A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Some find offense in Bush God references |
|---|
| jannah |
| 02/28/03 at 11:12:12 |
| Some find offense in Bush God references By: Julia Lieblich 2/24/2003 (Chicago Tribune) :: The president's use of religious expressions in seeking support for war is seen as alienating to world's non-Christians President Bush has insisted that his war on terrorism is not a crusade, but in recent weeks his remarks have taken on a more fervent religious tone that some observers say could further alienate Muslims abroad and that others feel exploits the language of faith to win support for war. When making a case this month for the invasion of Iraq, Bush said "liberty is God's gift to every human being in the world." In his State of the Union address, he called the United States a "blessed country" and again placed Iran, Iraq and North Korea in the "axis of evil." Then he suggested Americans place their confidence "in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history." "Within the last six months, the level of religious rhetoric has escalated significantly," said Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance Foundation. Bush's language, observers say, suggests God is on the side of the United States in a battle for liberation. Those who like the message believe it's a sincere expression of a man who has been open about his evangelical Christian beliefs and one with wide appeal in a highly religious nation. "The president almost certainly believes we are on God's side," said Southern Baptist leader Richard Land, and that message "resonates with people of religious faith." Land said Bush has a right to draw on his own religious experience: "He speaks as a Christian of an evangelical Methodist variety in the same way Joe Lieberman speaks as a conservative Jew," said Land, president of his denomination's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "You can't separate George Bush from his faith and you shouldn't ask him to try." Bush's fervency of expression comes as the leadership of the mainline religious denominations, with the exception of Southern Baptists, has come out strongly against the war. Even the head of the bishops conference of his own denomination, the United Methodist Church, wrote to Bush asking him to seek "every opportunity to disarm Iraq without resorting to war." This is hardly the first time a president has presumed to know God's will in the face of opposition. In Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address in 1865, he spoke about God's will to remove slavery and to give North and South "this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came." Still, he never suggested that one side would be judged more harshly. When Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Dec. 8, 1941, he vowed to gain "the inevitable triumph--so help us God." But Rev. Forrest Church, a Unitarian minister and author of "The American Creed," said that although Roosevelt invoked the name of God he was careful not to "co-opt God's power." Critics of Bush say his religious expressions are particularly problematic in today's society, which includes large numbers of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and other religious groups. "Lincoln lived in a very different age," said Olendzki. "One hundred and fifty years ago, everybody was a mainstream Bible reader." And no one had satellite TV. Sayyid M. Syeed, of the Islamic Society of North America, worries about the effect of "religious triumphal language" on Muslims worldwide who can watch the president on television. It's one thing to object to tyranny, he said. But when Bush talks about war in Muslim nations in explicitly Christian language, his words can too easily be perceived as a rejection of Islam. Syeed, who has a doctorate in sociolinguistics, does not generally object to references to God. "We are people of God," he said. "We certainly appreciate that language except when...God is being used to exclude you." Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said he would object to a president mentioning Jesus Christ but not to more general talk about faith. "Bush is a religious man," said Foxman. "He's entitled to be religious....I think the American Jewish community is comfortable with generic talk about faith and religion." However, what sounds generic to one group can sound rejecting to another, Gaddy said. Some observers object to language they believe Bush uses to appeal to his evangelical constituents. In Bush's State of the Union address, Gaddy noted, the president said, "There's power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people. That's a direct line from a gospel hymn," Gaddy said. "Is that a signal to the religious right? Why else would you be using that?" But Land thinks it's a Christian's prerogative to quote his favorite hymns or talk about good and evil in biblical terms. "If the president thinks Saddam Hussein is evil and this is a fight between good and evil, he has a right to say so," Land said. Elaine Pagels, Princeton University religion professor, said such black and white language stifles debate by relegating all dissenters to the evil camp. "When you identify one group as our people and another group as Satan's people," she said, "the conflict is cast as non-negotiable, and you can only annihilate the evil side." Such language, she said, "bypasses the brain and goes straight to the gut." |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |