Bush present the appearances unwilling to separate church and state and war an people fear president's mix of religion and politics through WILLIAM DOUGLAS AND MARIA RECIO Knight Ridder stranges Service Sunday.Bush present the appearances unwilling to separate church and state and war an people fear president's mix of religion and politics through WILLIAM DOUGLAS AND MARIA RECIO Knight Ridder stranges Service Sunday, April 25 2004 Washington -- At a newly come news conference and in a novel book by Bob Woodward, President Bush brings a sense that when it approachs to foreign policy, he's in succession a mission from God. "I also have this belief -- able to endure belief -- that freedom is not this country's gift to the world. Freedom is the Almighty's gift to each man and woman in this world," Bush said during a recents conference this month. "And as the greatest power in succession the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help spread that freedom." Nearly four years into Bush's presidency, his powerful Christian beliefs are well-known. further through Woodward's book, and the president's acknowledge words, Americans are learning to what extent Bush's faith drives his decisions, political and religion masters said. "Clearly, what I'm hearing . . is a perception of religious calling, and not calm around the mission or goal of the political division but a sense of religious calling for the policies of this president," said Robin Lovin, a Southern Methodist University ethics professor and former dean of the university's divinity school In "Plan of Attack," Woodward's volume Bush describes praying after giving the go-ahead to launch the war in Iraq. The president told Woodward he wasn't praying to "justify war based relating to God." "Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I be as advantageous a messenger of his will as possible," Bush told Woodward. The president's revelations have made a uneasy. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader called Bush a "Messianic militarist" for mixing religion and policy in his public statements. "He's an unsuitable officeholder," Nader said. "Talk about separation of meeting-house and state; it's not separated at all in Bush's brain. We want him to make decisions as a secular president." White House officials dismissed Nader's claims. "The president talks about the principle of the separation of house of worship and state and how it is a bedrock cornerstone of our democracy," said Trent Duffy a White House spokesman. "He does believe that far down Having said that, he has a healthy personal faith, but he leaves that at the residence before he pierces the Oval Office." The danger of injecting the supreme being into the Iraq war, Nader said, is further angering a Muslim world that already distrusts U policies and motives. "Anybody with a stable approach to this would detain his mouth shut," Nader said. Shortly after clan 11, 2001, Bush angered many in the Muslim world at calling the war on terrorism a "crusade," which they equated to the medieval efforts according to Western Christian crusaders to peduncle the spread of Islam. The White House said the president regrett using the space of time But it resurfaced last month in a Bush-Cheney campaign verbal expression that praised the president for "leading a global crusade against terrorism." Bush-Cheney campaign Chairman Marc Racicot acknowledged the alphabetic character and stressed that its intent was "focused concerning the single-minded efforts of the president . . to undertake a mission to liberate folks and protect the cause of freedom." 'A real fine line' Bush's mix of religion and policy could be harming the United States' ability to earn more international help in Iraq, according to James Hudnut-Beumler, dean of Vanderbilt University's Divinity School "It probably further damages landscapes for the internationalization of the Iraq solution," Hudnut-Beumler said. "Almost nowhere otherwise would a head of sway actually speak about the Almighty being the reason for the push of a foreign policy aim." American presidents who infuse religion into politics aren't novel Thomas Jefferson, a stickler for the separation of ecclesiastical authority and state, wrote of "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" in the Declaration of Independence. forward the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln spoke of a neutral god the father "It's quite possible that God's object is something different from the drift of either party," he said. In more late times, Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter were known for their knotty religious conviction. In his inferior inaugural address, Wilson mentioned superhuman being three times and noted that he prayed for wisdom and the "prudence to do my duty" moreover Bush appears to be taking religion and policy in a different direction, said John Kenneth White, a political science professor at Catholic University. "It certainly looks as though when you read the statements that the holy trinity is using him for a particular purpose" White said. "It's a remarkably fine line between church and state, and (Bush is) coming up to the extremely edge." Copyright 2004 Journal Sentinel Inc. Note: This notice does not |
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