In reaction to "George Bush's new-fangled (liberal) Faith"

Today I stumbled over Paul Raushenbush's post at Beliefnet's Progressive Revival blog, titled "George Bush's (liberal) Faith."
In it Raushenbush (what's in a name...) states that in his opinion George Bush revealed that his approach to the bible, evolution and to other religions has more in common with liberal protestants than with his fundamentalist political amen corner, as was "made clear" in what he calls "a surprising ABC Nightline interview on Monday."

When asked if he thought the bible was literally true Bush answered: "You know. Probably not. ... No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament for example is ... has got ... You know, the important lesson is 'God sent a son,'"

When asked if he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs Bush said: "I do believe there is an almighty that is broad and big enough and loving enough that can encompass a lot of people,"

And when asked about creation and evolution Bush answered: "I think you can have both. I think evolution can -- you're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president. But it's, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution."

Raushenbush elatedly wrote: "Check, check, check, - Oh, my God, George Bush and I have have the same world view!!!"

Holy Schmoly! Along with Pat Robertson, Michelle Malkin, Karl Rove, Shaun Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and other faux Christians forever trumpeting their smallish, boorish, hypocrite ideas about family, abortion, gays, and God, Raushenbush too can't live with the fact that Bush's set of religious values have nearly destroyed the economy, democracy, the environment, plus the lives of thousands of US soldiers and their families and tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens in New Orleans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He's leaving behind America as a severely broken and bankrupt stinking shit-hole on a hill—to paraphrase Reagan.

These are some of the reasons religious Americans voted for Obama, risking their Christian and Republican souls for some liberal ointment, perhaps seeing in Obama the Messiah they're always hoping for to put an end to thievery, greed, bribery, adultery, and all those other character traits Republican politicians and evangelical leaders are regularly being indicted for. Throughout history there have been terrible leaders and Bush's name can easily be added to a list that includes Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco, Idi Amin, and Mao Tse Tung, if only for alienating a very large segment of the nation and making the world a more dangerous place by being a poster boy for terrorist recruitment.

To Raushenbush that doesn't seem to matter as he continues with, "George Bush was trusted by a large segment of the Christian population because he publicly articulated a profound personal experience of God through Jesus Christ. This interview reveals that someone can have an authentic religious experience without the burdens of Biblical literalism, anti-science suspicions and Christian triumphalism."

That's it? Nothing about how that trust was betrayed? Rather, elation about the fact that in the end George The Merciless's religious experience was "profound." Is this guy for real? Who gives a flying fuck that Hitler went to church? Is that the religious right's ultimate standard by which a man's or woman's character is judged? Oh, I forgot, judging's up to the Almighty... Yet, I've never felt so judged by Republicans, even those among my friends, who project as much disdain as they can into uttering the label "Liberal" as during the last eight years (in which not a single Democrat was appointed by Bush and instead were singled out and ejected from many government posts, only to be replaced by Republican yes men and women—an action not unlike Hitler's reinheit-drive to rid Germany of the "impure").

But Raushenbush appears oblivious of any historical context and ultimately loses me when he states, "Contrary to popular belief, George Bush is no dummy," after first quoting the three above-referenced horrible, awkwardly-worded attempts by George The Theologist at forming complete sentences to do with his "faith." Raushenbush's jubilation at holding the same world view as George The Unrepentable (who at the end of his reign has begun appearing on TV in sheepskin, maybe hoping to erase all our negative memories) only shows what little evidence he needs to feel comforted by all those that engage in, support, vote for, and generally embrace discrimination, war, killing, and walk lock-step with the big corporations that control politics and thus our lives. No matter what myopic worldview George The Blind Bat has, Raushenbush, by comparing Bush to himself only gives validity to the idea that one does not have to be smart to be elected president if there are enough others lacking intelligence. Sadly, there are plenty and for 8 long years George The Decider was their Über-Dummy.

If the idea of an Almighty as one with sensibilities and reason was what many saw reflected in George Bush I'd proffer that as a mighty insult to the Almighty. As a result of having our own Gang of Four at the helm (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rove) we have witnessed quite the opposite of everything commonly attributed to Jesus's teachings, and still Raushenbush goes back to crawl up the apparently cozy rectum of George The Warmonger who sarcastically (others might say "humbly") stated in his ABC interview that he's "just a simple president."
Sure. Someone you'd like to have a beer with. The Other Son of God. The Man with a Mission who wanted to be a Uniter but became a Divider by seeing himself as The Decider. The Chosen One who'd set the world straight on the path to Armageddon.

To his credit, Raushenbush finally had me laughing when he revealed himself as totally inadequate to grasp what the elections had wrought by saying, "Hopefully other political and religious figures on the right will follow suit. Governor Huckabee?"

Raushenbush, dude, the religious right got it royally wrong, and that includes that has-been Huckabee who'd sent gays straight to hell if he could! Except for you, no one's waiting for the televised remodeling of the collapsed Republican and religious right wedding cake. Certainly not redressed with some liberal sauce du jour. America finally woke up and grabbed power from the greedy grubby Republican and religious right dead-wrong hands. We're no longer interested in their or your misguided, juxtaposed, miserable, and entirely backward world views.

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