> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[snip]
I hope you meant "incredible" to mean incredibly arrogant.
> Of course, what this view of America completely misses is that
> American power
> and wealth flow directly from a deep spiritual source — a spirit
> of respect
> for the individual, a spirit of tolerance for differences of faith or
> politics, a respect for freedom of thought as the necessary
> foundation for
> all creativity and a spirit of unity that encompasses all kinds of
> differences. Only a society with a deep spiritual energy, that welcomes
> immigrants and worships freedom, could constantly renew itself and its
> sources of power and wealth.
I believe, along with a lot of other people, that is terrible line of thinking. It
implies not only the heresy that material wealth is a sign of God's approval, but also
the inverse -- that the poor of this world are poor because they are spiritually
deficient. There is no religion in the world that teachees this, even though it a
common heresy. Christianity, which gave birth to core American values, certainly does
not teach it. Quite the opposite.
> Which is why the terrorists can hijack Boeing planes, but in the
> spiritless,
> monolithic societies they want to build, they could never produce
> them. The
> terrorists can exploit the U.S.- made Internet, but in their
> suffocated world
> of one God, one truth, one way, one leader, they could never invent it. "
I cringe at phrases like "the U.S.-made Internet." Yeah, Americans came up with the
original protocols (as a military tool) and contributed quite a bit since then. But
anyone who has been involved in inventing the Internet over the last few years (as I
have, I suppose I should add), when it began to truly make a broad impact, knows that
much of its real growth came from inventions by people from all over the world. One
glaring example is the World-Wide Web, invented by a Brit who was living in
Switzerland. The Internet of the last seven or eight years is, in its very nature, a
global collaboration.
It's embarrassing to see other U.S. citizens arrogantly claiming that God is
undeniably on our side and offering our wealth and power as proof. It is embarrassing
to see others claim the United States is the birthplace of virtually everything that
is good in the world. Reading this sort of thing, it is no wonder that certain Dutch
folks, for example, have a hard time acknowledging the good that our country does.
There is no question that this nation has produced many good things. It may well be
the leading defender of liberty in the world, the greatest source of innovation and
progress. There is a lot to like and respect about this country. Yet now, more than
ever, we should remember that we have accomplished very little alone, that we are only
a couple of centuries old and thus stand not far above the shoulders of those who set
modern liberty in motion elsewhere. It's not as if we went off to our own planet with
amnesia and invented ourselves in isolation. We're the ones who are proud of being a
"melting pot" -- now we're going to forget that?
As for spirituality, our own churches see this nation as spiritually deficient. Take
a look at the book "Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North
America," edited by Darrell L. Guder. It is an ecumenical call to regard the United
States as a mission field, which has been taken very seriously by mainstream
denominations.
It is ironic, to say the least, to hear a provocative capitalist author praise
America's spirituality even as its church leaders decry our secularism and set to work
to see how the church must respond. I don't think there have been many sermons
arguing that we were attacked because we are so spiritual; most of the religious are
hoping that this will provoke a *return* to spirituality. God does not promise much
of anything positive to the arrogant and prideful.
Nick
