This Week's Editorial (7/18):Bush, the Amish, and God. Oh my!

When I was in the tenth grade, we read parts of the bible in my English class and were supposed to discuss them as works of literature. Of course, it turned into a debate about religion. As the class heathen, I innocently asked if anyone ever thought Moses was crazy back in Moses' time. "I mean, today, if someone said that God told him to tell the world some stuff, we'd think he was insane and try to lock him up, right?" I'm a little older now and understand that a lot of people have a "personal relationship" with whatever God they worship, but I think that when you're the leader of the free world, the personal relationship should be kept personal.

I read an article in Ohio's Lancaster Journal about how Bush went to try to court Amish voters in Lancaster County becaue I thought it would be funny. Amish voters using Diebold machines in Ohio? Ha! Then I read this, and stopped laughing: "At the end of the session, Bush reportedly told the group, 'I trust God speaks through me.'"

My initial reaction was the same one that I had in the 10th grade ("He's crazy! Lock him up!"). After I relaxed a little bit, I started asking, "But what does your relationship with God have to do with the Amish voting for you?" Leave your religion at the door, George. If you're really serious about getting the Amish vote, you should tell them the positive impacts your presidency would have on the their way of life (whatever they may be).

Earlier this year, Bob Woodward, on CBS' Sixty Minutes, said that Bush said (in reference to war with Iraq), "Going into this period, I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will. I'm surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I be as good a messenger of his will as possible."

Though he says he's not justifying his war based on God, he pretty much discredits that claim in his next sentence. When asked about whether he spoke to his father about the war, he said, "there is a higher father that I appeal to." So instead of talking to his dad, he talked to God. And, since we know what his decision was, we can assume that he believes that God told him to go to war with Iraq.

I was under the impression that presidents were supposed to leave their personal religious beliefs out of public policy. But Bush likes to justify his policy with his faith. He does it a lot; aside from Iraq, look at issues like abortion, gay marraige, and AIDS funding. George Bush believes that his religion is the absolute Truth, so it must be a good thing that his policy is driven by it.

If you substitute the word "policy" with "terrorism" in that last sentence, and the name "George Bush" with "Osama bin Laden," you would have an equally true statement. I'm not saying that Bush is quite the zealot nutjob that bin Laden is (I haven't heard Bush say he wants to kill all Arabs), but he thinks in the same absolutist terms that bin Laden does--there is one right way of thinking and acting, and all other thoughts and actions are wrong. All of the most terrible things in history have happened at the hands of absolutists. That's what I find really scary.

Both Bush and bin Laden think that through their brand of religion they are promoting absolute Truth. They both think (or at least say) that they're battling absolute Evil. Their fatal flaw is the same though; they don't leave room for multiple points of view, and they don't bother to look at the world through the eyes of others. Bush was actually surprised when Iraqis didn't welcome the American troops with open arms. He consulted God and came to a conclusion about what the outcome of invasion would be, and it didn't even occur to him to consider any other outcomes. How can you call yourself compassionate if you can't even feign empathy?

What really bothers me is this: America is supposed to be better than that. We're supposed to be all-inclusive. If we have no government-mandated religion (and we don't, just in case you're confused), our governmental policies shouldn't be based on religion. Our president should try to take all sides of any equation into account, not just the conclusion he comes to through his talks with God. Even if the majority of Americans are religious, our government is supposed to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority, right?

Religious or not, we shouldn't stand for statements that George W. Bush makes concerning God and his job. God shouldn't have anything to do with it. From what I remember of world history classes, wars and policy that are justified by using God are usually more about getting power than serving God anyway. The medieval crusades were more about gaining power than doing God's work. Bin Laden wants to get rid of American and Jewish presence in the Middle East so he and like-minded people can gain more power. He uses God as propaganda to get people to join his cause. George Bush went to war with Iraq to have a strong American presence in the Middle East, where there's all that oil, which our gas guzzling nation needs. Even just a little control over all that oil means more power. If nothing else, he used God to justify the war to himself. And why did George Bush visit the Amish in Ohio (a group that almost never votes in any election)? You guessed it, he's desperate to retain his power.

Bush told the Amish that God spoke through him because he wanted to pick up some extra votes in a key battleground state. Will you believe what he tells you?