God Bless Ethnocentrism: or, why I’m an (ex)patriot

I’ve been reading about zero-sum game theory recently. It’s a term used by mathematicians to describe situations were there are finite and exclusive outcomes. For instance, if two people decide to play poker, one might come out $20 in the hole, in which case the other would leave with an extra $20 of money to spend. The sum of their outcomes, -$20 and +$20, would equal zero. So I’m no mathematician, but I am really interested in how this theory describes much of the world.

In particular, I’m interested in how this applies to that bumper sticker I see every now and then that says “God Bless America.” Now first of all, let me disclaim that I don’t really know how that phrase is intended. If by “God Bless America,” people mean, “God, bless America as well as every other nation in this world,” then I would affirm that statement, although I would say it would be better to just say “God Bless the World” on your bumper-sticker. What I think it means because of the military context the phrase is usually used in, is, “God Bless America in Particular,” or “God Bless America over-against the rest of the world.”

If the people that have this bumper sticker really mean “God Bless America in Particular,” or “God Bless America over-against the rest of the world,” which I think they probably do, then I have some problems with that statement.

First, I think if God is still in the business of blessing nations, then maybe we should infer, by our liberties and our wealth, that we already are blessed. In this case, we shouldn’t be asking for more blessing but rather the wisdom to use our blessings well. In the Bible, divine blessing or election is always as much a responsibility as it is a gift. Thus, Abraham is blessed so that all peoples of the world will be blessed. Israel is brought out of Egypt to be a kingdom of priests with the duty of manifesting holiness to the world.

Second—and this is really what I’m more concerned about—I think that zero-sum theory works on the world stage. The world is finite. The energy sector is dealing with this as they look to other energy sources when oil runs out. In particular I’m interested in what zero-sum theory means in the context of war. Mark Twain has a fascinating short story set in the context of the war on the Philippines. As a congregation is praying for their soldiers who are about to go to war, an unknown man comes into the church, walks to the front, and addresses the church:

Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

Then he prays:

O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

I do have particular views on war, but what I’m more interested in is the idea Twain is imaginatively expressing, namely, that for God to bless one group, especially in the context of war, this blessing occurs over against another group. And war may not be the only context in which zero-sum theory might be important. If the world has only finite resources, this theory may play out in economics as well. The global economy may be a giant game of poker, in which winning means someone else is losing.

I think the call to discipleship is call to transcend national boundaries, and while that may not mean denying our national identity, it does mean that we are concerned with God’s agenda of putting the entire world to rights with the blessing of his justice, peace, and love. As the world becomes increasingly more connected, this may mean that Christ’s call to suffer may have new significance when having means someone else has-not. So God Bless the World.