After nearly 8 years of disappointing and frustrating domestic and foreign policy, George W. Bush has finally found a way to offend even his most strident supporters.  His interview on Nightline focused on his religious beliefs and interpretation of the Bible.  Collective gasps and groans could be heard across the country when our President shot down the perceived beliefs that he took the Bible’s words literally, that evolution and Christianity can co-exist, and that people of other religions probably pray to the same Supreme Being he claims to pray to. 

Perhaps the lame duck period that he’s currently experiencing is giving him the relaxation to loosen his lips and his politically charged mindset enough to allow such devastating words to become public.  His Administration’s warlike and brutal actions over the past 2 terms weren’t enough for many to recognize that his words outlining peace and compassion was only empty rhetoric.  First his economic conservatism was exposed after our economy collapsed under his open wallet policies, now his social conservatism ploy is under scrutiny.  I’m waiting for Bush’s next television appearance where he’ll be telling his blind followers that the intelligence told him there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and he knowingly took the country to war under false pretenses.  On that day, we can welcome to reality in the last 20% of the country that was holding out hope that everything will come together under his genius plan. 

So, President Bush doesn’t take the Bible literally.  He’s not so sure that evolution is a highly devised scheme hatched by “liberal college professors” with intentions of manipulating your child’s brain to do whatever they want.  Hell, even those scary “evil Muslims” that take up around 20% of the world’s population might actually believe in an Almighty being…just like us Christians do!!  How DARE he!!  These revelations stand to rattle the world around conservatives that held out hope that George Bush still had this going for him. 

It’s become painfully obvious that we put entirely too much emphasis on what our elected officials believe in regarding their faith.  Since America is a country that was made to be tolerant of all religions and beliefs, why do we care how our President interprets the Bible?  It shouldn’t matter how he prays or whether or not he draws an imaginary cross over his chest when he finishes.  The million dollar question is, “does he take his religious beliefs, or lack thereof, and govern based upon them?”  We should never be able to tell what kind of church our President goes to, or if he goes to church at all.  They are supposed to be separate. 

When many thought Bush held these beliefs, it didn’t change the fact that his time in office was one bungled policy after another.  Now that he’s admitted to the opposite, does the war in Iraq suddenly look like a bad idea?  Did that Christmas bonus quickly morph into a pink slip from work?  Maybe that necessary “calculated” monitoring of calls from “bad people outside of the country” suddenly turned into examining your calls to your wife while you were out of town on business.  It sounds like Bush’s belief or lack of belief in God and the words of the Bible only got in the way of us paying attention to the job he was doing for our country filled with citizens of all backgrounds. 


--JJJ

Add Comment