Bush Blessing, Kerry Curse?

I know there's been alot written about evangelicals believing Bush is guided by a supreme being, but a Beliefnet article provides some absolutely astonishing quotes from leaders of the Christian right. Excerpts:

“This was Providence,” evangelical leader and presidential adviser Charles Colson told Beliefnet. “Anybody looking at the 2000 election would have to say it was…a miraculous deliverance, and I think people felt it again this year.” By allowing Bush to stay in office, Colson said, God is “giving us a chance to repent and to restore some moral sanity to American life.”

Richard Land, a leading Southern Baptist who participates in a weekly strategy call between the White House and evangelical leaders put it this way: “Whoever won, it would have been God’s will.” But because Bush won, Land told Beliefnet, God has clearly shown America his blessings. If Kerry had won, it would have proved God was cursing the United States. “The Bible says godly leadership is a sign of God’s blessings and a lack of godly leadership is a sign of God’s judgment. I don’t see Kerry as a godly leader.”

Meanwhile, Paul Weyrich, founder of the and one of the original engineers of the conservative Christian political revolution, wrote an essay claiming that “God gave this President and this President’s Party one more chance…God heard the fervent prayers of millions of values voters to keep His hand on America one more time despite our national sins of denying the right to life, despite ignoring the Biblical injunction against acts which are ‘an abomination unto the Lord’ and despite the blatant attempt to remove God from the public square.”
[. . .]
Plenty of ordinary American evangelicals also believe that by allowing Bush to be re-elected, God has given the United States another chance. For months leading up to the election, many Christians nationwide prayed and fasted, in an effort led by Intercessors for America, to assist in Bush’s re-election.

Take a few minutes to read the entire article and you may find yourself wondering if we really are living in a secular democracy in the 21st century.  This kind of panicky dependence on almighty intervention to save us from the boogieman is eerie and creepy, at least to me . I guess this kind of "faith" does get you off the hook, freeing you from any need to make an effort beyond praying, fasting and finger pointing at the evil ones -- those who are different, those who are "other."

Remember what Pogo said, oh so long ago? "We have met the enemy . . . and he is us." Doesn't ring a bell with these people. Why bother with analyzing your own part in the problems we face when you can blame it all on "them," while claiming that god is on your side? It's "them" causing the problems, only god can fix it, so why bother with things like stricter environmmental laws or seeking justice for all? And anyway, as long as events play out as "ordained" in the Middle East, stay tuned for The Rapture!

I have alot of respect for spirituality and good deeds driven by a conscience, whether humanist or religious, but this bunch is just beyond belief. Ouch.

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