is heaven, as all they have to do is profess Jesus as personal savior (note the individualism!) and it’s a done deal. And of course, wealth and success are rewards for God’s elite. Where Gnosticism lurks, narcissism is not far behind. Left behind is the notion of sin and redemption.

This warped theology drives so much of American foreign policy. It paints the world into stark shades of light and darkness, devoid of context. There is another aspect of this theology, one that goes a long way to explain the over-reaction to the 9/11 terror attacks. With such a theology, you don’t forgive sinners, you destroy them. Americans do not like seeing themselves as mere forgiven sinners, with a “there, but for the grace of God go I” attitude. How else you do validate your status as one of the elect if not by scapegoating others? There is a perverse psychological effect: Americans have an obsessive need to be the good guys, as otherwise they might be damned. I believe this explains continued high levels of support for the death penalty, overlooking the failure to observe ius in bello during world war 2, and the noisy clambering for an global “war on terror” in the aftermath of the collapse of the World Trade Center. Every time the bad guy is punished, the person on the other side feels affirmed in his goodness. Needless to say, this is not Catholic. It is the psychological fallout of a dysfunctional theology.

Before I conclude, there is another manifestation of the bad theology that has led to so much grief, and that is America’s one-sided support for Israel. Here, too, the same bad theology is applied, as we see fundamentalists mis-reading the Old Testament to argue that Christ will only return when the Jews are restored to Israel in a political sense. Israel is chosen just as America is chosen. Forget the “Israeli lobby”, it is this notion that drives America’s policy, which diverges so greatly from the rest of the world. And on top of it we have a bizarre “end times theology”, comprising a “rapture” and the return of Christ to establish a 1000 year reign. This is not a minority view, as almost 60 percent of Americans believes these events will take place, and many think they are imminent. And when the president of Iran believes in similar things from his theological perspective, can the rational response be anything else but sheer terror?

Of course, authentic Christianity realizes that Christ has abrogated the idea of a land grant, as the Church he founded is truly universal, and that the secular state of Israel is not divinely-mandated (Jesus rejected the path chosen by some of his fellow Jews to rebel against Rome, and taught that the Messiah was not destined to establish an earthly kingdom). And yet, the failure to take a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis has only added to the instability in the region, and fostered great injustice. But here again, the lop-sided support fits into the overall narrative of a cosmic struggle between light and darkness. Israel is a “democracy” and the Palestinians are “terrorists”. The shoe fits. And as with everything else, context is thrown out the window.

So, in sum, and in so many different ways, the theology is ultimately at fault.


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