Empty Pew: Why W Doesn't Go to Church

[eauclaireliberal]

Empty Pew: Why W Doesn't Go to Church


>>>The first excuse conservatives provide is that Bush can't possibly be expected to have time to go to church, what with being leader of the free world and all. Yet, during Jimmy Carter's four years in the White House, he found time not only to attend a Baptist church in the Washington, D.C., area, but to teach Sunday school there as well. For a presidential delegator like Bush--who has freed up enough time to spend approximately one-third of his presidency on vacation--finding a few hours for church should be a snap.

But, even if Bush had the time for church services, supporters protest, the security precautions necessary for a presidential visit would drive congregants away. This is the exact same argument the Reagan White House trotted out to explain why the patron saint of the religious right hardly ever attended church from 1981 to 1989. Bomb-sniffing dogs, metal detectors, and security personnel, so the theory goes, would pose an onerous burden for the average church. "The president wants to avoid the sort of major weekly disruption that would be caused if he went to church," says David Aikman, author of A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush.

As it happens, I attended Foundry United Methodist Church for several years during the late '90s when the Clintons were members there. The only imposition was the extra ten seconds it took to walk through a metal detector. Parishioners did not leave the church in droves; on the contrary, many were pleasantly surprised to find that the Clintons played an active role in church life, particularly while Chelsea was involved in the choir and youth group.

If time and security aren't the reasons, what excuse does that leave? The very fact that the president doesn't attend church, some leading conservatives insist, is proof of what a good Christian he is. Unlike certain past presidents they could name but won't--ahem, cough, Bill Clinton--Bush doesn't feel the need to prove his religiosity. "This president has not made an issue of where he goes to church," says Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. "I find it refreshing that we don't have a president coming out of church with a large Bible under his arm." Conservatives relish this opportunity for a little gratuitous Clinton-bashing.<<<

[Dickie Flatt]

1. It's nice to know that practicing Christianity in some way shape or form..

is not a prerequisite for being a Christian.

[Benhurst]

2. God visits Bush* on a daily basis to tell him what to do. Under

the circumstances it would be selfish for The Leader to take even more of God's time on His day of rest.

[Sannum]

3. Well, according to that logic,

I must be the best Christian Ever! I haven't been to Church since I was 10. Who knew that not going to church makes you a better christian!

[Inland]

4. Do rightwingers ever get tired of tailoring morality and piety to fit

themselves only? Clinton goes to church, Bush doesn't, so going to church must be a bad thing. Clinton is smart, Bush isn't, so being smart is a bad thing. Kerry went to war, Bush went to the national guard, so Kerry gamed the system and Bush risked his life defending America. Bush's drug use and alcohol abuse--made him more compassionate and understanding as he punishes with prison terms others who got caught before they quit.

I am so sick of the conservatives' rock beats scissors beats paper logic, where the presupposition is that you can't ever, ever admit that any conservative could do wrong or the entire house of cards collapses. Why not just deify Bush and call it a day?

[indepat]

14. Has not deification, for all practical purposes, already been bestowed?

[Inland]

15. Seems like everything is already taken place except the official notice

of divinity.

[tuvor]

5. Now, why would bush go somewhere and worship himself?

That's just silly.

[Raster]

6. bush* doesn't attend church because he's not a Christian.

[arikara]

18. You beat me to it...

he would spontaneously combust if he set foot in a church.

[Florida_Geek]

7. Funny Reagun and Bushie do not go to Church

but the religious Right love them.

[flordehinojos]

8. did you know that bush's great-grandfather GEORGE WALKER was sent to a

Catholic Seminary by his family because they wanted him to become a priest; that he left the seminary under his own power and will because he did not believe in priests nor the church; that his leaving the church caused a rift between him and his family and that a further rift may have been formed when he chose to marry a protestant lady? Their offspring, Dorothy Walker, was George Herbert POPPY Walker Bush's mother.

I really doubt that religion or spirituality has every played any major role in any of the bushes' lives.

[pacifictiger]

12. Bush's great-great grandfather

was an episcopal minister - reverend james smith bush.
(edit - paternal line)

[DemBones DemBones]

9. A couple of important points here:

1) People don't know this.

"What most--including many of the president's fiercest supporters--don't know, however, is that Bush doesn't go to church."

Now, maybe every churchgoing Bush** supporter in America would make the same (very lame) excuses for Dubya that conservatives made in this article. But I tend to doubt it. Most people who go to church think that if you believe, you go to church.


2) The media aren't reporting this.

It should be a politically intriguing story. Bush is one of the most explicitly religious politicians in American history. Both of his presidential campaigns have used religion to appeal emotionally to voters. <SNIP>

And yet, after the flood of coverage around Bush's first--and only--visit to a neighborhood church during inauguration weekend in Washington, D.C., no one has bothered to report on the president's whereabouts on Sunday mornings.

Actually, we have seen Bush** make a few photo op appearances at churches -- I'm thinking of a little Methodist church in Texas he's attended and he and Laura attending Mass with Jeb the Sunday before the election (nice touch, Karl, you're really trying for the Catholic vote.) But surely some of us are old enough to remember when the Monday newspaper would carry a large photo of the President and First Lady leaving church on Sunday morning? I think they were all regular churchgoers right up to Reagan, another I'm-a-Christian-but-can't-be-bothered-with-church sort of person.

Now, is there a way to get this news about Bushyboy out there? A way to help people see him as we do, as a sham and a snake oil salesman?

[madison2000]

10. And do his wife and daughters attend church?

Where's his family values? Did they ever take their girls to Church? Bush wasn't president when they were children.
You never hear a peep about religion from Laura, do you?
And what about the twins- Church of the Open Bar?

[patdem]

11. Why does he have to attend church when the MSM posts pics like this?

[agincourt]

13. The cult leader doesn't need to go to church,

The repiglican party is his church. No sense for Hee Haw to learn something from a sermon, when his zombie sheeple followers think that he's infallible anyway.

[spanone]

16. When you're the King, God comes to you.

He's as phony a christian as he is president.

[BrklynLiberal]

17. H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E!!!!!!

[Bridget Burke]

19. Doesn't he usually take weekends off?

He's at Camp David, at the Pig Farm, or in transit. No time for church.

[hollowdweller]

20. Here is Bush's "Swiftboat" never used against him by Kerry campaign

The Dems just seem to be either to civil or too stupid to go for the jugular a lot of times.

[shiina]

21. LOL

Man, if * doesn't kill us all with his wars, environmental destruction or just plain startvation from ruining the economy, I might live an extra 10 years from all the laughing...

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

22. He could accidentally get hit by holy water

which would probably leave nasty burning marks. The incence makes him uncomfortable as well. :evilgrin:

[terry4kerry]

23. The reason W doesn't go to church is because he thinks he is god..

[rodeodance]

24. most people do not seem to care--that the US/we are regressing as long

as they accumulate wealth (and power).