Bruce Feiler Quote
So if the Civil War was really a war over the meaning of the Bible, I asked, which side won? Neither. The events of the war showed that war is not skywriting from God about the virtue of one side or the other. Rather, the ambiguity of the war was evidence of the ambiguity of the American mission; maybe we’re not the chosen people we thought we were. Remember that Lincoln, even in 1861, describes Americans as the ‘almost-chosen people.’ By the end of the war, he’s lost confidence even in that measure of chosenness. It would almost be like Moses on top of Mount Nebo saying, ‘Hey, guys, I’m not so sure that leaving Egypt was a good idea.’ Imagine how that would have gone over! Abraham Lincoln at the end of his life is America’s Moses, but he’s not sure about the Promised Land. The only thing he’s sure of is the need for ‘malice toward none and charity toward all.
So if the Civil War was really a war over the meaning of the Bible, I asked, which side won? Neither. The events of the war showed that war is not skywriting from God about the virtue of one side or the other. Rather, the ambiguity of the war was evidence of the ambiguity of the American mission; maybe we’re not the chosen people we thought we were. Remember that Lincoln, even in 1861, describes Americans as the ‘almost-chosen people.’ By the end of the war, he’s lost confidence even in that measure of chosenness. It would almost be like Moses on top of Mount Nebo saying, ‘Hey, guys, I’m not so sure that leaving Egypt was a good idea.’ Imagine how that would have gone over! Abraham Lincoln at the end of his life is America’s Moses, but he’s not sure about the Promised Land. The only thing he’s sure of is the need for ‘malice toward none and charity toward all.
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