They Called it ’Manifest Destiny’

Another one I wrote in college: 


We’ve seen many examples, in history and today, of powerful groups using God and the Bible as an excuse to oppress others, commit genocide, justify exploitative capitalism, and other atrocities. There was the Inquisition, the Crusades, and I want to talk about Manifest Destiny and the expansion of whites into the plains of the U.S. 


These "pioneers" actually quoted verses from the Bible in order to support their perceived right to expand, colonize, and make a profit. (Hitler and Bush have done that, too). In fact, the U.S. can easily be compared to a theocracy. This is one of the precursers to the modern ideology whose slogan  is "God Bless America". It is a very egotistical, ethnocentric concept to believe that out of all the countries in the world, the United States has some sort of special blessing on it that gives it permission to engage in all sorts of unspeakable horrors against minority groups in order to fulfill its so-called destiny.


 Did God bless the genocide of Native Americans, the displacement of the Lakota in order to rape the earth of gold, how about Vietnam, or Iraq, etc? Is this the kind of god that teaches love and sister/brotherhood? Is this the kind of god you want to worship? So, with "God" on their side, these conquerors of the western United States seized land from the Natives, used their missionaries to purge the Natives of their culture and language, stealing children from their parents in the process, and ripped apart the Black Hills and other western mountain areas to pursue a "shiny rock" (as my friend Adam calls it) whose value is a social construction. How do modern Christians reconcile their beliefs with the blatant misuse of their god’s name? Do they accept it? Do they see it as a mistake that’s been redressed? Or do they even think about it? I would like to hear from Christians and capitalists.


 Let me know what is so blessed about Manifest Destiny. I would also like to hear from those of you who are aware of this phenomenon and see it for what it really is.