Re: [A-List] FW: Bush's Religious Beliefs

["Salaam Blackmore" <blackmore@xxxxxxxxx>]

Eerie and extraordinary - not least the information that Bush's speech
writer is one David FRUM.

Can this really be?

Is not Jon Frum the long-awaited volcano-dwelling, cargo-cult messiah of the
island of Tanna in Vanuatu?

One of my favourite bits of TV - I do not have many - is of a BBC interview
between a Vanuatu dignitary and the humane and sympathetic
documentary-maker, David Attenborough.

Attenborough: So, you believe this...er, Jon Frum...is going to return - and
bring cargo?

Dignitary: Yes.

Attenborough: But how many years have you been waiting for him to come?

Dignitary: Sixty years. (I am not certain of the number.)

Attenborough: Well, if you have been waiting so long and he hasn't returned
yet, doesn't it make you think he might not come at all?

There was a longish pause - and then the reply.

Dignitary: Are you a Christian?

Attenborough: Yes.

Dignitary: How long, then, have you waited for your Messiah?....


----- Original Message -----
From: "Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "*FORUM at
Clark College" <forum@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 5:23 PM
Subject: [A-List] FW: Bush's Religious Beliefs


>
> Bush's Religious Beliefs
> An Emerging Explanation for War Mongering
>
> Andrew Austin
> Green Bay, WI
>
> Jackson Lears, in a recent NYTimes essay, "How a War became a Crusade,"
> suggests a reason why Bush can be so cavalier about the possibility that
war
> in Iraq will have unintended consequences. Bush, according to Lears,
"denies
> the very existence of chance." He quotes Bush: "Events aren't moved by
blind
> change and chance." Rather, events are determined, according to Bush, by
> "the hand of a just and faithful God."
>
> Bush even sees his presidency as willed by God. As governor of Texas, he
> told a friend, "I believe God wants me to run for president."
>
> In a worldview that rests upon providence, the attack on the World Trade
> Center and the Pentagon, and now the rise of an "axis of evil," are
> interpreted by many, including members of the Administration, as signs
from
> God that Bush is ordained to lead a crusade against evil.
>
> History, according to Bush, is the unfolding of God's will. Everything is
> predetermined. And in the unfolding of history, God calls on special
persons
> to make history in His righteous name. As the President said in his State
of
> the Union address, "this call of history has come to the right country."
> And, obviously to the right president.
>
> In his NYTimes essay, "God, Satan and the Media," Nicholas Kristof thinks
he
> knows why Bush's religious messages have mesmerized so many people. A
Gallup
> poll, taken in December 2002, found that 46 percent of Americans are
> evangelical or born-again Christians. (Recall that 45 percent of Americans
> believe that Saddam Hussein was "personally involved" in 9-11. I wonder
how
> many of these are the same people.)
>
> The most recent Gallup poll puts the number of born-again Christians at
41%.
> Eighteen percent of Americans describe themselves as religious right.
Among
> born-again Christians, Bush's popularity stands at 74%. For all others, it
> is 50%. (In other words, half of all non-evangelicals do not approve of
> Bush's performance.)
>
> Gallup's analysis: "The fact that this conservative and deeply religious
> president is a Republican, is directly in line with the overall pattern of
> religious beliefs in American politics. Most scholars agree that there is
a
> substantial relationship between strong religious faith, particularly
within
> conservative, evangelical Protestant denominations, and identification
with
> the Republican Party."
>
> It is important to note that not all Protestants, let alone all
Christians,
> consider themselves born-again, identify with the born-again worldview, or
> consider themselves on the political right. Tens of millions of Christians
> are liberals and millions more are centrists. Also, not all born-again
> Christians are right wingers. Black Americans who identify themselves as
> born-again are in overwhelming numbers registered Democrats.
>
> Nevertheless, while I knew there was a fundamentalist mood sweeping the
> nation, I did not know so many Americans described themselves as
> evangelical. That nearly one-fifth of Americans self-identifies as
religious
> right is quite telling. Any explanation for public support for a war in
Iraq
> must account for the degree and character of religiosity in the United
> States. This includes Bush's religious views.
>
> Kristof puts it this way: "It's impossible to understand President Bush
> without acknowledging the centrality of his faith." Bush's war efforts
> reflect a "messianic vision...to...'remake' the Middle East." This vision
