Bush A Religious Bigot? Yes, says The New Republic

http://www.claywaters.com/blogger.html ^ | Clay Waters

[edmundburk]

screams the 3.25.02 cover of The New Republic.

The New Republic editor Peter Beinart had a vision: Neither Bush nor Atty. General Ashcroft have mentioned nonbelievers since 9-11, meaning they are trying to write atheists out of America’s moral community. That’s what The New Republic editor Peter Beinart claims in his TRB (The Real Bologna? Tom Robinson Band? ).

It’s impossible to prove a negative, so we must take his assertion on faith, as it were. Among Beinart’s non-corporeal evidence: After 9-11,

“Muslim dignitaries were invited to pray in the East Reception Room before listening to Bush tell the assembled that ‘America seeks peace with people of all faiths.’ And with that line, Bush exhibited the same moral blindness as his attorney general. Of course the United States seeks peace with people of all faiths. But what about people of no faith at all? In fact, the Bush administration never mentions nonbelievers….And when he and his top advisers, in hundreds and hundreds of statements, never miss an opportunity to exclude nonbelievers, it's hard to believe the exclusion is purely accidental….for this administration, celebrating the dignity of all believers has become a way to impugn the dignity of those who believe in no religion at all.”

But 9-11 has nothing to do with atheists or agnostics, God bless’m. Why bring in atheism when discussing a holy war pitting a Muslim jihad against a Jewish state and a majority Christian country?

“If Bush and Ashcroft really think that, then they should have the courage to say it, and open up their arguments to scrutiny and rebuttal. What they are doing instead is worse: implicitly writing atheists and agnostics out of America's moral community. When they describe the country they love, they describe a place where people of different faiths live in harmony and equality, and where people who follow no faith simply do not exist.”

So Beinart takes his opinion of what “many cultural conservatives believe,” projects it onto Bush and Ashcroft, then accuses them of not owning up to “writing atheists and agnostics out of America’s moral community.”

Beinart’s God-like assurance that he can see into Bush’s and Ashcroft’s hearts makes Justice William O. Douglas’ constitutional “penumbras and adumbrations” look positively modest.

Besides, mature adults (atheist or otherwise) don’t rely on a presidential pat on the head to reassure themselves of the rightness of their teleology. Where that leaves Beinart I don’t presume to know. But then, I don’t have a hotline to Heaven.

[justshutupandtakeit]

That is correct. Buddhism is a way of life designed to suppress human desire and thereby clear the way to Nirvana (a state of non-being) but not a religion per se. The Dalai Lama has even stated that, for example, a Christian does not have to cease being a Christian to become a Buddhist. You can argue about that but that is what the top guy says.

[justshutupandtakeit]

My response was to #8 Johnny M not 14- Phantom Lord. But since you asked see #59

[stands2reason]

If you believe in nothing OR are agnostic, you can still realise morals are worthwhile because to live without them means to be unhappy. It can have nothing to do with a "greater reward." Do you believe that morals are only good for that greater reward? Immorality causes suffering in this life, too, not just in the next.

[stands2reason]

I suppose one could be Christian and Buddhist. Buddhism has a lot of teachings on how to avoid sin. But Not many Christian sects would agree. Of course, Dalai Lama is Zen which is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism and I couldn't tell you anything about what that sect believes. I'm Hinayana Buddhist which is more orthodox than Mahayana and way less popular. Hinayana ain't about "one hand clapping" yourself to Nirvana. There's nothing easy or magical about it. It's about morals, and following the Dharma. Now, I am agnostic about what happens after death, but I know that the Dharma will best prepare me for a good life on this earth, and who knows, maybe a good afterlife.

[luvzhottea]

President Bush is a great man, the man who meets the demands of this moment in history. I support my President, I worked hard to help get him elected and boy am I glad I did. Can you imagine if the whole nation had voted the way New York and California did? These attitudes in the leftist rag New Republic are typical of the blue zone.
Attacks on American Muslims Reaffirm Wisdom of 2nd Amendment
"Natural Conservatives" Muslims deliver for the GOP by Grover Norquist The American Spectator: June 2001
Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist's website
American Conservative Union Biography: Grover G. Norquist

[TheHeterodoxConservative]

"Muslim dignitaries were invited to pray in the East Reception Room"

and Atheists weren't. So he's upset that Bush didn't invite atheists to pray with him?

[justshutupandtakeit]

I am a Christian (or at least trying to be) and don't see anything in Buddhism which is antithetical to Christianity unlike Islam for example. But some might claim statues of the Buddha are idols though Buddhists don't consider him to be a God. However, I am not a rigid sectarian either.

It appears to me that a Buddhist "sin" would be considered a sin in Christ's teachings as well. Many Christians would consider the doctrine of reincarnation to be antithetical to Christianity. I don't.

[stands2reason]

Actually, I agree with you. It's not that Buddhism is incompatible with Christianity per se, it's that few Christian denominations will agree. (Unitarian is all that I can think of)