Comments on: Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative Listing but Not Sunk

By: Blogula Rasa » Blue State: Life is Good. Red State: Life Sucks. Why?

Blogula Rasa » Blue State: Life is Good. Red State: Life Sucks. Why? — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 06:12:56 +0000

[...] more disillusioned – David Kuo is the example I have in mind, but there are plenty of others. The Office of Faith-Based Initiatives has mostly failed… to initiate much of [...]

By: Maxie Ray

Maxie Ray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:33:32 +0000

“Keep church and state forever separate.” –Ulysses S. Grant

By: Philip V.

Philip V. — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:32:29 +0000

Maxie Ray,
How do I know GW is not a Christian? “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Not by what they say, but by what they do. Taking money away from the needy and giving it to the wealthy, slaughtering innocent civilians, imprisoning and torturing people…all these things tell me that GW is not a Christian, because these actions go against the teachings of Jesus. Your caricature of Christianity is an accurate depiction of the lunatic fringe. They are indeed a caricature of the true faith handed down by the Prophets, by Jesus, and by the Apostles. Those teachings have been in the past, and continue to be corrupted and used unscrupulously. I don’t deny that. However, don’t lump all of us in with these nuts. These groups do not represent the core teachings of Jesus Christ. And they give the rest of us Christians a bad name.

Notwithstanding that, your point is well taken with respect to faith based initiative funding. Would you be willing then to assent to allowing clerics into public institutions without federal funding? My point is, how far do you want to marginalize and persecute people of faith, by tying their hands and taping their mouths shut? Is that tolerance? When I am forbidden to pray in public who is being intolerant? You have to disagree with something in order to tolerate it. The notion that we can never disagree silences everyone and therefore turns the notion of tolerance on its head. Tolerance then becomes totalitarian.

By: Maxie Ray

Maxie Ray — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:20:35 +0000

Phillip V. apparently believes that secular taxpayers ought to pay and must pay for the government/church-wed religious activities of G W Bush’s ‘faith-based’ initiative.

In regard to his posting the law of the 1st amendment- “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” – how is it that Phillip doesn’t see his contradiction? He seems to think that it is okay as long as ALL sects get a share of the loot.

Secondly, how is it he makes the claim that Bush is not a Christian? “The problem I have with Bush is that he calls himself a Christian but he is not.”

Yes he is! Over and over, ad nauseam, Bush asserts as much. He is the best kind of Christian; he is the True Believing, the-world-is-the-battlefield-of-good-vs-evil type of Christian and he has initiated his Holy Crusade on behalf of God to further the nearer approach of The Rapture. Any one who has not yet seen Geo. W. as the counterimage of Osama ben Laden has not studied psychology 101.

It is the liberal Christians who excuse, and consequently support the fundamentalist lunatics – particularly when they do it unconciously -that scare the hell out of me.

By: Jenny Hurley

Jenny Hurley — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:42:30 +0000

I have been a Christian all my life – I am still. But the way Bush used the Faith Based Initiative and his calling and having certain preachers at the White House and at the same time his brother Neil and his dad,
George H W Bush promoting Rev Sun Moon who is the most despilcable person on the planet because Sun Moon says that he, Moon, is the Messiah, is a disgrace. Go to Sun Moon’s website and read some of this terrible sermons. And the Bush family, I have read, promotes Moon for money reasons. Either way, they should NEVER appear with Moon.

Also, most of this money went to big churches to influence votes in the congregation. Taxpayers were paying for Republican votes. If a preacher or priest needs hundreds of thousands of dollars or many times millions of taxpaayer dollars while we have people without healthcare and food, or even heat — then in my opinion that so-called church is more political than GOD FEARING.

By: Sanders Kaufman

Sanders Kaufman — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:06:28 +0000

If we have learned nothing else from The GOP and al Quaeda, it’s that religious zealots are our mortal enemies.

By: Philip V.

Philip V. — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 15:29:17 +0000

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

Having religious trained personnel available in various institutions to provide spiritual guidance and empathy does not abridge anyone’s freedoms, nor does it establish a state religion, so long as various religions are represented, and so long as all religions have an equal opportunity to apply for funds. The notion that one cannot even speak of religous matters in public space is an absurd toppling of tolerance.

The problem I have with Bush is that he calls himself a Christian but he is not. He is a murderer, a liar, and a thief. Not only that, but he is using religion as a political wedge to induce people to vote against their own economic interests. Furthermore, his Faith Based Initiative program is nothing more than using religion to cut social programs so there will be more money available for the wealthy elites to steal.