Posted on 01/15/2005 4:19:58 AM PST by Clive
I have to admit it. U.S. President George Bush is beginning to grow on me.
In an interview with a Washington newspaper this past week, he made two statements that have landed him in a certain amount of trouble, but which are in fact supremely wise.
The first was that a political leader, particularly an American president, should be a person of faith. The second was that women should never have to fight on the ground, in the front line, in a military conflict.
As for the former, he is absolutely correct. People who believe in their own supremacy rather than that of a higher being are far more capable of acts of sadism and horror. Stalin, Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot, among others, have taught us that.
Yes, I know that religious people have committed terrible crimes down the ages, but they have done so in spite of, and in contradiction to, their beliefs. Atheists have no such moral compass and may act according to will and whim.
Popular myth has it that religion has caused more wars and led to more suffering than anything else in history. Glib and gruesome. Death camps, genocide and world wars are almost exclusively the product of the hatred, not the love, of God.
As for the latter remark, Bush's view of women in combat may be unfashionable, but that does not make it any less ethical or accurate.
Equality does not mean the elimination of differences. Women can be prime ministers, women can be editors, women can be business leaders, women can be almost anything they want to be.
They have a fundamental right to equal pay, equal privileges and equal dignity. But the right to not be women is not a right at all but an abuse of nature. And women as killers is precisely that, a destruction of the quintessence of what it means to be a female.
Front-line soldiers exist to shoot, injure and kill. And sometimes to die. We can pretend that the combat death of a woman, a mother, is just the same as the loss of a man, a father, but lies of political convenience have never been particularly useful.
There are also issues of sheer practicality. No man worth the description would defend a male comrade in need before he defended a female soldier. Thus women in combat infantry roles would put other fighters in profound danger.
More than this, however, there is something sacred and unique about a woman's ability to give birth, to nurse, to be the epicentre of life. This is not an opinion but a bright, shining reality. One that, if we are honest, only an enemy of women would reject.
It's also worth remembering that a great many of the people who push gender equality in the armed forces and are angry at Bush care not a jot for the armed forces -- but care everything for gender equality. They follow an obsession, which at its logical conclusion will obliterate the differences between men and women.
Feminism was at one time a means to an end, a way of improving the lot of women. It has now too often become an end in itself, confused in its ideology and confusing in its intentions.
Feminists embraced peace and were opposed to war. Now they want women to drop bombs on the enemies of their government.
Countries such as Israel, with years of bloody war experience, experimented with using women in combat roles but quickly reversed the policy.
In the first Gulf war, the U.S. used a small number of women as pilots. Some performed well, some went to pieces -- one was captured and repeatedly raped by her captors.
Yet even if all of them had been heroes, we must question a society that increasingly marginalizes motherhood but desires its women to plunge bayonets and throw grenades. It's a sin to stay at home with the children and have a large family, but a modernist virtue to fire a flame-thrower.
It's really very simple. The day women as front-line soldiers die to defend any country is the day that country is no longer worth defending.
Bush understands this. Perhaps because he is precisely what he said in his interview -- a man of faith.
Yes. Thank God!!!
Isn't it amazing how it scares some people that a man will actually daily ask God for strength, wisdom, and guidance to do the right thing?
Nope.
FAR worse for the terrorists...
It speaks volumes about where they are with respect to God, doesn't it?
If there is one place that government has no business, it is in determining, defining or even thinking about "equality."
Good point. Seems to me that an atheist who took, say, the Bill of Rights or some concept of Natural Rights that did not depend on a deity would have a moral compass. Possibly, a decent one.
Being a Christian is not simply believing in Christ. Demons believe in Him as well. That's not to suggest there are no democrats that are not Christians, just that belief alone is not salvation.
At the same time, some Republicans who make a show of being Christian ARE poseurs. Not most, in my opinion, but some.
Sad, but very true.
And I admit I have a hard time knowing what's sincere and what isn't.
37 And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. Matthew 22:37-38
Democrat, Republican or Independent, if one doesn't observe the greatest commandment of God then they are not really a "good" Christian.
And again.
"More than this, however, there is something sacred and unique about a woman's ability to give birth, to nurse, to be the epicentre of life. This is not an opinion but a bright, shining reality. One that, if we are honest, only an enemy of women would reject."
Which makes Democrats and Liberals the enemies of women.
Michael Coren wrote a wonderful article about the US back in July:
Sat, July 31, 2004
God bless America
Enough U.S. bashing, says Michael Coren -- for all of its faults, our great southern neighbour still deserves our heartfelt gratitude and support
By MICHAEL COREN -- For the Toronto Sun
Full article may be seen at: http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Michael_Coren/2004/07/30/563706.html
It's our nature to nurture,
protect and defend,
at home or on front lines
we'll fight to the end.
Some gals are suited
for combat from home,
while some fight abroad,
some with help, some alone.
Wherever the battle,
of wits or brute force,
it's talent that matters,
and honor, of course.
I attend a four-thousand-member nondenominational Christian church that is about 50% white and 50% everything else. I have never been in a place that's so color-blind, so peaceful, or so devoid of cliques, nastiness, and argument. While the head pastor is white, other pastors are not, and people of every conceivable ethnic background find a home there. This is what Christ's church should look like. You would find many nondenominational churches that are the same. We are a conservative island in liberal Washington DC, to judge from the bumper stickers in the (overflowing) parking lot. This is the kind of thing you need to shop for. Please cut and past this url since turning it into a clickable link is for some reason not working for me today: www.church-redeemer.org
A Canuck with that much sense should be in the USA. He'd make a worthy addition.
I thought he always looked good, but more so as Governor of Texas, Texas Rangers Owner, Oil Company Owner and even more when he was a member of the Texas Air National Guard...
:o)
ping for later....
That would be Michael Coren of CFRB... He's been quietly pro-Bush for a long time.
You need some background for Coren. He has not been a fan of Bush and the Iraq war for some time. I found this puzzling as he trended heavily conservative most of the time. He has a Jewish background and is a Christian convert and has his own tv show in Canada and does writes a column for the Sun on occasion. He also speaks with an English accent so I assume he grew up in the UK. I stopped listening or reading much by him when he started opposing Bush and the Iraq war.
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