A Vanderbilt University professor and ordained Baptist preaching at National Cathedral on MLK Day faulted American racism and much else on American Exceptionalism. The Rev. Michael Eric Dyson cited America’s sins:
In the wake of this carnage, many citizens claimed that what occurred at the Capitol [on January 6] is not America. The sad truth is that, for many people, this is the only America they know. An America that spills blood in the name of misguided patriotism. An America willing to avert its eyes from truth in the glare of baseless conspiracy. An America that worships at the altar of the Second Amendment while making an idol of weapons and betraying the Second Commandment. An America that spews disgust at the dark foreigner and harbors hatred for the brown immigrant. An America that despises as enemies those who cry out that Black Lives Matter, while waving the traitorous banner of Confederate bigotry. This is America and has been America since America became America.
For Dyson, the cause is clear:
The willful ignorance of these unflattering visions of your nation has fed your belief in American exceptionalism. You have turned a few lines from Tocqueville into sacred belief and Holy Writ. Thinkers and leaders across the political spectrum say that America has a special character and unique destiny. But other nations believed that God or fate guided them through the ills of history and the tragedies of time to a triumphant destiny.
And:
I must warn you that no nation is spared divine judgment and that only God is exceptional. No country, no group of people, no collection of territories or political ideals is exceptional. Remember [St. Paul said in his] Letter to the Romans that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Many nations think that their water is wetter, their sun brighter, their ways superior, their vision clearer, their beliefs purer than those of their chief rivals or sworn enemies. The moment a nation believes that its sins don’t diminish its moral standing, it is on the road to perdition. If no country is unblemished, then it is not truly exceptional.
Dyson cited Alexis de Tocqueville who described early 19th century America as exceptional because it was supremely practical and pragmatic, devoted to prosperity and self-improvement:
The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical origin, their exclusively commercial habits, even the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of science, literature, and the arts, the proximity of Europe, which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into barbarism, a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the most important, have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects.
Tocqueville didn’t understand America’s exceptionality to entail boastful superiority. He recalled America’s Puritan origins, and American Exceptionalism is often traced to John Winthrop’s 1630 “City on a Hill” sermon to his fellow newly arrived New Englanders:
For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God’s sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.
Winthrop’s version of exceptionalism was hardly boastful. It was a warning: People are watching us. If we morally fail we shall discredit our God, who will turn His face away from us. MLK, whose birthday Dyson commemorates, was an heir to Winthrop in seeing America as a moral project. As MLK preached about the exceptional Declaration of Independence:
Never before in the history of the world has a sociopolitical document expressed in such profound, eloquent and unequivocal language the dignity and the worth of human personality. The American dream reminds us—and we should think about it anew on this Independence Day—that every man is an heir of the legacy of dignity and worth.
American Exceptionalism is about the unique opportunity to advance materially and self-improve. And it’s about a moral vision that entails getting right with God lest He judge us, per Lincoln’s Second Inaugural. So it’s practical and it’s spiritual. It’s never really been, except mostly in the minds of contemporary critics, about arrogant superiority, or as Dyson describes it, “white supremacy on the sly.” The greatest challenge to racism and all injustices has been American Exceptionalism.
But it can be admitted that the spiritual side of American Exceptionalism, when trying to model godliness before a watching world, often elides into sanctimony and self-righteousness. Dyson warns American Exceptionalism “vexes the body of Christ. It tempts many believers to cloak their political beliefs in religious creed or church dogma.” But his long political jeremiad, delivered from the National Cathedral, itself demonstrates the inevitable penchant of Americans to frame their national politics in moral and theological terms.
As a substitute for American Exceptionalism, Dyson suggests “American Altruism.” Quoting Jesus’s admonition, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required,” Dyson describes his preferred perspective for America:
But for the good things that God has given to you, you should be willing to put yourself in position to demand more of yourself and to require of those who are similarly blessed an equal measure of sacrifice for the greater good. Even when you have given all that you think you are capable of giving, dig deeper to give more and bless the world. Go now in peace, and spread far and wide the Gospel of American Altruism.
In his vision of America as a spiritual project with an evangelistic global mission, Dyson reveals himself to be, like nearly all other critics of American Exceptionalism, supremely if unconsciously an ardent American Exceptionalist.
This exceptionalism can sometimes be insufferable, and destructive, but it is also part of America’s glory. And it suffuses very nearly all Americans.
Comment by Douglas E Ehrhardt on February 19, 2021 at 3:06 am
This guy should move to Nigeria. His life here is so unbearable. The Episcopal Church has so little to do with Christianity.
Comment by Philip on February 19, 2021 at 10:46 am
The first person to use the term “American Exceptionalism” itself wasn’t Alexis de Tocqueville or John Winthrop. It was Joseph Stalin responding negatively to a report a Soviet agent on why capitalist market forces in America were still on the rise in the 1950s. The report in question had nothing to say about American religion or even it’s political system, just economics. My problem with American Exceptionalism isn’t that people believe in it, but that so many American Christians consider that belief essential to be not only patriotic, but also Christian at all. But why? Neither scripture nor traditional doctrine give us any reason to assume any special mission or place for America in God’s providence. While I wouldn’t go as far as declaring people who believe in American Exceptionalism to be heretics, I think as we’ve seen recently that belief can become both heretical and idolatrous when taken to the extreme. Furthermore I don’t see anything inherently wrong with not viewing America as exceptional. One can surely still be patriotic in wanting the best for one’s country and its citizens while still be honest about its faults and limitations. One can still love one’s country without feeling a need to degrade others. One can certainly still be a positive force in trying to make things better in America without automatically assuming it’s already the best of all possible countries.
