Jim Wallis has joined Bill Keller and Martin Marty in expressing concerns about the impact of George Bush's faith on his performance as President. Wallis is hardly part of Coulter's "atheist left;" he is editor-in-chief of Sojourners, a progressive Christian magazine with roots in Evangelicalism, and author of Faith Works, a book about how faith-based organizations are changing America for the good.
In "Dangerous Religion," appearing in the current issue of Sojourners, Wallis astutely tracks the course of Bush's development as a Christian from a theological standpoint:
Wallis finds it particularly alarming that Bush seems to believe that he has been especially chosen for the central role in this "crusade:"
"Bush has made numerous references to his belief that he could not be president if he did not believe in a "divine plan that supersedes all human plans." As he gained political power, Bush has increasingly seen his presidency as part of that divine plan. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention, recalls Bush once saying, 'I believe God wants me to be president.' After Sept. 11, Michael Duffy wrote in Time magazine, the president spoke of 'being chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment.'"
While Bush may have made a theological turn toward Calvinism since 9/11, what has not changed is the level of maturity of his faith. What Wallis describes as a "self-help Methodist," James Fowler might classify as "synthetic-conventional." In his influential book, Stages of Faith, Fowler identifies several characteristics of this third of six faith stages:
usually emerges in adolescence but may persist throughout adulthood;
structures the ultimate environment in interpersonal terms;
is acutely tuned to the expectations and judgments of "significant others;"
beliefs and values are deeply felt and tacitly held, that is they are not subjected to critical examination;
differences in outlook with others are experienced as differences in "kind" of person;
authority may be located in the consensus of a valued, face-to-face group;
and
the emergent capacity of this state is the forming of a personal myth--the myth of one's own becoming in identity and faith, incorporating one's past and anticipated future in an image of the ultimate environment unified by characteristcs of personality.
There should be some bells ringing by now.
While it may be troubling enough that someone with such an immature worldview occupies the Oval Office, consider what can happen to an individual with synthetic-conventional faith under conditions of stress. Clashes between valued authority sources or the encounter with experiences that lead to critical reflection on how one's own beliefs have formed and changed can precipitate a soul-searching examination of self and personal values. Fowler says that the transition from stage 3 synthetic-conventional faith to stage 4 individuative-reflective faith is especially difficult later in life:
"When the transition occurs in the late thirties or early forties it often brings greater struggles. This is because of its impact upon the more established and elaborated system of relationships and roles that constitute an adult life structure."
How long will George Bush be able to maintain his personal myth of being chosen by the "grace of God to lead at this moment" if conditions in Iraq continue to deteriorate, the economy remains stalled and the drop in his poll numbers becomes more and more reminiscent of the collapse in his father's popularity? If these increased pressures produce fissures among his close aids and friends upon whom Bush depends for advice and perhaps identity, how will he respond? If all this brings on a "crisis of faith," how will his competence to govern be affected?
Yesterday, I wrote about the self-examination that Martin Luther King, Jr. underwent as he sat in a Birmingham jail. He himself described it as a time filled with "strange thoughts and long prayers." But King was a man with a rare maturity of faith who engaged in self-reflection on a regular basis. What will happen when George Bush wakes up one day and realizes that his current situation is not part of God's grand plan for him and the nation but a disaster that is the product of misplaced trust in those around him and his own errors in judgment? How will he--and the nation--cope with his inevitable crisis of faith?
Obscure Bible Passage of the Day: 1 Samuel 28:4-20
The Philistines assembled, and came and encamped at Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, not by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "There is a medium at Endor."
So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night. And he said, "Consult a spirit for me, and bring up for me the one whom I name to you." The woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?" But Saul swore to her by the Lord, "As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He answered, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!" The king said to her, "Have no fear; what do you see?" The woman said to Saul, "I see a divine being coming up out of the ground." He said to her, "What is his appearance?" She said, "An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe." So Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Saul answered, "I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams; so I have summoned you to tell me what I should do." Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you just as he spoke by me; for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you today. Moreover the Lord will give Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me; the Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines."
Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. (NRSV)
Comment
In one of the stranger passages in the Hebrew Bible, the witch of Endor summons the ghost of Samuel to answer Saul's desperate questions about the future. If things continue to worsen for the Bush administration, will George ask Karl to summon Lee Atwater?
therightchristians.org
I can't wait to see what the Impe-ster has outlined for shrub as to what his role in the end times is. |
