As a non-believer - indeed, an infidel on all fronts - I don't have an axe to grind concerning the spectrum of Christian belief. So whether you're a carpet-chewing snake handler from Beulah, Mississippi or an open-hearted mellow fellow from the Society of Friends, your good news is likely to pass me by.
But, as an interested but baffled Brit, I find Dubya's brand of belief intriguing. In this post-Tomb Raider era of uncovered parchments threatening imminent apocalypse, we must assume the existence of some lost book of the New Testament in which Christ blesses capital punishment at home & the massacre of the innocents in & around the Holy Land.
Well, I don't know whether any of my Christian friends might draw comfort from the article below but it certainly tightened my sphincter a tad.
A former speech writer for President Bush has written an editorial debunking the comments of critics who say the president's Christian faith makes him "trigger happy." On the contrary, he says, President Bush's faith biases him towards caution and restraint, not aggression.
David Frum published his comments in USA Today. He says opponents of the President's foreign policy often single out Mr. Bush's Christianity for attack, calling it "messianic militarism." But Frum says the critics have it all wrong.
"People who criticize the president say religion will make him 'trigger happy' or 'reckless,'" Frum says, "but the truth is exactly the opposite -- in fact, it is precisely because Bush believes so strongly ... that he is not the author of his own story. He believes that if he does his best [and] prepares as best he can, he can then leave the judgment in other hands with confidence."
Frum says he learned just how important faith is to Bush his first day at the White House.
"The very first words I heard inside the Bush West Wing when I stepped across the threshold for the first time were 'Missed you at Bible study' -- and I have to say it made sort of a shocking impression on me," the columnist says. "I'm not a Christian, I'm Jewish, and I thought 'What have I got myself in for?'
"But you can't understand this administration without understanding the centrality of religion and religious faith to this president," Frum says. "Everything that people like about him since 9/11 -- the consistency and also the moderation -- comes from his religion."
Frum says if Bush was really a "reckless cowboy," as critics claim, he would not have taken this long to depose Saddam Hussein. Agape News
A postscript, courtesy of Guerilla Stickers.
"The national government will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality. Today Christians stand at the head of our country. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press--in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past few years." (Adolf Hitler)
11:56:11 PM 
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