The Chosen Nation: The Influence of Religion on U.S. Foreign Policy

Publication Date: March 2005

Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Author(s): John Judis

Research Area: Government

Type: Brief

Abstract:

In putting forth his foreign policy, President George W. Bush speaks of the United States having a "calling" or "mission" that has come from the "Maker of Heaven." Yet, while he uses explicitly religious language more than his immediate predecessors, there is nothing exceptional about a U.S. president resorting to religious themes to explain his foreign policy. U.S. goals in the world are based on Protestant millennial themes that go back to seventeenth-century England. What has distinguished Bush from some of his predecessors is that these religious concepts have not only shaped his ultimate objectives but also colored the way in which he viewed reality-- sometimes to the detriment of U.S. foreign policy.