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From the NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/09/weekinreview/09GOOD.html
February 9, 2003
A President Puts His Faith in Providence
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Over the last two weeks, President George W. Bush has delivered several speeches laced with references to his religious beliefs.
In the State of the Union address, he told Americans preparing for war with Iraq to put their confidence in "the loving God behind all of life, and all of history." And at a memorial service for the Columbia astronauts, he told the grieving families to seek comfort in the afterlife, saying, "In God's own time, we can pray that the day of your reunion will come."
Of course, presidents from George Washington on have invoked God's name to protect the nation in times of war and to comfort it in times of tragedy. And when, in a 1999 presidential debate, Mr. Bush said Christ was his favorite philosopher, "because he changed my heart," some saw it as a blatant bid for the evangelical vote.
But today, with that constituency sewn up, the president continues to talk and lead like a preacher. For him faith is far more than an oratorical set piece, say friends, advisers and some independent presidential analysts. Indeed, he has often said that what led him to stop drinking, and to turn his life around, was a spiritual awakening that began about 17 years ago, when he was 39.
The president's faith in faith is readily apparent not only in his speeches, but in his social policies and also in his determination to vanquish Saddam Hussein.
"I've seen presidents in the past who wear religion on their sleeve as a political gesture, but that's not what we're seeing here," said David R. Gergen, who worked in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton administrations. "He has made it clear he feels that Providence intervened to change his life, and now he is somehow an instrument of Providence."
As the president told a group of religious leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington last Thursday: "Events aren't moved by blind change and chance. Behind all of life and all of history, there's a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God."
Many of his most eloquent religious references have been shaped by Michael Gerson, a policy adviser to the president and his main speechwriter. Mr. Gerson majored in theology at Wheaton College, worked as a journalist and was once a ghostwriter for Charles W. Colson, the Watergate felon who has become a major evangelical leader.
In the State of the Union speech, Mr. Gerson alluded to a popular evangelical hymn in the line, "There's power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people." (The hymn speaks of the "wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb.") He also alluded to Catholic theology when he described fighting AIDS in Africa as "a work of mercy" — a reference to the "seven corporal works of mercy."
Mr. Gerson said in an interview that using religious language was not an attempt to deliver a coded message to believers.
"It's not code, it's our culture," he said. "It's one of the ways you communicate with rhetoric. It is impossible to imagine the American experiment without the moral vision of reform that comes from faith, and that's true in abolition, in the fight against segregation and for child labor laws or reform of mental hospitals."
But Mr. Bush's speeches intentionally avoided mentioning Jesus or Christ, referring to a higher power as God, the Almighty, Providence or the Creator.
"I think there is a responsibility for public officials to maintain a principled pluralism that respects the important role of faith, but does not favor any sectarian creed," Mr. Gerson said.
On social issues, the president has emphasized his "faith-based initiative," unveiled in the first month of his presidency. The idea is to give government money to churches and religious institutions to run programs for the poor, jobless, homeless and addicted. So strong is his commitment to this approach that when Mr. Bush encountered significant Congressional opposition, on constitutional grounds, last December he used executive orders to put many of his ideas into operation.
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said in an interview that the president is personally invested in the initiative "because of his own history of drinking, where faith did result in a change in him."
PRESIDENT Bush, by denomination a Methodist, is not the first "born again" president in modern history. That distinction belongs to Jimmy Carter, who was raised a Southern Baptist. But Mr. Carter largely kept his personal church beliefs and affairs of state separate.
Mr. Bush may be more assertive about his faith because he has the zeal of the convert, speculated William J. Bennett, a leading conservative. The president's conversion experience, Mr. Bennett said, seems to have marked a turning point in his life. "This was a big conversion to him, so it may continue to matter more," Mr. Bennett said. "When he speaks he's not putting something on, he's letting something out. He turns to the language of faith naturally without thinking as to whether it would be a good idea or not."
In recent weeks, there has been growing debate over whether the president's use of faith has gone too far.
To the ears of many Americans, especially the vast number who say they are "born again," the president's words are heroic. "He's doing a very admirable, very clear and profound job of showing faith to be a part of life," said the Rev. Dr. Anthony T. Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, who has prayed with the president.
But some ministers and theologians object to the president's references to God, and to good and evil, in speeches justifying war with Iraq.
"He has brought God in in handcuffs," said the Rev. James A. Forbes Jr., the liberal senior pastor of Riverside Church in New York. "This war is not coming from the council of heaven, it is coming from a council on earth that has not checked with God about their deeper motivations."
Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion at Princeton University, said she had no interest in whether the president's religious language is genuine or politically manipulative.
"What interests me is the effect," she said. "Religious language can be unifying. It can also be enormously divisive and dangerous. If there is an axis of evil, that obviously places him in the axis of good, and also means that anyone who disagrees with the policies he is advocating is placed on the other side."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/09/weekinreview/09GOOD.html
February 9, 2003
A President Puts His Faith in Providence
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Over the last two weeks, President George W. Bush has delivered several speeches laced with references to his religious beliefs.
