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CounterPunch
November
20, 2002
Did Bush Blaspheme?
by STEPHEN B. CHAPMAN
In his speech about the Middle East crisis on
June 24 of this year, President Bush concluded by quoting Deuteronomy
30:19, "I have set before you life and earth; therefore,
choose life." Given that he was calling_for the first time
ever--for a change within the leadership of the Palestinian people,
it was odd (to say the least) that he chose a verse from Hebrew
scripture to make his point. Was it any accident that many commentators
in the Arabic world thought he had already picked sides with
this kind of rhetoric?
In that example the president may seem
wrongheaded but still religiously orthodox. But in his speech
to the nation this year on the anniversary of September 11, he
concluded with another verse of scripture, this one from the
New Testament: John 1:5, "And the light shines in the darkness.
And the darkness has not overcome it." In John, this reference
is to Christ, the long-expected messiah who has now finally arrived
to do his unique work on God's behalf. The president, however,
was using this verse to refer to the light of the <U.S.A>.
and how the darkness of terrorism will not be able to extinguish
it. (Bush changed the tense of the verse here, making it future
instead of past.) The connection could not have been clearer,
given that he was shown by all the cameras as standing in front
of a brilliantly illuminated Statue of Liberty.
A long tradition of scriptural figuration
exists within American history in which the U.S. is viewed as
a kind of new "Israel." Both the Puritan John Winthrop
and the Republican Ronald Reagan spoke of our country as like
the biblical "city on a hill," the "light of the
world" (Matthew 5:14). The implications of this analogy
are somewhat troubling to me, but at least the analogy represents
a view of national identity based upon the idea of the "people
of God" found within scripture. Much more troubling to me,
however, is the new and completely unparalleled usage of President
George W. Bush, in which the U.S. is described with language
the New Testament reserves to Christ alone.
The tragedy here is that George Bush
considers himself an evangelical Christian, and yet he and his
right wing supporters can apparently no longer recognize blasphemy
for what it is. In my view, when the state takes on messianic
significance, it ceases to be justly authorized (e.g., Romans
13 describes this kind of state) and becomes essentially demonic
(e.g., Revelation 13 describes this kind of state). The only
possible response for Christians then becomes one of civil disobedience.
If George Bush was serious about America
having a messianic role to play in world affairs, then he and
his view must be opposed by every Christian. We are patriots,
but patriots first for Christ.
If George Bush didn't really mean what
he seems to have said, then he was intolerably sloppy and has
much to learn about responsible speech--from both a Christian
and a political perspective.
Stephen B. Chapman is an Assistant Professor of Old Testament studies
at Duke Divinity School.
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