Evangelicals have more than just Bush's ear, they hold his political future and, unless he is a complete liar, his heart, mind and soul.Is he then the President of all Americans? Judeo-Christian beliefs and values no doubt lie at the foundation of the Republic, but does blind faith in a supernatural being who did or did not live and then did or did not re-live two millenniums ago belong as the fundamental criterion upon which to base decisions that effect all nations and belief-systems in the 21st Century? The question is only rhetorical at the moment because the fact is that it is a fait accompli.
A century and more after the Bible has been irrefutably proven by the discovery of beasts and humans that lived millions of years ago to be a lively, literary collection of religious musings, parables, philosophical allegories, ethical teachings and creation myths not unlike religions now considered to be paganish, ours and the world's future is in the hands of people who believe in ghosts and spirits and places such as a literal Heaven and Hell. You may be comfortable with that, I am more than just troubled by it, I fear for humankind's very survival because of it. In whose names are we still fighting wars with casualties counted in the hundreds of thousands? Jesus Christ. Allah. Jehovah. Yahweh.
If our leaders believed a bit more in the value of human life on this Earth which is a certainty, as opposed to the value of a life after death with spirits which is more than just a little speculative, might we not kill less of us in anger or for territorial and ideological hegemony? Unfortunately, my concerns are shared by a very silent majority terrified to go up against the fervor of people with faith but not humanity. And who can blame this silent majority when the superstitious minority is so very, very lethal?
Administration officials and members of Congress say the religious coalition has had an unusual influence on one of the most religious White Houses in American history. The groups have driven aspects of foreign policy and won major appointments, and they were instrumental in making sure that the president included extensive remarks on sex trafficking in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September.
No one disputes that Mr. Bush already cares deeply about those issues and has a personal faith that his advisers say brings a moral dimension to a foreign policy better known for war. "To put it simply, it's a fairly radical belief that a child in an African village whose parents are dying of AIDS has the same importance before God as the president of the United States," said Michael Gerson, Mr. Bush's chief speechwriter and an important White House policy adviser who is a born-again Christian.
But it is also true, religious leaders and administration officials note, that white evangelicals accounted for about 40 percent of the votes that Mr. Bush received in the 2000 presidential election. In 2004, political analysts say, he is unlikely to be re-elected without the strong support of this constituency, which is predominately but not wholly Republican, and which in other years has thrown significant support to southern Democrats like Bill Clinton. Mr. Rove is now tending to the constituency with great care.
"You're not going to run into too many people who are smarter than Karl," said Dr. Richard D. Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, who is in regular contact with Mr. Rove. "Karl understands the importance of this segment of his coalition, and I think the president understands it. The president feels that one of the contributory factors to his father's loss is that he didn't get as many evangelical votes as Reagan did."
The human rights issues offer a politically safe way for the president to appeal to his base of white evangelicals, who leading scholars and pollsters define by their membership in historically white evangelical denominations, like the Southern Baptists and the Assemblies of God. Evangelical churches believe that the Bible is truth, that members have an imperative to proselytize and convert and that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. ...
Other religious leaders say that this White House far surpasses the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Mr. Bush's father in its attentiveness.
"Under previous Republican administrations, they would take our calls and often return them," Dr. Land said. "In this administration, they call us. They say, you know, `What do you think about this?' " ...
Mr. [Charles W. Colson, the born-again Christian who spent seven months in jail for his role in Watergate], who has enormous influence among evangelicals because of his books, lectures and radio program, said President Bush personally told religious leaders that he was supporting them on the A.B.C. campaign in a meeting at the White House this spring.
After the meeting, Mr. Colson said he went up to Mr. Bush and said emphatically that faith-based policy worked. "He said, `You don't have to tell me,' " Mr. Colson said the president replied. "He said, `I'd still be drinking if it weren't for what Christ did in my life. I know faith-based works.' "
If that doesn't frighten most of you, then I am terrified for all of us.
