"It also revealed that nearly a fifth of Americans believe God favors the United States in world affairs."
Even a large proportion of secular liberals in the U.S. believe that "America" is special. That is why 9/11 is so important and earth shattering. As far as United Statesians are concerned 9/11 is more important than dropping an Atom Bomb or incinerating whole cities. And once again this is also why 9/11 must be explained as some special case that demands a world historical "war on terror" or a grand all-powerful conspiracy story to account for it. "Americans" who believe in the "specialnes" of the U.S. are unable to accept the fact that their country is not exceptional, is not a destiny unto itself, is not somehow outside of history, or nature. "Americans" can't accept the fact that what they do to the world might be done to them.
I do not think that because believers in the Great Father in the sky also believe that the He "favors the United States in world affairs" that such absurd beliefs should be attributed to religion. Rather I think that we should acknowledge that this is the consummate nationalist ideology (often aided by supernatural beliefs and religious institutions, in all times and places) and that even liberals and atheist in the U.S. have adopted some version of this "God is on our side."
Also, I would like to point out that the belief that "God is on our side" or that the U.S. has some special destiny is a form of what Roger Angel once called "positive paranoia." (He was writing about Billy Martin.) This positive paranoia always has its negative side. Thus if something bad happens it is also for some "reason" which implicates God or our destiny or some grand conspiracy. This is a clear pattern of U.S. history and is probably a pattern that can be discerned in all great empires.
The fact that this positive and negative paranoia is a pattern in U.S. history is one reason why I don't think it is accurate to call the 9/11 conspiracy storytellers "paranoid." They are no more paranoid than any believer in a "special destiny" or the "American exception". They just have their special version of it. They are another part of the mainstream of U.S. culture. Until there are real political and social alternatives and until "we" teach the U.S. empire a lesson in humility such thinking will be just another manifestation of our "destiny."
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