Manifest Destiny and War
Screen Shot Christian Zionism
Paul Kivel
Discrimination, Islamophobia, Racism, Social justice
Book chapter

Kivel, P. (2013b). Manifest Destiny and War. In Living in the Shadow of the Cross: Understanding and Resisting the Power and Privilege of Christian Hegemony. New Society Publishers. https://christianhegemony.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ManifestDestinyandWar.pdf

In this chapter, Paul Kivel unravels the concept of Manifest Destiny – the role of the US in carrying God’s work. The belief in Manifest Destiny has contributed to racial divisions between non-white/white peoples and non-Christians/Christians, relegating the other as evil. Kivel specifically notes the relation between Christian and Muslim/Arabs in the context of Israel and Palestine. As Muslim/Arabs are depicted as the evil Other, torture, invasions, and racial profiling are deemed acceptable. Kivel concludes that the unquestioned belief in Manifest Destiny is exploited by government officials to further promote and justify US foreign policies.

The Teaching Against Islamophobia resources were developed with funding support from the Law Foundation of BC, and the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies at SFU.

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