Christianity Today

Bush says stuff

This is a religion blog, and today, Weblog is starving. There's much to say about Bush's acceptance speech (video) last night, but only if Weblog were a political blog, not a religion one.

There's this, of course: "Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom." But what to say about that? Beliefnet's Steve Waldman translates: "We have a divine mandate to fight for freedom in the world." The Nation's David Corn takes it even further: "The 2004 campaign is a referendum on whether the United States should wage a crusade to bring liberty to the repressed of the world—particularly in the Middle East—in order to heed the call of God and to protect the United States from terrorists who target America because they despise freedom."

Or maybe it was just an applause line.

Here are some other applause lines:

Because a caring society will value its weakest members, we must make a place for the unborn child. Because religious charities provide a safety net of mercy and compassion, our government must never discriminate against them. Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society, I support the protection of marriage against activist judges. And I will continue to appoint federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the law.

Waldman and a few others took issue with earlier speech references, from George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani, saying that God put Bush in office to led the country through September 11. "He is one of those men God and fate somehow lead to the fore in times of challenge," Pataki said last night. But here's a question: Wouldn't even Southern Baptist Al Gore say that Providence ...

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