Religion and class in the construction and deconstruction of the myth of American exceptionalism

Sheila D. Collins

pp. 99-120

in: Joerg Rieger (ed), Religion, theology, and class, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

As John F. Kennedy once said, "the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."¹ Myths play a powerful role in political life. They frame our experience, setting parameters around our political imagination, causing us to see it only in a certain way and not in others. The American national myth goes something like this: America was founded by people who were fleeing religious persecution, rigid class hierarchies, and tyrannical governments.² Here they founded a beacon of liberty, opportunity, and democracy for all the world to emulate. Successive waves of people came to these shores seeking the opportunity to govern themselves and to rise above their humble material origins—to achieve the "American Dream." If they could not realize that ambition in one generation, they could be assured that their children and grandchildren would.