Imperial Hubris

From Rev. Wright and Reinhold Niebuhr by Omar Hossino:

Over 60 years ago, following the emergence of an American superpower after the Second World War, Reinhold Niebuhr, perhaps the greatest American Christian theologian of modern times, warned the United States of its potential for immense injustice. Niebuhr wrote in an essay entitled "The Anglo-Saxon Destiny and Responsibility" that America's virtues may deceive it into believing that it is favored by God and on a divine mission. A self-righteous and arrogant America may attempt to run the world and thus be led to great evil. Niebuhr argued instead that America must acknowledge its faults and sins. If America did not do this, he warned, "woe be unto us."