> resonates with so many of Bush's followers, because the faithful agree
with
> the President that he has been chosen by history - that is, by God - to
> democratize - Christianize? - the Islamic world.
>
> The Middle East obviously has tremendous significance for Christians. But
it
> has extra-special significance for born-again Christians. Reagan tapped
into
> these sentiments when he spoke about Armageddon and the existence of an
> "Evil Empire." (Why was so little made of the fact that Nancy, Reagan
wife,
> consulted astrology charts to influence the direction of her husband's
> policies?) Now Bush is tapping into these sentiments.
>
> We do not need to speculate about this. We know that the policy wonks
bring
> their war plans to the President and he and members of his administration
> pray over the vision and translate the text into articles of faith. I
> suspect that administration officials have been focusing on Revelations
> big-time in their daily bible studies.
>
> All this was exposed by one of Bush's key speechwriters, the man who
coined
> the phrase "axis of evil." His name is David Frum, and, according to his
new
> book, The Right Man, he, Bush, and others who worked on the Axis of Evil
> speech, desired very much to create an enemy the equivalent of Reagan's
Evil
> Empire.
>
> Julian Borger, a journalist for The Guardian, discussed these matters with
> Frum in an article published January 28, 2003. In the interview, Frum
"talks
> about the disconcerting grip evangelical Christianity has on the White
> House."
>
> How did the axis of evil line come about? According to Frum (through
> Borger), "Michael Gerson approaches Frum a few weeks before the pivotal
> State of the Union address and tells him, 'Here's an assignment. Can you
sum
> up in a sentence or two our best case for going after Iraq?'" This was in
> late December 2001 (please note the date).
>
> "The phrase Frum comes up with is 'axis of hatred,' describing the ominous
> but ill-defined links between Iraq and terrorism. It is Gerson who tweaks
> the phrase into the 'axis of evil,' to make it sound more 'theological.'"
> Frum really liked the phrase. He says, "'It was the sort of language
> President Bush used.'"
>
> Borger: "According to Frum, the Bush White House is in the grip of
Christian
> evangelism. The first words he hears on his first day at work are: 'Missed
> you at Bible study' - a rebuke to his new boss, Gerson, from some unnamed
> Bush lieutenant. Attendance at such sessions were 'if not compulsory, not
> quite uncompulsory either.'" Frum is Jewish, but he was nevertheless
> expected to wade through the New Testament with the President.
>
> Frum, who worked with the President for 13 months, says that Bush
"believes
> that the future is in 'stronger hands than his own.'"
>
> "It is a theme which is beginning to emerge from the Bush administration,"
> writes Borger. "While most people saw the extraordinary circumstances of
the
> 2000 election as a fluke, Bush and his closest supporters saw it as yet
> another sign he was chosen to lead. Later, September 11 'revealed' what he
> was there for."
>
> The parallels with conservative politics of the 1980s are quite striking.
>
> Grace Halsell, in his Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the
> Road to Nuclear War (1986), quotes James Robison (a TV evangelist):
> "'There'll be no peace until Jesus comes. Any preaching of peace prior to
> this return is heresy; it's against the word of God; it's Anti-Christ.'"
> Ronald Reagan invited Robison to deliver the opening prayer at the 1984
> Republican National Convention. Why? Because Reagan believed, as early as
> 1971, that "'everything is in place for the battle of Armageddon and the
> Second Coming of Christ.'"
>
> Under Reagan, Jerry Falwell was permitted to attend National Security
> Council briefings. Armageddonist Hal Lindsey met with Pentagon strategists
> to discuss nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
>
> That the White House believed that they were on a mission from God helps
us
> understand why selling weapons to an enemy nation and working with cocaine
> traffickers to fund a dirty war in Central America never seemed to trouble
> Reagan's conscience. (Why hasn't it troubled more Americans?)
>
> Holly Sklar, in Reagan, Trilateralism, and the Neoliberals (1986) writes,
> "For many rollbackers, Armageddon is the pre-ordained preface to the
Second
> Coming and its theocracy of Christian believers. Ronald Reagan is the
> Believer-in-Chief. In 1971, then Governor Reagan remarked:
>
> In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel, it says that the land of
> Israel will come under attack by the armies of the ungodly nations and it
> says that Libya will be among them. Do you understand the significance of
