Sonoma State Star

Issue date: 2/1/06 Section: Opinion

There's little doubt our current administration is among the most religious in recent memory. This is a point of pride to many in the religious community. Bush's faith had even been a major selling point, as many would argue voters would not elect a non-believer.

The administration's cavalier attitude seen following Sept. 11 worried many in America and abroad that this president's war in Iraq was a thinly-veiled crusade. The White House has increasingly leaned upon religious themes of good and evil to justify policy and many within the President's base have beamed with the unique opportunity to proselytize what awaits in the Fertile Crescent.

I won't try to argue that Jesus would be a Democrat if alive today, though he too has been accused of being less than clear on key issues. I just can't see him supporting our President's agenda. This troubles me because Bush, for one, believes he is the Lord's president. Reporter and author Wayne Slater said in 2004, the man never makes a decision he feels is not God's will and that Bush himself believes he is the man God wants in office.

"Conservative Christian" is sounding more and more oxymoronic in the days of the faith-based initiative and intelligent design. The words themselves don't even go together. Since Thomas Jefferson first lobbied for religious freedom from the Church of England to help America avoid the faith-based bloodshed that had marked much of the history of Europe, there has been a strong conservative tradition of a "wall of separation" in this country.

After all, religious faith is, at its root, a deeply personal experience. Scholars, intellectuals and Pat Robertson have attempted for years to tell the true teachings of God from an ancient text and make them somehow palatable today. How would Jesus vote? Which movie would Jesus boycott?

The "how would Jesus act if he were alive today?" debate is a fun one but it is also fruitless. It will always come back to a simple and central theme in religion: we can't know, we can only believe. The thought of the creator of the universe backing George Bush makes me question the term "intelligent designer," but that could just be me.

There's a lot about Christianity I don't understand and I'm the son of a minister.

I won't try to bore you with a theological study on the a hypothetical and ultra-political 2006 Jesus, I've heard enough sermons in my life (see above) but, like many voters in the 2004 election, I doubt he would strongly identify with either side. And not because they aren't religious enough, I believe (and I'm sure I'll be corrected on this) that it is entirely possible to be a good Christian and not be overtly religious, that is, attend church and cite divine endorsement in all that we do.

Continued...

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