Dangerous Theology

Evidently, George W. Bush makes himself nervous. How else are we to interpret this: "Bush himself said in a 2000 interview with Beliefnet.com, a religion Web site: 'To be frank with you, I am not all that comfortable describing my faith, because in the political world, there are a lot of people who say, "Vote for me, I'm more religious than my opponent," ' he said. 'And those kind of folks make me a little nervous.' " (Long article on the ambiguities in Bush's profession of religious faith in this morning's WashPost.)

But El Presidente also told the Rev. Richard Land, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention and czar of the iVoteValues propaganda wagon, "I believe God wants me to be president."

During Bush's 2003 State of the Union address, he evoked an old gospel hymn when he said, "Yet there's power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people." What the hymn says is that there is "power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb." The hymn is about the power of Christ -- not the power of the American nation, or of any nation.

Said Rev. Jim Wallis, editor of the evangelical journal Sojourners, "It's a good thing, and a normal thing, for religious people to have a sense of calling as a pastor or a teacher or a journalist or a politician. But I think this goes farther. It's almost a sense of divine appointment for this president and this war on terrorism .... When it comes out as 'They're evil and we're good,' and 'If you're not with us on all issues, then you're with the evildoers,' I think it's bad foreign policy and dangerous theology."