Evangelism and American foreign policy

The Four Great Awakenings

1st Great Awakening - 1730s:
- Emphasized power of immediate and personal religious experience
- "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - type revival of guilt mentality
- Hence, promotion of an immediate need for salvation from such intense revival of guilt
- Passionate and emotional involvement with one's "own" religion
- Promotion of severing ties with mother-Britain which would rededicate America to the making of God's Kingdom

2nd Great Awakening - 1830s:
- Eastern states evangelize the West
- Antebellum reforms
- Equating ones reformation-ary acts to being part of god's plan
- Christians comprehend their roles in society in purifying the world through individuals to whom they could bring salvation

3rd Great Awakening - 1900s:
- Driven/affected-by Protestant denomination - accompanied with strong social activism - crusade for prohibition of alcohol; womens right; child labor; compulsory elementary education
- YMCA, "Epworth League" (Methodist) and the Walther League(Lutheran) spread
- Gained strength from the postmillenia theology that the second coming of Christ would only take place after mankind reforms the whole of earth

4th Great Awakening - 1970s:
- Mainstream (moderate) Protestantism loosing members
- Evangelical, fundamentalist as well as traditional Baptist and Lutheran denominations grow rapidly and gain political power
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Who left Europe to colonize American continent? Mostly Puritans who were basically kicked out by the English. How crazy were these Puritans that got kicked out by the Brits? So, these puritans start calling themselves Yankees to piss of the English planting the seeds of American national mentality - being embarrassed of being embarrassed. So, what do religious Yankees do? First associate the educated elite with the Brits and call on people to severe ties with the motherland. They then cultivate the idea of eternal guilt which immediately implies the necessity for salvation and means of reaching it. How do they suggest people do it? Let's build the God's Kingdom around the globe - they say. This is when American colonism acquired divine purpose - a grandiose impulse from God himself.

Ok, hundred years pass and it is now 1830's. American society continues to nourish its national identity. Huge reforms take place. Things are getting better, despite some economic downturns. Looking at all that was accomplished since 1700's, Yankees realize that it will take a little longer than they had thought to construct the God's Kingdom. Having witnessed the power of religious doctrines in implementing social reforms, religious elite start pushing for further development of inner-self. How they do it? Well, now that they have firmly embedded the ideas of guilt and need for salvation, they start pushing for personal relationship with god and speak of one's acts as destined by god's personal plan for him/er. Yakees of course love being empowered by such phenomenal grandiose-ification of one's life path. And now that everyone is in personal relationship with god, they of course start speaking to him and seek answers - in random places such as collection of clouds, highlighted words in tabloids and occasional life-changing events like hallucinating by accidental poisoning from mushrooms. Such closeness to god feels so great that they naturally feel that others as well should get in on the game. So, now the preachers go on to set up missions to bring more people to salvation. Because, now it is not only about your inner-self, but about converting others which in turn helps you eliminate occasional doubts about god's destination for you when stumbling upon unfortunate events.

Well, it is 1900's now and preachers are very disappointed by the progress made in constructing the God's Kingdom. Things need to speed up, otherwise they will not get any credit for all the work that has been done. Thus, another wave of social reforms sweep through America. While the Europeans are busy duking it out in Serbia which eventually turns into WWI, Yankees are envisioning any major war as an opportunity for the second coming of Christ. They also understand that "the coming" will only take place if the whole world is reformed. By now, a little more educated Yankees realize that reforming the world should be taken a little more conceptually. WWI ends with Europe in shambles. Seems like a good time for Jeshua's coming, but no-one shows up.

Early XX century America turns into the most industrialized country in the world. Industrialization implies lots of construction, transportation and electricity usage- which needs a lot of oil. Turns out most of the world easily extractable oil is with the Arabs, but the Gulf oil fields should be enough for next 30-40 yrs. The Great Depression comes around and preachers are speaking of God's wrath intensifying because of lack of progress in building his Kingdom.

Now, the WWII kicks off. And the massiveness of the conflict has preachers swearing of the Armageddon. Something short of that takes place. Lots of people get murdered and no show from Christ to head his un-reformed Kingdom. Now, here is arguable the most interesting 10 years of human history.

Here are the three main forces that resulted in the US foreign policy as we know it today:

1) Hitler - being the nut case that he was almost manages to eliminate all Jews in Europe. Allied European nations devastated by the war have no response mechanism to deal with the the consequences of Jewish genocide. Britain having had a tough military experience in the Middle East - is now looking for a partner to push Western interests among Arabs. Who better to turn to other than the Yankees. By then evangelical ideas are well represented in American political life and especially in its foreign policy. So, something needs to be done about the Jews. They need to be put in some place to live, preferably away from Poland and Germany at least for a while.

