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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (14063)	11/26/2004 5:07:47 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

Theologians slam Bush’s use of God to justify war in Iraq By Zach Werner October 31, 2004 A majority of Divinity School faculty members at the University signed a letter of protest on October 20 condemning President Bush’s use of religious rhetoric to justify the war in Iraq. About two-thirds of active Divinity School faculty members signed the letter, in addition to a majority of associate members and emeritus faculty. The letter attacks Bush’s implication that the war in Iraq is part of God’s will, calling it “an offense to language and reason” that is “little short of sacrilege.” More: maroon.uchicago.edu

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (14063)	11/26/2004 5:40:26 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 20773

Bush not the one to carry out God's will Straight Down the Line Indiana Statesman By Ian Cornell June 16, 2004 In Bush's account, he went outside and walked alone around the circle behind the White House. He told Woodward, "As I walked ... I prayed that our troops be safe, be protected by the Almighty. Going into this period, I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will. I'm surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case I pray that I be as good a messenger of his will as possible. And then, of course, I pray for forgiveness." When, later in his conversation with Bush, Woodward asked if the president had consulted his father for advice, Bush answered, "Well, no. He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice. The wrong father to go to, to appeal to in terms of strength. There's a higher father that I appeal to." Some people may interpret these quotations differently than I do, but I read Bush's words this way: Bush believes that it is God's will that Iraq be freed from the rule of an evil dictator and that God has chosen Bush as the one who will carry out his will (be his messenger). Just like God chose Moses to lead the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt. Just like God chose Jesus to preach his message to the Jews and to die for our sins. But some Muslims, as fervently religious as Bush and as convinced of the truth of their faith, believe that God chose al-Qaida martyrs to crash airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And some devout Spanish Catholics fervently believed that God chose the Conquistadors to force Native Americans into Christianity or be slaughtered. And some fervent European Crusaders believed that God chose the Europeans to expel the Muslims from Jerusalem, slaughtering Jews and Muslims and looting their community in the process. More: indianastatesman.com --------- Bush isn't the first President to use God as a crutch. President McKinley claimed God gave him guidance to fight Filipinos for control of the Phillipines and "uplift and civilize and Christianize them." (them being those Filipinions which survived the "uplifting"). Summing up more acurately the mood of the day: "We do not want the Filipinos. We want the Philippines. The islands are enormously rich, but unfortunately, they are infested with Filipinos." --San Francisco Argonaut President Theodore Roosevelt inherited McKinley's war, quite willingly it seems. He saw Filipinos as "Chinese half-breeds," and called the invasion and occupation of the Phillipines "the most glorious war in our nation's history." President Truman hopefully also has joined McKinley and Roosevelt in Hades for his order which resulted in the incineration of two Japanese cities and its citizens, in the blink of an eye. He too thanked God for giving him the atomic bomb and Truman said "We pray that He may guide us to use it His ways and for His purpose." Perversions of faith are nothing new and sadly continue to this day. Our progeny an eon or two from now will look down on this decade with as much incredulity as we now direct at McKinley or Hitler.