Comment by Patrick Southam on February 19, 2021 at 12:21 pm
Am I the only one who thinks that the name of the place “National Cathedral” is arrogant? Other churches have their buildings, but we Episcopalians have the “National Cathedral”. (I am not an Episcopalian. I just have a problem with that kind of attitude.)
Comment by David on February 19, 2021 at 5:36 pm
Well, Puritan exceptionalism did not last very long in New England.
“Marvelous it may be to see and consider how some kind of wickedness did grow and break forth here, in a land where the same was so much witnessed against and so narrowly looked unto, and severely punished when it was known, as in no place more, or so much, that I have known or heard of; insomuch that they have been somewhat censured even by moderate and good men for their severity in punishments. And yet all this could not suppress the breaking out of sundry notorious sins (as this year, besides other, gives us too many sad precedents and instances), especially drunkenness and uncleanness. Not only incontinency between persons unmarried, for which many both men and women have been punished sharply enough, but some married persons also. But that which is worse, even sodomy and buggery have broke forth in this land…” William Bradford, 1642
Comment by Jeff on February 20, 2021 at 7:31 am
Of course a cultural Marxist globalist like yourself would quote Josef Stalin to trample on America, Phillip. Although de Toqueville certainly used the word “exceptional” in his book about… wait for it… AMERICA. So your reasoning there is sophistic and more than a little disingenuous.
Remind me how the Statue of Liberty came into existence? Did New Yorkers give a contemporary Aaron some of their copper earrings to hammer into a giant idol to their own arrogance? Or… perhaps… did a respectful and prescient France, realizing America’s Providential role as a light of liberty to the whole world, freely give of their national means to make for us this beacon of RESPONSIBILITY and DUTY?
One wonders: do you believe in CHRISTIAN exceptionalism? Or are all “religions” pretty much the same, with some of them, y’know, having attractive features that surpass the Trinity’s architecture and execution?
And what about those Jews, Phillip? Kinda arrogant of them to believe they are a chosen people in this postmodern day and age, am I right?
America most certainly IS exceptional, Phillip… and America’s exceptionalism (as with Judeo-Christian exceptionalism) is more about responsibility and duty than “privilege and plenty”.
Comment by Philip on February 20, 2021 at 1:14 pm
Jefff,
Always a delight to hear from you. I love how you just jumped right from talking about American exceptionalism to Christian doctrine. Kind of just proved my point, didn’t it though? So now I have to believe in American exceptionalism to be a good Christian according to you? Funny, I don’t remember reading about that in the tenets of my denomination or any Christian sect’s for that matter. I’m sure there’s probably some QAnon-obsessed, Dooms Day cult online somewhere that would agree with on that, but if that’s really the opinion of most American Christians the things are much worse than I thought.
You ask me if I think it’s presumptuous for the Jews to call themselves God’s Chosen People. No. Because SCRIPTURE says they are the chosen people. The people of the original covenant. I realize you think everyone who disagrees with you is a cultural marxist, postmodern wishy washy who believes whatever they want, but I actually take scripture pretty seriously. And scripture describes two covenants: 1. The original covenant between God and the Jews established during the time of Abraham (which for the record, I believe still exists rather than being superseceded by Christianity) and 2. The new covenant established between God and the Church through the person, death, and resurrection of Christ. There are no other covenants described in the Bible between God and other nations, nor is there any reason to assume God holds any special covenants with other nations. In Revelation John of Patmos described of Kingdom of God devoid of borders and nationalities and with only one city. As much as many Americans may have been raised on idea of God holding a special providence for their country, there is no evidence from scripture or 2,000 years of church tradition to presume that America is more significant in the ultimate designs of God than any other country like Luxembourg, Nepal, Benin, or anywhere else.
Comment by Star Tripper on February 21, 2021 at 8:12 am
I have ceased to give these types of people (self-righteous SJWs) the benefit of the doubt and think they want to engage in any debate or dialog. As to the so-called National Cathedral, it hasn’t been a Christian church for a couple of decades. If and when a world religion is established, the National Cathedral will be there to embrace it.
Comment by Brother Thom on February 23, 2021 at 5:06 am
American Exceptionalism means many different things to many different people. For conservatives and patriots, it stands for the myriad paths available to Americans to be everything God intended them to be. Nothing about American Exceptionalism means you will be given anything but the freedom to achieve. There are no free lunches.
Liberals and progressives have warped American Exceptionalism to mean leaving others behind. This notion fails to realize money doesn’t grow on trees. In 2017, the top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of all individual income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 3 percent. The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 26.8 percent average individual income tax rate, which is more than six times higher than taxpayers in the bottom 50 percent (4.0 percent). It is the prosperity of the top 50 percent that allows Americans to support social programs here and abroad. That’s exceptional, to say the least.
These are the truths that you will not see shared in the liberal media or UM News.
Statistical data source: taxfoundation.org
Comment by Brother Thom on February 23, 2021 at 5:25 am
I should also note that not one dollar of federal funds was used to build this exceptional cathedral. The 65 million to begin construction was raised thru private donations, mostly from people who had benefited from the most exceptional opportunities America provides.
And a couple of facts. No country in the world has a waiting list as long as the US for immigration to our great country. There is no line of people trying to leave American either, and lastly, no one is swimming from Florida to Cuba.
Comment by David on February 23, 2021 at 9:56 am
Ah, pity the rich. “For to whom much is given much is required to whom much is given, much will be required.” Then there is the story of the widow’s mite: “‘Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” The amount was not as important as the percentage of wealth.