2) The evangelical movement has been gaining members as well as political force in the post-WWII USA. While the idea of separation of church and government had now become the DNA of American legislative and judiciary branches, its application in regards to the executive branch - the president and his administration - lacked any effective implementation mechanism - other than popular opposition. After all any president's marginal authority to act on a matter is a function of effective presentation and support of his arguments. Although I hesitate to call Harry Truman an evangelist, he indeed as a devote baptist knew the bible almost by heart and was a member of American Christian Palestine Committee and advocated Holocaust survivors' immigration into Palestine. Thus, disappointed with Christ's no show after the Armageddon of WWII, evangelists start popularizing the idea of God's Kingdom starting and ending with a reformation/restoration of Jewish state.

3) Meanwhile, the WWII demonstrated the potential of energy resources in conflict and peace time. Although back in 1940's the US economy was not as dependent on foreign oil, nevertheless production in the Gulf had its limits and import form the Middle East were growing. Britain was facing harshening relations with the Persian government regarding its oil profit sharing from operation in Iran. Russian communists could never be counted on for stable supply of oil. The north sea fields of Europe were yet to be discovered. In other words, the US economy needed oil like water. When Israel declared its independence and looked up to America for recognition, the State Department basically said this to Truman - if we recognize Israel, Arabs will cut off our oil, undermine America's economy and protection of Europe from communism and eventually force us to send troops to protect our Jews from massacre. Truman nevertheless recognized Israel as an independent state. An act of implementation of Biblical prophesy against national and economical interest of America. This is how powerful evangelical beliefs have and will continue to be in deciding America's foreign policy.

It was the most logical solution for all involved parties with the exception of Arabs of course. You often hear these days that Europeans do not like Jews. Well, I do not know how much of that is true today. All I know is that Jewish immigrants in Palestine were the only ones attacking British authority and troops in Palestine prior to 1948. The Jews ever since the Roman occupation were given a special status of "the other - non-pagan religion" which was allowed to be practiced to some degree. The fact that Old Testament is shared both by Jews and Christians does help them find some common ground on major questions. Nevertheless, it is extremely easy to understand the Muslims of Palestine. It is as if some neighbor that has been around for as long as you can remember shows up the next day with his newly arrived relatives from Europe and tells you that they got this book called Torah which says your house and backyard belongs to them. You of course laugh and soon realize that these guys are serious. Then you grab your baseball bat and chase them off. The next day they show up with American rifles and make you a refugee in your own country. Although Ben Gurion did promise for arabs "full representation in all governmental organs of the state". Nevertheless, it has been under 60 years since the Israeli occupation and the local Arab still can't get their heads around the idea of living in Israel.

The sad reality of today's Arab world (in someways for the exception of Lebanon) is the fact that no constructive/liberal government mechanism has emerged even with, or specifically because of trillions of petrodollars flowing from all over the world into "Arabia". Saudis today are more corrupt that even before. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, etc. generate 70% of their GPD through oil exports and will go back to growing figs once they run out of only in 30-40 years. Citizens of "Arabia" to this day continue to put-up with corrupt regimes while relatively newly created Jewish state has managed to surpass them in all fronts. Now they throw rocks at Israelis and the IDF soldiers take every chance to snipe them down. The Jews have developed one of the most entrepreneurial and liberal economies of the world. And the West continues to successfully implement its double-standard foreign policy by bashing Iran for human right violations (where woman drive taxis, vote and elect to parliament) and blindly ignore more severe problems in Saudi Arabia (where women are not allowed to walk closer than 5 feet behind their husband).

It is 2007 now and here is what I see happening in the US and the world in the next 20 years. As long as the US has attorney generals like Ashcroft who publicly slips out claims like "America has no king but Jesus", American troops will not ever leave Iraq completely (remember the State Departments warning to Truman of mandatory protection for Jews). Ever. The reason Saddam was brought down was not because of WMD, but because he was stupid and arrogant enough to speak of Israel's destruction. The same will happen to Ahmedineejad, sooner rather than later, if he continues to threaten Israel. And it is has never been about simply Palestine's Arabs. The Palestinians have always been the scapegoat of larger Arab entities in duking out territorial problems. They have allowed themselves to become a channel for larger powers to push foreign interests in the region. It is not something exclusive to them. That is what happens with all small nations who can either side with one of larger powers or maintain neutrality. The latter is only attainable with a civil society and flourishing democratic institutions. Neither of which is part of recent Arab history.

As long as the US with all of its riches manages to graduate uneducated youth and allow business interests to get in the way of reasonable foreign policy, evangelists will remain the only mobilized force in the country thus pushing their interest by electing the likes of G.W. Bush to implement the divine plan of restoring the planet for Christs second coming. It is no wonder why Bush openly speaks of World War III when referring to Iran and Israel. All I know is that if enough people are brought to believe some crazy idea and act upon it, then their sheer act will make the intended plan unfold. Not because it was meant to happen, but for they force it to take place. The only difference is the disappointment when no Christ shows-up when all is said and done. And then, just like after every major world conflict, with a short lasting disappointment evangelists will just say - well, this is a sign that the world needs further reformation and go on constructing the God's Kingdom. And all this will continue as such until Jews, Christians and Muslim realize that their books are nothing other than collective wisdom of 4000 years of human existence with a hint of juvenile mysticisms.

KM