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Heaven SentDoes God endorse George Bush?

By Steven Waldman
Posted Monday, Sept. 13, 2004, at 11:29 AM ET

Democrats tend to overreact to Bush's use of religious rhetoric, which has usually been responsible, inspiring, and poetic. Typical was the moment during his convention speech in which he marveled at those who had prayed for him despite their own losses.

But while Bush's public comments about faith have been mostly within the mainstream tradition of presidential rhetoric, his supporters lately have gone in a less-familiar direction: conveying the idea that God is responsible for Bush being in the White House.

"He is one of those men God and fate somehow lead to the fore in times of challenge," said George Pataki in the high-profile introduction of Bush at the Republican National Convention, an introduction almost certainly scrubbed if not written by the White House.

"I thank God that on September 11th, we had a president who didn't wring his hands and wonder what America had done wrong to deserve this attack," he added. "I thank God we had a president who understood that America was attacked, not for what we had done wrong, but for what we did right."

If he'd said "thank God" just once we might have concluded this was simply colloquial usage—a dramatic way of saying, "it's a darn good thing." That the man introducing Bush thanked God three times makes it suspicious, even more so given these lines from Rudy Giuliani's speech two nights earlier: "Spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and said to Bernie, 'Thank God, George Bush is our president.' " And, to reinforce the point, Giuliani added, "And I say it again tonight: Thank God, George Bush is our president."

This is not the first time it's been suggested that God deserves thanks for the 2000 election results. Several sympathetic books about Bush and his faith make a big deal of his deciding to run for president after hearing a Texas minister named Rev. Mark Craig preach about how Moses had been called to service by God. Bush's mother reportedly turned to her son after the sermon and said, "He was talking to you."

Stephen Mansfield, author of The Faith of George W. Bush, goes on to say: "Not long after, Bush called James Robison (a prominent minister) and told him, 'I've heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for President.' " Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention heard Bush say something similar: "Among the things he said to us was: I believe that God wants me to be president, but if that doesn't happen, it's OK.' "

After 9/11, the sense among his supporters that God had chosen him increased. "I think that God picked the right man at the right time for the right purpose," said popular Christian broadcaster Janet Parshall. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, who got in trouble for derogatory comments about Islam, argued that it must have been God who selected Bush, since a plurality of voters hadn't. "Why is this man in the White House? The majority of America did not vote for him. He's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this." (Boykin still has his job.)

Time magazine reported, "Privately, Bush talked of being chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment." World Magazine, a conservative Christian publication, quoted White House official Tim Goeglein as saying, "I think President Bush is God's man at this hour, and I say this with a great sense of humility."

Even former President George H.W. Bush speculated that perhaps he needed to be defeated so that his son could become president: "If I'd won that election in 1992, my oldest son would not be president of the United States of America," he said. "I think the Lord works in mysterious ways."

Are the White House and the Bush campaign actively encouraging the idea that Bush has been put there by God? Bush has been careful to never say anything close to that in public. And yet the combination of passages in carefully vetted speeches and quotes from close friends or supporters indicate that this is the understanding.

In one sense, it's not surprising that some people believe this. Many, if not most, Americans believe that God intervenes in the lives of humans. If that weren't the case, prayer might be considered superfluous, meaningless. If God intervenes in the affairs of ordinary humans who pray for recovery from illness or a better job, it only stands to reason that He would control something as consequential as an American presidency.

Other presidents certainly believed that God was guiding America's fate. James Madison referred to the "Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations." Andrew Jackson beseeched that "He will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care and gracious benediction." Even Thomas Jefferson, considered a Deist, said it was the Supreme Being "who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and ... who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with his wisdom and power."

Yet it's hard to recall another instance of a presidential campaign so confidently promulgating the idea that its candidate had divine endorsement. The potentially dangerous implication is that since God put George W. Bush in the White House, opposing him is opposing Him. A person could get smited for that.