In the State of the Union address, he told Americans preparing for war with Iraq to put their confidence in "the loving God behind all of life, and all of history." And at a memorial service for the Columbia astronauts, he told the grieving families to seek comfort in the afterlife, saying, "In God's own time, we can pray that the day of your reunion will come."
Of course, presidents from George Washington on have invoked God's name to protect the nation in times of war and to comfort it in times of tragedy. And when, in a 1999 presidential debate, Mr. Bush said Christ was his favorite philosopher, "because he changed my heart," some saw it as a blatant bid for the evangelical vote.
But today, with that constituency sewn up, the president continues to talk and lead like a preacher. For him faith is far more than an oratorical set piece, say friends, advisers and some independent presidential analysts. Indeed, he has often said that what led him to stop drinking, and to turn his life around, was a spiritual awakening that began about 17 years ago, when he was 39.
The president's faith in faith is readily apparent not only in his speeches, but in his social policies and also in his determination to vanquish Saddam Hussein.
"I've seen presidents in the past who wear religion on their sleeve as a political gesture, but that's not what we're seeing here," said David R. Gergen, who worked in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton administrations. "He has made it clear he feels that Providence intervened to change his life, and now he is somehow an instrument of Providence."
As the president told a group of religious leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington last Thursday: "Events aren't moved by blind change and chance. Behind all of life and all of history, there's a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God."
Many of his most eloquent religious references have been shaped by Michael Gerson, a policy adviser to the president and his main speechwriter. Mr. Gerson majored in theology at Wheaton College, worked as a journalist and was once a ghostwriter for Charles W. Colson, the Watergate felon who has become a major evangelical leader.
In the State of the Union speech, Mr. Gerson alluded to a popular evangelical hymn in the line, "There's power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people." (The hymn speaks of the "wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb.") He also alluded to Catholic theology when he described fighting AIDS in Africa as "a work of mercy" — a reference to the "seven corporal works of mercy."
Mr. Gerson said in an interview that using religious language was not an attempt to deliver a coded message to believers.
"It's not code, it's our culture," he said. "It's one of the ways you communicate with rhetoric. It is impossible to imagine the American experiment without the moral vision of reform that comes from faith, and that's true in abolition, in the fight against segregation and for child labor laws or reform of mental hospitals."
But Mr. Bush's speeches intentionally avoided mentioning Jesus or Christ, referring to a higher power as God, the Almighty, Providence or the Creator.
"I think there is a responsibility for public officials to maintain a principled pluralism that respects the important role of faith, but does not favor any sectarian creed," Mr. Gerson said.
On social issues, the president has emphasized his "faith-based initiative," unveiled in the first month of his presidency. The idea is to give government money to churches and religious institutions to run programs for the poor, jobless, homeless and addicted. So strong is his commitment to this approach that when Mr. Bush encountered significant Congressional opposition, on constitutional grounds, last December he used executive orders to put many of his ideas into operation.
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said in an interview that the president is personally invested in the initiative "because of his own history of drinking, where faith did result in a change in him."
PRESIDENT Bush, by denomination a Methodist, is not the first "born again" president in modern history. That distinction belongs to Jimmy Carter, who was raised a Southern Baptist. But Mr. Carter largely kept his personal church beliefs and affairs of state separate.
Mr. Bush may be more assertive about his faith because he has the zeal of the convert, speculated William J. Bennett, a leading conservative. The president's conversion experience, Mr. Bennett said, seems to have marked a turning point in his life. "This was a big conversion to him, so it may continue to matter more," Mr. Bennett said. "When he speaks he's not putting something on, he's letting something out. He turns to the language of faith naturally without thinking as to whether it would be a good idea or not."
In recent weeks, there has been growing debate over whether the president's use of faith has gone too far.
To the ears of many Americans, especially the vast number who say they are "born again," the president's words are heroic. "He's doing a very admirable, very clear and profound job of showing faith to be a part of life," said the Rev. Dr. Anthony T. Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, who has prayed with the president.
But some ministers and theologians object to the president's references to God, and to good and evil, in speeches justifying war with Iraq.
"He has brought God in in handcuffs," said the Rev. James A. Forbes Jr., the liberal senior pastor of Riverside Church in New York. "This war is not coming from the council of heaven, it is coming from a council on earth that has not checked with God about their deeper motivations."
Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion at Princeton University, said she had no interest in whether the president's religious language is genuine or politically manipulative.
"What interests me is the effect," she said. "Religious language can be unifying. It can also be enormously divisive and dangerous. If there is an axis of evil, that obviously places him in the axis of good, and also means that anyone who disagrees with the policies he is advocating is placed on the other side."
