In Iowa, some United Methodists want the president and vice president tossed out of their church for \u201cchargeable offenses\u201d against its doctrines on justice and peace.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOur hope is that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will recognize the sinfulness of their actions, sincerely repent for what they have done and move on to change their ways,\u201d say leaders of the liberal TheyMustRepent.com network. \u201cAlthough we recognize the improbability of that outcome, we believe that with God all things are possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Meet President Bush \u2014 theological Rorschach test.<\/p>\n\n
Throughout this campaign, Catholics have debated Sen. John Kerry\u2019s claim to his place at the Communion rail. The Democrat has drawn both criticism and applause in pulpits and pews while wrestling with the specifics of his Catholic heritage.<\/p>\n\n
Bush has been caught in a different vise. If he affirms specific beliefs, secularists and liberal believers call him a fundamentalist. If he declines to be specific, critics ask what he is hiding. Is he a fundamentalist, a born-again Christian, an ordinary megachurch evangelical or some other brand of believer?<\/p>\n\n
The New York Times Magazine says the president\u2019s faith is irrational and dangerously simplistic. That\u2019s the word from journalist Ron Suskind, whose acidic Oct. 17 profile ignited fresh debates about religion and the White House. According to critics in this camp, Bush thinks he\u2019s on a mission from God and, thus, has the same black-and-white moral worldview as al Qaeda. The result is an American version of the conflict \u201craging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Not all progressives agree.<\/p>\n\n
Jeff Sharlet, co-author of \u201cKilling the Buddha: A Heretic\u2019s Bible,\u201d says it\u2019s nonsense to call Bush a fundamentalist. The president rarely digs into biblical details, at least not publicly, and lacks the rigid literalism at the heart of true fundamentalism. Instead, he talks about following his \u201cinstincts,\u201d his \u201cgut\u201d and his \u201cheart\u201d when he makes big decisions.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBelieving, it seems, is more important to the president than the substance of his belief,\u201d argues Sharlet, in an essay called \u201cOur magical president\u201d at TheRevealer.org.<\/p>\n\n
The key to Bush is his belief that \u201cif you believe you can do something, you can,\u201d he said. This \u201cgentle disdain for perceived reality\u201d is a kind of faith in faith itself. What many critics miss and what most of \u201cBush\u2019s more orthodox Christian supporters seem to dodge, is that this is not Christian doctrine by any definition. It is, in fact, a key element of the broad, heterodox movement known as New Age religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, one of America\u2019s top evangelical historians has decided he cannot step into a voting booth and endorse either candidate. This is news in some circles because Mark Noll teaches at Wheaton College, Billy Graham\u2019s alma mater.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSeven issues seem to me to be paramount at the national level: race, the value of life, taxes, trade, medicine, religious freedom and the international rule of law,\u201d said Noll, writing in the Christian Century.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cEach of these issues has a strong moral dimension. My position on each is related to how I understand the traditional Christian faith. \u2026 Yet neither of the major parties is making a serious effort to consider this particular combination of concerns or even anything remotely resembling it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Another evangelical says Bush deserves special attention because he has gone out of his way to find favor with religious conservatives. Whatever Bush has said about the conversion experience that saved him from his wicked, alcoholic past, the available evidence about the rest of his life \u201craises questions about whether Bush is really a Christian at all,\u201d according to Ayelish McGarvey, in the American Prospect.<\/p>\n\n
The president rarely goes to church, has little interest in evangelism, has a history of nasty campaign tactics, flip-flopped on the tough issue of embryonic stem-cell research, lacks humility about his mistakes and has edited the Bible down to a convenient set of commandments she calls \u201cevangelical agitprop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m no Kerry fan. I mean, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s a very good Catholic,\u201d said McGarvey. \u201cBut if Catholics can dissect Kerry, point by point, then I think it\u2019s more than appropriate for evangelicals to do the same for Bush. What does it say about us if we\u2019re afraid to do that?\u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Iowa, some United Methodists want the president and vice president tossed out of their church for \u201cchargeable offenses\u201d against its doctrines on justice and peace. \u201cOur hope is that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will recognize the sinfulness of their actions, sincerely repent for what they have done and move on to change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[340,384,480,1544,925],"class_list":["post-1304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evangelical","tag-george-bush","tag-john-kerry","tag-politics","tag-white-house"],"yoast_head":"\n