US Political Christianity I: Can Bono Do It?

Bono’s Crusade to win over the US to the cause of defeating poverty and AIDS in Africa fills me with both hope and dread. On the one hand I hope he can do it, not for his sake, but for the mission of fostering a better way of managing our world. But on the other hand, I look at the situation in the US and wonder if attitudes can really be changed there. Consider, for example, the advice Warren Buffett gave to Bono on this task,

“Don’t appeal to the conscience of America, appeal to its greatness, and I think you’ll get the job done.”

Wow! If Buffett is right, then the way to convince the purportedly “Christian” nation of the US is not by appeal to inner spiritual dialogue, but by appeal to the discourse of power. Perhaps, on a pragmatic level it doesn’t matter; whatever gets the job done will suffice. However, it raises an interesting point for those outside the US to consider, non-Christians and Christians alike, that much of the religious rhetoric in the US at this time is being put forward by those who might well be more American than Christian. It is hard to see how aid that is motivated by an internal sense of greatness can be anything other than imperialistic. “We come to help you because we have power and you do not” is surely the logic of colonial philanthropy rather than collaborative support.

I really hope that Bono succeds and that his drive and optimism is not in vain. However, I also hope that in my lifetime I will see a little less appealling to the greatness of the US and a little more appealing to the greatness of God and the greatness of humanity.