Yhdysvaltain kristillinen oikeisto ja YK

Authors

• Markku Ruotsila

Abstract

In recent years, American evangelical Christians have been the most passionate supporters of the Bush administration’s unilateralism and among the most vocal critics of the United Nations. This paper traces the historical development, theological roots and ideological content of the evangeli­cal demonization of the United Nations. It will investigate the background of current debates by delving into the arguments offered by American evangelicals during their encounter with the first-ever world association, the League of Nations. The paper will also sketch the perpetuation of the Christian anti-internationalism that was constructed during that encounter. Based on a wide range of pamphleteering and periodical material, evangelical critiques of the U.N. during the Cold War will be compared with post-Cold War discourses on the ‘new world order’ and ‘glo­balism’. These form an originally American, but now rapidly globalizing, faith-based version of globalization critique that is seriously challenging the European conception of the UN as the embodiment of supposedly universal ethical values.