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I don't believe that Peggy Noonan's comments come from envy--but then, how would I know? And how would anyone? I don't think criticizing Noonan for motivations she may have is constructive.

I disagree with Peggy Noonan's assertion that there was too much "God" in the president's speech. I do, however, agree that ending tyranny is impossible, and so is establishing heaven on earth. Any attempt to make heaven here will inevitably end in failure--if we're lucky, only failure. Communism was preached as establishing Utopia; it ended in oppression and gulags. (And no, I'm not suggesting that this will be the result of President Bush's policy.)

There were a lot of things I liked about this speech, and two I didn't. The first is the exaltation of liberty, as if it is the best and ultimate cure for the world's problems. I think, personally, that the world's problems come because people are bad--the best people have a little sin in them, and the worst are like Adolf Hitler--and democracy cannot make people good. People can make democracies good; democracies can put down tyrants, and democracies can install tyrants. The Nazis were put in power by "the people". The goodness or badness of a democracy depends on the goodness or badness of a majority of its people. The idea that a government determined by the people is, ipso facto, a good government disturbed me, as did the idea of Freedom As Savior Of The World.

The second thing I disliked about the speech was the reference to the Koran: "the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran." How about these words of the Koran: "Slay the enemy wherever you find him" (Surah 9:92)? Doesn't this Islamic terrorism spring from the fact that some people pay a little too much attention to the words of the Koran? And what's with lumping Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mohammed together? Mohammed was a murderer who (talk about child-brides) married a six-year-old; is he really on the same level as Christ? Does Mohammed rank with Christ? Is the Koran just as creditable as the Bible? Am I wrong in thinking that the president's formulation puts Christianity and Islam (Christ and Mohammed, the Bible and the Koran) on the same level?

President Bush claims to be a Christian, and I believe him. But it puzzles me why he keeps on praising a religion that explicitly denies Jesus Christ.