Union Seminary vs. American 'Empire'

It is fashionable for left-leaning theologians and their followers to rail against America as “empire.” Their precise meaning is rarely clear. By “empire,” do they mean all government, which by definition relies on some level of lethal coercion? Or do they only target governments with great power status, like ancient Rome or modern America? Either way, they pit the “empire” and its jaded devotees against the Kingdom of God and the true disciples.

This recent polemic against America as “empire” is from New York Union Seminary’s David Carr, who recalls Rome’s “powers of extreme violence,” which left “millennia-long trauma” echoing from its persecution of the ancient Jews and Christians.