09/02/2004: "Yo, Mr. President! On your knees, now!"

From Doug LeBlanc at GetReligion comes this excerpt from a Time interview with President Bush:

[Time] Faith is important to you. Have you ever prayed for Saddam?

[Bush] No.

[Time] There is that challenge to pray for your enemies.

[Bush] Absolutely. But you asked me a personal question, Do I pray for him? No, I haven't. I pray for a lot of things. I pray for the safety of our troops, I pray for those whose hearts are broken because of the decisions I made, I pray for strength, I pray for wisdom. Maybe I will [pray for Saddam], now that you've asked the question.

I certainly hope so. Just because he's president, or the country's at war, or Saddam did horrible things, doesn't give George Bush a dispensation from Christ's commands. I hope he takes seriously this challenge from a secular magazine, because if Time is looking at him to see if he lives by the faith he professes, you know millions of other people are as well.

Replies: 4 Comments

on Thursday, September 2nd, Christopher said

Bah! That Times reporter, and certainly most of it's regular readers have no idea what to "pray for your enemies" even really means. The question is a "Gotcha" question. I pray, sincerely hope and pray, that the president does NOT take this "challenge" seriously, unless he understands the evil, or more accurately the Evil One, behind it. I can say all this as an Orthodox Christian and as one who will NOT be voting for the president (neither will I be voting for Kerry either...).

on Friday, September 3rd, Athanasius said

Ok, Christopher, if you don't like that reason, how about this one: it's the right thing to do, as obeying our Lord is always the right thing to do. I don't buy the idea that just because it's secular people who point out our failings as Christians, that therefore the admonishment is invalid. Was Time playing "gotcha"? Sure. And the president answered the question honestly. But that doesn't mean he should be proud of his answer, or that the reporter was wrong to point out the contradiction.

on Friday, September 3rd, Christopher said

It is the right thing to do, yes. However, what about the myriad of the man's other's sins? Why did not the reporter not ask whether he ever gets angry or testy with his wife or children, whether he treats every stranger with the love they deserve, or rather he always loves the Lord God with his whole heart, mind, and soul? Because the source of the question is from a petty man who understands almost nothing of Christianity but does want to get a "gotcha" on a man he considers his political (and maybe even mortal) enemy. I mean, of all the sins this man commits everyday (not to put him below me, because I am "chief of sinners") why take this one out and highlight it? Christianly speaking, he is much more likely to be confronted with far worse when he comes face to face with Christ on His Dread Judgment Seat. IMO, I just think it is quite a stretch to make anything of this other than to see the Evil in it. Here we have a man who most likely prays more, and more correctly, than any president in the last 100 years and the Times actually asserts that it is not enough, even though they don't even believe in the very idea of prayer?!?! *sigh*...

on Friday, September 3rd, Athanasius said

I certainly agree with you in your assessment of the reporters from Time and their motives. I also agree that there are a lot more sins one could ask about, and they probably would have if they didn't approve of some of them! :-)