Just 17 months ago, President Bush and the Republican Party seemed to be riding a divine tide. At the GOP convention in the summer of 2004, religious rhetoric flew through the air like streamers and confetti. The GOP was being cast as “God’s Official Party.” Typifying the spirit of the campaign season, one alternate convention delegate, Judith Manning, declared to the press, “President Bush supports God, and God supports President Bush, absolutely.”
“God’s Official Party”? How dare these smug, self-righteous zealots claim the mantle of the Almighty as their very own? As far as I know, God isn’t a registered Republican, or a Democrat for that matter. Why would God give a rat’s @$$ about politics? Don’t you suppose that God, in whatever form you happen to visualize Him, has a few million other things to obsess over?
It’s easy to wrap yourself in your faith and to feel as if you are one of the Chosen. History is replete with examples of demagogues who rose to power claiming God’s blessing and mandate. What I fail to understand is how Republicans can honestly claim that God is on their side. The problem with this attitude is that it usually comes with an overbearing arrogance and disdain for those who happen not to believe as you do. After all, if God is on your side, doesn’t that mean that you then have the right to ignore and repress those not enlightened enough to share your Christian beliefs?
What sort of mean-spirited arrogance powers these zealots? Well, judging by what we’ve seen for the past five years, it’s borderline criminal.
For his part, the president for months had been invoking religious themes to justify the war in Iraq, stating on numerous occasions that freedom ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ the objective in Iraq ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ was not America’s gift to mankind, but “God’s gift to every man and woman in this world.”
Dubious at the time, the God’s-on-our-side rhetoric is looking even less credible now, after more than a year of frequently bad news for the president and his administration.
Therein lies a lesson our political leaders would do well to remember the next time they’re tempted to invoke God for partisan politics, whether the cause is liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican. Be careful, lest unfolding events make you and your pious claims look downright foolish.
And right now, few people look more foolish than those uber-pious,self-righteous religious zealots who are claiming that God votes Republican. Well, guess what, y’all? I don’t think God much cares, and He certainly isn’t likely to throw His considerable weight behind a collection of arrogant, self-absorbed, intolerant, hateful bigots convinced that they are the Chosen Ones.
Tellingly, the president and his political brethren aren’t invoking the divine as frequently or boldly these days. It’s reminiscent of high-profile athletes who are eager to cite God in moments of triumph, but rarely invoke religion after an embarrassing failure or big loss.
The past year has been anything but triumphant for Bush. The president’s approval rating dipped below 40% this fall before rebounding somewhat. Criticism of the Iraq war is steady, along with doubts that the president has been completely honest with the American people both before and during the war. The Bush White House has found itself associated with cruel deeds such as torture and prisoner abuse….
The past year has brought a series of scandals involving prominent Republicans. Among them: former U.S. representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who resigned after admitting he took bribes, and Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who is under indictment in a campaign-finance conspiracy case.
The attempt by Bush and his allies to intervene in the Terri Schiavo matter in the name of Christian ideals looked like the worst form of pious grandstanding to many Americans, religious and non-religious alike. All this from “God’s Official Party”?
Unfortunately, those who live by the sword all too often die by the sword. Those who claim the mantle of Divine Provenance in their moment of triumph…well, what are they going to fall back on when they’re exposed as a collection of corrupt zealots? Surely, God hasn’t abandoned them? Uh, no; most likely God was never the reason for their success in the first place. It’s just fashionable to claim that God is on your side. If it makes you feel validated, that’s great, but do you really think that God gives a damn which party happens to be ruling Washington? Get over your arrogant selves, willya??