> that? Libya has now gone communist, and that's a sign that the day of
> Armageddon isn't that far off...Everything is falling into place...Ezekiel
> tells us that Gog, the nation that will lead all of the other powers of
> darkness against Israel, will come out of the north...now that Russia has
> become communist and atheistic, now that Russia has set itself against
God.
> Now it fits the description of Gog perfectly.
>
> Sklar continues: "In 1983, President Reagan told People magazine:
> 'theologians... have said that never...has there ever been a time in which
> so many of the prophecies are coming together. There have been times in
the
> past when people thought the end of the world was coming and so forth, but
> never anything like this.' In the fundamentalist prophecies of Armageddon
> good Christians will be saved from nuclear holocaust and lifted to heaven
in
> the Rapture. Armageddonists don't need to believe Star Wars will provide
an
> impenetrable shield. It just has to help out by buying some time for the
> Rapture."
>
> So strong is the belief in rapture and that the end-time is near in our
> country that the ridiculous becomes possible:
>
> ARKANSAS CITY (EAP) -- A Little Rock woman was killed
> yesterday after leaping through her moving car's sun roof during an
incident
> best described as "a mistaken rapture" by dozens of eye witnesses.
Thirteen
> other people were injured after a twenty-car pile up resulted from people
> trying to avoid hitting the woman who was apparently convinced that the
> rapture was occurring when she saw twelve people floating up into the air,
> and then passed a man on the side of the road who she claimed was Jesus.
>
> "She started screaming "He's back, He's back" and climbed
> right out of the sunroof and jumped off the roof of the car," said Everett
> Williams, husband of 28-year-old Georgann Williams who was pronounced dead
> at the scene. "I was slowing down but she wouldn't wait till I stopped,"
> Williams said. "She thought the rapture was happening and was convinced
that
> Jesus was gonna lift her up into the sky," he went on to say.
>
> "This is the strangest thing I've seen since I've been on
> the force," said Paul Madison, first officer on the scene. Madison
> questioned the man who looked like Jesus and discovered that he was
dressed
> up as Jesus and was on his way to a toga costume party when the tarp
> covering the bed of his pickup truck came loose and released twelve
> inflatable sex dolls filled with helium which floated up into the air.
>
> Ernie Jenkins, 32, of Fort Smith, who's been told by several
> of his friends that he looks like Jesus, pulled over and lifted his arms
> into the air in frustration, and said, "Come back here," just as the
> Williams' car passed him, and Mrs. Williams was sure that it was Jesus
> lifting people up into the sky as they passed by him, according to her
> husband, who says his wife loved Jesus more than anything else.
>
> Consider also the current rage on the Christian right, the "Left Behind"
> series. The upcoming book in the series is titled Armageddon. The
> publisher's blurb reads, "Prepare For The Release Of Armageddon. On April
8,
> 2003, Book 11 in the Left Behind Series releases in stores everywhere. No
> one will escape Armageddon and few will live through the battle to see the
> Glorious Appearing."
>
> These publications are targeting children. The Left Behind industry has a
> "Kids Series." A blurb from the publisher: "With over ten million copies
> sold, Left Behind: The Kids Series is a favorite for all ages. Following a
> group of teens that were 'left behind,' and are determined to stand up for
> God no matter what the costs, they are tested at every turn."
>
> At the Left Behind web site (http://www.leftbehind.com/), they have a
video
> promotion for Armageddon replete with footage of American troops in
Kuwait.
>
> Linking war with Iraq to an eschatological view of history intersects with
> the problem of ignorance of just war principles. The President, a
born-again
> Christian, shares the worldview of southern evangelicals. Neither he nor
> they concern themselves with the justness of war nor do they worry much
> about the consequences of war. God has given Reagan's "shinning city upon
> the hill" this war and we should simply put our trust in the Lord (and
> Bush). Through providence, God will work his will. We have as a nation
only
> to take up the divine task.
>
> We can now understand better the source of the extraordinary passion of
> contemporary war mongering and the intense antipathy towards those who
> oppose war. Not only are those who oppose Bush "unpatriotic" and
> "unAmerican," but they are also heretical for refusing to accept the
mission
> that God has made for all of us. Peace activists are thwarting the
crusade.
> They are godless liberals bent on tearing down the nation and this
