I saw many people declare after 9/11 that God had arranged for Bush to triumph in the 2000 election squabble in order that we as a country would have the strength to confront terrorism. I saw Bush, himself, declare that he invaded Afghanistan and Iraq because God instructed him to do so. Of course, neither of those propositions can be empirically nor even rationally proved. Those faith claims arise from the everyday emotional stew of religious inculcation. Unfortunately, a political position adopted from such a mindset is exceedingly difficult to disavow; few people are willing to admit the failure of their religion in coping with wordly affairs. So now in Iraq we have an intractable mess, where the god who commanded Bush to invade has obviously not given him instructions on how to win. The threat of terrorism has increased while we have lost millions of friends and gained millions of enemies. And yet, Bush's supporters still cling to those faith claims, while excusing away torture and death. Faith is dishonest. Honesty involves weighing evidences and arriving at appropriate conclusions. If a faithist arrives at an appropriate conclusion it's only by coincidence. Thomas Paine wrote in his brilliant The Age of Reason: But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He has also prepared himself, Mr. Paine, to not confess to any of them.
I could care less about Thomas Paine and go get a job! Some Example, an atheist! Are you against George Washington too? Now go and run away.. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: baby "During this time he wrote his famous deistic, antibiblical work The Age of Reason (2 parts, 1794 and 1795), which alienated many people. His diatribe against George Washington, Letter to Washington (1796), added more fuel to the persisting resentment against him. When Paine returned to the United States in 1802, he was practically ostracized; he died in poverty seven years later. An idealist, a radical, and a master rhetorician." The left must worship this guy! :thumb:
i would like to see this quote. until then i think you are makiing up this specific statement from some generic religious things bush said. you like to make things up.
Take it up with Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=310788 I should have said "I saw where Bush, himself, declared..." but it doesn't change the point of the post.
Oh man, Rex, they are going to have a veritable field day with you citing a Middle-Eastern publication.
1. every president ever, as well as all legit candidates, are either christians or jewish, and therefore idiots to some extent. john kerry is catholic, so its not like that is an improvement. (although i suspect he might be lying about being a practicing catholic, which begs the question of which is worse, the honest christian, or the liar). no matter what, some sort of christian is gonna be president. we should judge him on the decisions he makes, not why he claims he does them, or why you claim he does them. 2. i still would like to see the quotes where bush says what you are claiming he said. 3. i skimmed your link, but saw nothing, maybe i missed it. please point out and quote what i am supposed to see in the article. 4. i believe the following statement by rex "I saw Bush, himself, declare that he invaded Afghanistan and Iraq because God instructed him to do so." is a lie, and that rex is a liar.
Not a lie... just your predictable desperation. I did not personally witness Bush saying it, and didn't mean to state it as such. It was a hasty mistake of phrasing that took the form of the first sentence. Like I said... you're desperate.
