The Washington Times has an exclusive interview with George W. Bush in tomorrow's paper (already available this evening on the internet). Bush has totally destroyed any credibility he might have had with people like myself who don't believe in God.
"I think people attack me because they are fearful that I will then say that you're not equally as patriotic if you're not a religious person," Mr. Bush said. "I've never said that. I've never acted like that. I think that's just the way it is.
So you're not a patriotic American if you're not religious?
"I fully understand that the job of the president is and must always be protecting the great right of people to worship or not worship as they see fit," Mr. Bush said. "That's what distinguishes us from the Taliban. The greatest freedom we have or one of the greatest freedoms is the right to worship the way you see fit.
"On the other hand, I don't see how you can be president at least from my perspective, how you can be president, without a relationship with the Lord," he said.
Bush is saying that only Christians should be president?
These Bushisms really disgust me. Bush is trying to lead the country towards a religious theocracy and away from the country of religious freedom that our Founding Fathers envisioned. We think we live in a modern age, yet the leaders of our nation in the 18th century were the rational thinkers while today we have a leader beholden to primitive supersitions.
I agree with Andrew Sullivan's take:
To restrict the presidency to a particular religious faith is anathema to this country's traditions and to the task of toleration. The president surely needs to retract the statement.
Bush certainly owes a lot of patriotic Americans a very huge apology. But somehow I don't think we will be getting one.
You may wish read Right Hand Thief; he has written some worthwhile thoughts about the issue.
8 comments:
Many thanks for the mention. I'm flattered you found my post worthwhile.
"So you're not a patriotic American if you're not religious?"
No, that's not what he said at all.
Everybody keeps saying that Bush is trying to "lead the country towards a religious theocracy". How? He's not creating any laws. He hasn't made any edicts. He's just saying that he uses his religion daily as president and he doesn't see how anyone who's president couldn't. It's not like he's trying to amend Article VI of the Constitution and install religious tests for office.
In the four years he's been president, Bush may have ruffled a few feathers, but our secular government is still in tact. And I'm pretty sure the next four years will be the same. But if I'm wrong, and Bush suddenly destroys democracy in favor of a dictatorial theocracy -- well, then I'll owe you a Coke.
A theocracy? That leap is farther than Christopher Reeve got thrown. He's have to dismantle the Constutution. Constitutional amendments like like a 2/3 majority vote if I remember correctly (I refuse to check my facts when I'm rolling). He wouldn't even get such a majority within his own party for some nonsense like that.
If you want to start a theocracy, you have to capture the hearts and minds by first funding the madrasahs. We have too many public schools for that to be effective over here.
Nice picture by the way. But why don't you show your other hand? Is it a hook?
I don't think you understand Bush at all. Not even close. I was considering linking to you until I read this awful post.
Bush quite clearly said that he doesn't think something, and then you accuse him of thinking it. I don't get that. He said that people are afraid he might say that he thinks you need to be religious to be patriotic. He then denies that. So obviously "that's the way it is" does not mean that you need to be religious to be patriotic. It's sort of unclear what it does mean, but he's not going to contradict himself one sentence away from his first statement. My guess is that he believes that some people are just going to be like that. That's just the way it is, and he can't do anything about it. That's not going to change the fact that he's not the way they seem him. You seem to be illustrating his point rather than contradicting it.
Bush says "from my perspective". He doesn't know how someone could do it without a relationship with the Lord. That doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't be able to from a different perspective. His perspective is that we are all dependent on God, God orders the world, and it's best to recognize that and seek to do what's right by asking God to help us make good choices. He thinks being a good president requires doing that. From a different perspective, that wouldn't be the case. He's offering his personal take on life, one most Christians agree with. That doesn't mean an atheist would be an incompetent president. It just means an atheist wouldn't be able to be president in the way that he thinks is best. I'm not sure why this should be offensive to an atheist. It's what religious people think about every profession and choice you might make in life. If you seek God in it, then you're going to be doing it in a way more in accord with what God wants. That's just how religion works.
That sort of thing is not worth an apology, because it's nuts to say there's anything wrong with it. Andrew Sullivan is paranoid about Bush on religion, and it's led him to lots of irrational things. There's no way Bush is interested in theocracy. He's pluralistic in his mindset, welcoming Muslims to the table, calling Islam a good religion, and saying Muslims worship the same God as Christians. For someone who is clearly an evangelical, that's a huge step. Most evangelicals are made at him for that, and even they aren't theocratic extremists. The real theocrats want to implement the Hebrew Torah as U.S. law. In contrast, Bush doesn't think abortion should be restricted in any way unless the American public is behind doing so.
Just to be clear: I was considering a permanent link to you. You will receive a link to me for your breast implant tax proposal when I do my roundup of the Carnival of the Vanities. I'm intrigued by your blog, but I'm going to have to see a lot more that I like to counterbalance the sense I get from this post, before I'm willing to link from my blogroll.
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