What Were/Are We Thinking?

I had a professor in seminary who fairly regularly asserted his belief that the United States will be the next global superpower to implode. He was quite sure that God was against one nation having so much dominance over others and that biblical and historical evidence supported his theory. At the time I didn't give the idea much thought. It sounded right to me, but it also seemed somewhat bizarre to think about the US not being the global power that it is. However, one aspect of what was being said that I was in total agreement with was the idea that God did not want one group of people to have so much more power or privilege than others.

My class with this professor took place in the fall of 2002. Now, almost five years later, I am starting to feel that the idea of the US losing it's footing in the global arena is all but inevitable. All I have to do to feel this way is watch the first 30 seconds of the news. But what has recently put me over the edge is my reading of Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, which details the workings of those in charge of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. The book talks of the myriad ways the US screwed up: ideological, logistical, financial, and so forth. Lest I ruin the fun for you I won't offer more than one example, but this one might be my favorite: The CPA leaders expected to continue to be able to live in a manner to which they were accustomed. Thus, the meals prepared for and served to them were modeled after US cuisine, which, especially in the morning, includes two prominent pork products: bacon and sausage. Now, one would think that out of respect for the religious beliefs of those preparing and serving this food-namely Pakistani Muslims-that Halliburton (the company "hired" to set up house for the CPA) would have taken pork products off the menu or found non-Muslims to handle the product believed to be an abomination by Muslims. Well, one would be wrong in thinking that. How disgustingly arrogant of us to force ourselves on another culture like that? And trust me, if you read the book you will see that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Yet, this book reports on American infractions that happened from 2003 to 2004. Perhaps this means that things have improved since then, right? Well, one would and could hope. But again, one would be wrong and one would need to, again, watch only the first thirty seconds of the news for evidence. However, as if what is reported in network news were not enough, my reading of the most recent (8/13/07) Newsweek's Beliefwatch column amplified just how wrong that hope would be. Apparently, the MENSA members who currently run our country have decided to remove all potentially incindiary religious content from prison libraries lest they encourage inmates to transform themselves from the garden variety prisoner to the, steel yourselves...TERRORIST prisoner. As the column says, "To reduce the risk that prisoners will find hateful or radicalizing (read: terrorist) materials in chapel libraries, the Bureau Of Prisons has developed lists of 150 approved books per religion for 20 religions, including Bahai, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses." What I particularly like, namely because it is so typical of this adminiatration, is that there is no mention of Christianity or the removal of any Christian works. I guess, however, that if Jesus was truly who W believes him to be, no one in the Bureau of Prisions would find him radical at all.

So, now I see quite clearly that the US' status as superpower is indeed slipping away. And frankly if becoming a superpower enables us to take assinine actions such as the invasion of Iraq, I think it is probably good that we get knocked down a rung or two.