Of course, it's always possible God did put George W. Bush in the White House. But if He did, it doesn't theologically follow that He wants him to have a second term. Even those who believe that God controls world events usually concede it is hard for humans to divine the intent of the Divine.

After all, in the Bible, God is described as doing things for all sorts of inexplicable reasons—sometimes as a reward to the people, and sometimes as a punishment.

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Steven Waldman is editor in chief of Beliefnet, the leading multifaith spirituality and religion Web site.
Photograph of George Bush on the Slate home page by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters.
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Remarks from the Fray:

…I often wonder if those who do claim to speak on God's behalf consider the awesome responsibility of the task they undertake. I mean awesome in the traditional sense—it is a tremendous undertaking not to be assailed lightly or flippantly and those same scriptures are equally clear on the disposition of those who speak falsely, even if sincerely.

It should make one tremble. Jesus reserved his harshest condemnation for the Pharisees, the Herodians and the Sadducees precisely because they claimed such expertise—the true knowledge of God's teachings and their actions did not live up to this claim. The hypocrisy of this was enough to drive even Jesus to anger:

It would seem that the penalty for being mistaken in such an undertaking is severe. Perhaps we would all do well to doubt our own infallibility in such matters; to think carefully upon proclaiming God's intent with certainty to others and to resolve to study the central messages more intently, and follow those examples. There just may be a lesson there.

Precisely nothing about divine will can be inferred by Bush's mere presence at this time, any more than the 'presence' of Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt or Adolf Hitler are inidicative of God's preference for those leaders in their times and places.

We used to know better than these sorts of mindless syllogisms.

JBS Haldane, when asked by a clergyman what Haldane inferred about God given the world and the nature of creation, responded concisely:

If one could conclude as to the nature of the Creator from a study of his creation it would appear that God has an inordinate fondness for beetles.
--J.B.S. Haldane

--Demosthenes2

(To reply, click here)


Many of the new generation of conservative Catholics (tend toward sacrementalism and authority) and Eastern Orthodox (tend toward mysticism), as well as the Methodists (practical piety), Baptists (usually fundamtenalist), Presbyterians (ie reformed - intellectualism), Congregationalists (personal relationship), conservative Lutherans, Assembly of God (and other pentacostals)... they all speak of things like 'God's perfect timing' and 'vocation' (ie calling) or 'will for their lives' and heeding the 'still small voice' etc.

This is not anomalous. It is not reserved for weddings and funerals. It is day to day speech about day to day problems.

If you want a reference to this, look at Go Tell it On the Mountain, and you will see how African American church-goers can weave even scripture references into everyday speech. Admittedly, the book is from an older time - but it highlights the gap between the secularist, materialist, humanist, agnostic or athiest way of living...

Those people see this reference to God and Bush as some sort of plot, some special appropriation of the name of God. However, the religious voters don't. For them, it is part of daily speech. They believe that they were led to be at the grocery store, to help someone with their groceries, by God. They certainly believe that a Godly man in the White House is so improbable, given what they believe about the corruption of the system, that it must be miraculous.

So... as Slate readers look at the references and are shocked... the voters almost pass over them without special notice, except in that way which makes Bush seem like 'one of them' - that thing that Kerry is so far from being.

--BenK

(To reply, click here)


If the Lord sent us Bush, it was to punish us. Check out your actual Bible, not the flattering eyewash of our contemporary, self-appointed, evangelists. You will find numerous examples of God sending great leaders to plague the errant Chosen People, in order to chastize them and lead them to repent their evil ways. These could be external, like Sennachrib or Nebuchadnezzar, or they could be disastrously incompetent kings of Israel or Judah itself. Is there one example in Scripture of the prophets saying that the Lord has sent a strong or good leader to reward, or to help the Chosen People in their need?

Of course, there was the promise of the Messiah. But hopefully even our contemporary pseudo-prophets are not so shameless in their flattery of those in power as to suggest that GWB is the Second Coming.

--gtomkins1

(To reply, click here)

(9/13)

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