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Whose God Guides Bush?
BUZZFLASH
READER COMMENTARY
by James
Siewert
Lot's of things made me queasy last night as I watched and listened to the State of the Union, none more than the ending though.
For anyone who was able to contain their frustration last night through to the end of Shrub's War Song, news flashed out at the end that the whole plan is in fact sanctioned by and followed under the guidance of God.
In one sense this is comforting, as we are not supposed to be able to understand the ways in which God works and certainly last night was incomprehensible when compared with the reality of the world today and the US federal budget. In a much more significant way though it caused me to jump out of my chair and say, "What? Since when have I been living in a country where foreign policy is sanctioned, directed or even influenced in any way by any God?"
Shrub spoke of trusting in "the ways of Providence," "placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life" as he asked for God's guidance in leading our nation to war. Here I had been thinking that we would go to war for oil, which is reprehensible enough, but now knowing that ours will be a religious crusade makes my blood curdle far more vigorously. I would not mind having a poor little rich kid like Shrub minding the shop if I thought it was really him at the strings, instead of his dream of God's will that was in fact leading the way. Damn, even Karl Rove, John Negroponte or Dick Cheney is a better co-pilot than Bush's lateinlifesnatchedfrom40yearsofyouthfulindiscretion savior God, at least when it comes to leading a secular, polytheistic society. And none of them can be touted as a man who truly understands and respects diversity, of race, of religion or of anything except perhaps investments.
Admittedly I have no clear notion of God. Maybe someday he will come to me and speak the way he does to Shrub. Heck, maybe he already has and I just didn't notice it was him, passing off the vision as just some lingering side effect of a youthful indiscretion long ago. I often see football kickers praying before field goals, and sluggers cross themselves before stepping into the batter's box. (Perhaps this is Shrub's God, the one who helps men hit things hard and with precision.) We certainly like to think that God cares about stuff that is really only important to us, and we take great comfort from the idea that there is a God supporting our endeavors. Throughout history, men's actions have been both ludicrous and horrible as they have lent God's names to their twisted, evil and corrupt agendas. The Inquisition, after all, tortured children, burned with hot irons and cut out tongues in the name of God. In this country, women have been burned at the stake to keep them from corrupting God's creation, and brown, red and gay men were lynched in the night in the name of a God who taught that straight white men's destiny was to rule all creation.
But somewhere in there a great thing happened, and some enlightened leaders said wait, God and the rule of law and reason are inherently incompatible. These men, these Founding Fathers, set things up so that no law could be created that promoted one religion, so that no leader could do in this country what should never be done, using their religion as a weapon in the lives of all people. They did this because they knew first hand the horrors that come when God and law collide. They understood that greatness comes not from forcing all men to live with the laws and priorities of a single faith, but rather that greatness comes from living faithfully in a land where government is free from faith. They formed our nation as a secular democracy because despite their faith in the Almighty, they knew that public policy was better rooted in the greatness of the people it governs.
I can only hope that the God that answers Shrub's call is not the same God who led the Roman bishops who stood at Hitler's side or the one who spoke into the ear of the Grand Inquisitors as they broke heretics on the rack in medieval torture chambers. I hope it is not that God which tells us that an eye-for-an-eye is justice or that killing native Americans will lead to great godliness.
If I have to have a God speaking in the ear of my Commander in Chief, I want it to be the God that says lay down your arms out of love for all men, the God who says men's differences can be sources of great love and understanding, the God who says let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
But frankly I would rather God stay in the Red Sox' dugout where he is needed most.
Sincerely,
James Siewert
BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
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