My American Idea

Here is the American Idea I turned into The Atlantic Monthly contest. My German peers didn't like it; they thought it was too bold. They don't believe in God, so that makes it harder, as you will see. Read on:

God’s Support Spreads Inherent Truths

Although manifest destiny now has negative connotations of arrogance and delusion, it cannot be denied that God had a part in America’s founding. One has only to study the Revolutionary War. Battle after battle, the Americans lost. Colonist soldiers left by the thousands. But miracles happened. The fog that showed up when Washington’s army crossed the East River was no coincidence. Even David McCullough compared this retreat with Moses’s parting of the Red Sea. The Civil War anywhere else would have torn the country permanently. What about Vietnam War protests? Somehow America made it, even with the varying views boiling in the melting pot.

God’s role in America’s creation does not mean that Americans are better than any other –ans. It also in no way excuses mistakes made as the nation learns and grows. It only means that God wanted America to exist so that inherent truths could be constitutional—truths such as agency, family, unity. Others have followed America’s example (whether they want to claim that or not), making truths flow freely globally. Now we have only to look at the fact that God’s children enjoy these freedoms but stubbornly still deny Him.

Michelle Glauser is an American student at the American Studies program at the University of Leipzig in Germany.