The US has had a longstanding relationship with the Middle East for more than three centuries. However, the presence of the United States in the region revolves around three central themes as described by Oren, power, faith, and fantasy. The initiatives toward American interests became noticeable as soon as the US gained its independence from Britain. However, the concept of faith and religion emerged from Christians and Puritans from England seeking refuge in the US due to the fear of prosecution. Nevertheless, the ultimate aim of these groups was to spread the word of God and convert unbelievers to follow through the paths of Christianity. In the late 18th century, the US founding fathers altered Christian teachings and suggested that God’s work would start in the US. Subsequently, these proceedings gave rise to the belief that the US was a chosen nation, assigned the role of fulfilling prophecies by restoring lost hope and liberating God’s people.
The US founding fathers based their arguments on their role for all humanity in the Old Testament, where God spoke to his people and set them apart from other nations. In Genesis 12:1, God addressed Abraham and his chosen people in their language, and promised to rescue them from their prosecutors. Moreover, He promised to relocate his followers from exile to a Holy Land where they would thrive (King James Bible, 2008). Therefore, Americans believed that helping Jews to settle in their promised land would make the US boom (Rubin, 2017). As a consequence, these beliefs gave rise to The Second Great Awakening and other movements, comprised of believers, political leaders, influential people, and clergymen, who advocated for the return of the Jews to their promised land. Following these developments, scholars and researchers situated this land to be in Palestine, encouraging them to claim the Judean Kingdom as their own, thus raising conflicts with the Ottoman Empire which was already occupying the region.
One of the most notable movements that transformed the American way of thinking is the Second Great Awakening, a religious revival during the early 1800s focused on spreading the Word of God by targeting individuals’ emotions and encouraging them to contemplate their deeds and life on earth. Similarly, the Burned-Over District that emerged in Western New York was known for its message of damnation and hellfire if individuals did not live by the will of God (Sharkey, 2017). Moreover, the Millerites were known for their conservative teachings and practices, while the Mormons constituted a movement that held strong beliefs following scriptures written in the Book of Mormon (Rubin, 2017). However, unlike other movements, Mormons practiced polygamy and moved to the west of the continent to avoid persecution.
As a result, the majority of individuals in the US did not know of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, Palestine, or its inhabitants. Instead, they only understood the region as a Holy promised land and the homeland of Christianity, which was given more priority than Islam and other religious denominations. However, the first missionary visit to Palestine in 1819 shifted individuals’ expectations as the assigned missionaries were met by fierce resistance, including from Christians already in the area (Ansari, 2018). Hence, they sent several letters back to the US about Ottomans governance, the region’s local governance, and the religious hostility in the area, thus reinforcing orientalists’ perceptions about the area as economically disputed, unpopulated, and oppressive, playing a role in shaping foreign policy and individuals’ attitudes about the Middle East.
The concept of faith and adherence to religious ideas shaped US views towards Middle Eastern nations and encouraged their foreign policy in the area as it attracted unwearied efforts from missionaries to improve the region. For example, apart from spreading the gospel, Christian missionaries created education institutions, especially in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon to spearhead advancements (Kaussler & Hastedt, 2017). Moreover, the belief that the US was the nation assigned the role of fulfilling God’s promise to his people and the whole of humanity encouraged them to contribute to the well-being of settlers and natives in the Middle East (Alçiçek, 2017). One of the most notable establishments was the Syrian Protestant College in 1886, which later changed its name to the American University of Beirut. Moreover, the development of Robert College (1863) also played a critical role in educating elites in the Middle East, thus putting them in a better position to manage their resources and achieve sovereignty (Meskell, 2020). Therefore, the faith of American colonists in their role in the Middle East substantially impacted their relationship with the region and foreign policy.
Nevertheless, American views did not only express faith as colonists showcased several instances of fantasy. The concept of fantasy is apparent in the mystical images, illusions, and beliefs most Americans held about the Middle East and its attributes. According to Rubin (2017), colonists in the US imagined the Middle East as an area filled with black-dressed nomads who were humble and righteous enough to allow them to pick a stranger from the desert and lead them to a safe tent. The mystical image most missionaries had of the region is characterized by flying carpets, which in a real sense is a fantasy. Nevertheless, a majority of Americans and missionaries traveled to the Middle East in search of these features (Kaussler & Hastedt, 2017). On arrival, their attitudes toward the region substantially changed with some individuals like John Ledgerd indicating in their memoirs that the region was full of admirable natives who subtly expressed their dislike of the Ottoman oppressive reign. Thus, although many Americans were astounded by the local tongue and bizarre dressing, they believed that the region would thrive and even become democratic if they had support and assistance from a powerful nation like the US.
References
Alçiçek, Y. (2017). Religious geopolitics in the middle east: The importance of Jerusalem for Abrahamic religions (Master’s thesis, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü).
Ansari, H. (2018). “The infidel within”: Muslims in Britain since 1800. Oxford University Press.
Kaussler, B., & Hastedt, G. P. (2017). US foreign policy towards the Middle East: The realpolitik of deceit. Routledge.
King James Bible. (2008). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1769)
Meskell, L. (2020). Imperialism, internationalism, and archaeology in the un/making of the Middle East.American anthropologist, 122(3), 554-567. Web.
Rubin, J. (2017). Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West got rich and the Middle East did not. Cambridge University Press.
Sharkey, H. J. (2017). History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East (Vol. 6). Cambridge University Press.