Hating America as a religion

By letter to the editor

Bruce Walker's "The Religion of Eternal Sexism and Eternal Racism" states well something that has always puzzled me. I spent most of my teaching career in a left-leaning academic environment where I often heard references to "our sexist, racist society", as though America was somehow uniquely sexist and racist. I have always wanted to reply, "as compared to whom?". Sexist as compared to Japan, Africa, Arab cultures, Latin America? Racist as compared to African tribalism, the deeply imbedded anti-Semitism in eastern Europe, the almost universal sense that my race is privileged and special? Behind the American left's outrage over our supposed sexist, racist society, is a profound provincialism. They simply don't seem to have much experience with how the rest of the world lives and thinks.

I now live and teach in eastern Europe. My students come from the former Soviet Union, including eastern Asian republics. As I get to know my students and their cultures, I realize even more that America is an exceptional society. We are one of the few places in the world where racism and sexism have been directly addressed, and their legacy substantially changed. We are one of the few places on earth where a person's value and identity is NOT strictly defined by their race and gender. I hope the flap over Obama's "eternally racist America" pastor will demonstrate that Mr. Wright and his ilk's day is over.

Steve Dintaman
Theology Department Chair
LCC International University
Klaipeda, Lithuania