I LOVE MY COUNTRY PASSIONATELY

I love my country passionately; that is why I want to see it do right.  There is a valid place for a sensible patriotism.  But from a Christian point of view, true patriotism acknowledges God's sovereignty over the nations, and holds a healthy respect for God's judgment on the pretensions of any power that seeks to impose its will on others.  There is a place for a sense of destiny as a nation.  But it can be authentically embraced and pursued only if we separate ourselves from the legacy of the combat myth and "enter a long twilight struggle against what is evil in ourselves."*  There is a divine vocation for the United States (and every nation) to perform in human affairs.  But it can perform that task, paradoxically, only by abandoning its messianic zeal and accepting a more limited role within the family of nations.

(Engaging the Powers - Walter Wink, p. 31)

* Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil - Robert Jewett

NATIONALISM BECOME ABSOLUTE

The myth of redemptive violence is nationalism become absolute.  This myth speaks for God; it does not listen for God to speak.  It invokes the sovereignty of God as its own.  It does not entertain the prophetic possibility of radical denunciation and negation by God.  It misappropriates the language, symbols and scriptures of Christianity.  It does not seek God in order to change; it claims God in order to prevent change.  Its God is not the impartial ruler of all nations but a biased and partial tribal god worshiped as an idol.  Its metaphor is not the journey but a fortress.  Its symbol is not a cross but a rod of iron.  Its offer is not forgiveness but victory.  Its good news is not the unconditional love of enemies but their final liquidation.  Its salvation is not a new heart but a successful foreign policy.  It usurps the revelation of God's purposes for humanity in Jesus.  It is blasphemous.  It is idolatrous.

And it is immensely popular.

(Engaging the Powers - Walter Wink, p. 30)

IS THERE NO ESCAPE...?

Is there no escape from this myth of redemptive violence?  Yes, there is, but it is difficult.  To face the fear of enemies would finally require us to acknowledge our own inner evil, and that would cost us all our hard-earned self-esteem.  We would have to change, laboriously, struggling daily to transform or redeem our shadow side.  We would have to see ourselves as no different in kind from our enemy (however different we may be in degree).  It would mean seeing God in the enemy as we learn to see God in ourselves - a God who loves and forgives and can transform even the most evil person or society in the world.  Such insight would require conversion from the myth of redemptive violence to the God proclaimed by the prophets and by Jesus.  We would have to abandon our preferential option for violence and replace it with a preferential option for the oppressed.  We could no longer rely on absolute weapons for the utter annihilation of an absolute enemy.  We could no longer justify unchristian means to preserve at all costs the hollow shell of a "Christian civilization" that has, in effect, been filled with the creed of redemptive violence.

(Engaging the Powers - Walter Wink)