Bush: ‘I am a lowly sinner seeking redemption’
I have found that faith is comforting, faith is strengthening, faith has been important. … I would advise politicians, however, to be careful about faith in the public arena. …In other words, politicians should not be judgmental people based upon their faith. They should recognize — as least I have recognized I am a lowly sinner seeking redemption, and therefore have been very careful about saying (accept) my faith or you’re bad. In other words, if you don’t accept what I believe, you’re a bad person.
And the greatness of America — it really is — is that you can worship or not worship and be equally American. And it doesn’t matter how you choose to worship; you’re equally American. And it’s very important for any President to jealously protect, guard, and strengthen that freedom.
A nice man to the last of his presidency, President Bush misses the point.
It DOES matter how you choose to worship, if that involves celebrating violent jihad. The President used the term “Islamofascist” only a couple of times in his presidency before the state department wimps recoiled in horror from the truth, and begged him not to say it anymore. Too bad.
The president has acted, all too often, as if he doesn’t need to talk the talk, but only needs to walk the walk.
In context, I can’t fault his handling of most aspects of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars; not that he’s been perfect (far from it!) but his positions and actions have been reasonable, and the tendency to see clearly in hindsight shouldn’t blind us to the failure of most people to predict what has actually happened. The wars still needed to be fought, and he fought them. Simple as that.
But I can and do fault his use of “diplo-speak” because it has left the American people very confused. The president had a hard time getting his message across via the media, and seems to have just given up near the end of his first term, as far as convincing the populace of the rightness of his policies.
The problem is not that, “If you don’t accept what I believe, you’re a bad person.” The problem is if you think you faith gives you the right to kill me because your religion isn’t mine, too.
Christianity and Islam are not morally equivalent religions. They do not equally teach peace. They do not equally teach justice. The pretense that they are alike in some significant way “under the surface” is a deadly one.
So while I cherish religious freedom, I think we need to keep clear eyes on those who would use that very freedom against us.