president
> whom God has chosen for greatness.
>
> Lears emphasizes another problem that faith in providence brings: "it
> sanitizes the messy actualities of war and its aftermath. Like the
> strategists' faith in smart bombs, faith in Providence frees one from
having
> to consider the role of chance in armed conflict, the least predictable of
> human affairs. Between divine will and American know-how, we have
everything
> under control."
>
> How dense is reactionary religious fervor? We are moving into an era,
Lears
> warns, where the "more humane interpretations of" Christianity, Islam, and
> Judaism, "are increasingly ignored." The major faiths are bending towards
> fundamentalism, where "the ideologues take command, convinced that they
are
> doing God's will."
>
> Might this nation, by allowing this worldview to be articulated by our
> official spokespersons, lose our moral authority to condemn the religious
> extremism of those parts of the world Bush says are currently in shadow? I
> think we are already seeing the erosion of American prestige around the
> world. The US may now not even ask the UN for a resolution, knowing that
it
> will fail in the Security Council. So driven is this president by his
> calling that we are going to go into Iraq without the support of the
world.
> In fact, we are going in despite the opposition of the global community.
>
> Indeed, I have since 9-11 found more than curious the tone of the
President
> and how much his rhetoric sounds like the rhetoric of those with whom we
are
> at war. We are told that fundamentalist Islam hates us because we leave
too
> little room for God. They resent our liberal freedoms - freedom of speech,
> faith, conscience, and, especially, the separation of Church and State.
They
> have attacked America, we are told, because the United States shows the
rest
> of the world how officially separating religion from politics and letting
> reason guide our decisions makes a better society. We are more tolerant,
> humane, and rational because these values.
>
> Yet, the President of the United States is stating publicly that God, who
is
> behind all of history, is not neutral in human affairs, that God take
sides,
> and that, in fact, God has taken our side, and George Bush is the leader
of
> the moment, carrying out God's will. No reason is needed - only faith
> matters.
>
> The president is sounding like the intolerant extremist Islamic voices he
> condemns.
>
> One social science benefit to these happenings is that it illustrates W.
I.
> Thomas' famous theorem, the "definition of a situation." He writes (I am
> paraphrasing), "If a person believes a situation is real, then it is real
in
> its consequences." What people believe about the world plays a role in
> determining their actions. When these people are in tremendous power,
their
> actions condition the fate of millions. The most powerful nation in world
> history is currently being led by a regime that believes it is called upon
> by God to rid the world of evil. What will be the impact of its actions?
>
>
>
>   Tautological Hubris
>      Jim Craven
>
>   We,
>   are Americans,
>   "Number One", you know,
>   just ask us;
>   "Number One" in what?
>   money, for instance,
>   and that buys everything else
>   of "worth".
>   We are the most, among nations,
>   in God's Grace;
>   How do we know?
>   we're "Number One",
>   and only those in God's Grace,
>   would God make "Number One",
>   that is the evidence, the "proof",
>   it is all very Calvinist,
>   and purely tautological.
>   And only those in God's Grace,
>   have the "Truth",
>   that is also the evidence, the "proof",
>   that we are in God's grace,
>   and have the truth,
>   since only those with the "Truth",
>   could be in God's Grace,
>   and vice versa,
>   it is all very Calvinist,
>   and purely tautological.
>   And how can those with the "Truth",
>   be wrong?
>   or not act in accordance with the "Truth"?
>   and that is the evidence, the "proof",
>   that we have the "Truth",
>   and act in accordance with it,
>   because what we believe,
>   and what we do,
>   keeps us in God's Grace,
>   "therefore", we must have the "Truth",
>   and must be acting in accordance with it,
>   it is all very Calvinist,
>   and purely tautological.
>   And since those who have the "Truth",
>   and act in accordance with it,
>   are the Good and the Blessed,
>   we must be the Good and Blessed,
>   we have the "Truth",
>   and act in accordance with it,
>   which means that those who do not believe as we do,
>   or act as we act,
>   must not have the "Truth",
>   or be acting in accordance with it,
>   they must not be in God's Grace,
>   they must be Evil and the Damned;
>   it is all very Calvinist,
>   and purely tautological.
>
>   Jim Craven
>
>
>
>
>