I said to a friend the other day that the presidency of George W. Bush could correctly be called the "Jesus Freak Administration", hijacked as it is by so-called Christian Conservatives whose God is little more than a sick revenge fantasy. I said to her that the problem with these Jesus freaks is that they're a lot less like Jesus and a lot more like freaks.

The born-agains got their wish: a born-again president. God help us all. My read of the Gospels and the letters of Jesus' closest disciples leads me to think that this administration is not at all what Jesus had in mind. Interestingly, the people of his time became disillusioned when this carpenter-prophet did not move to overthrow the Roman government that ruled Israel and Palestine at the time. To watch him heal the sick, give sight to the blind and even raise the dead, it was clear he had the power to if he so chose. But Jesus was about a much more profound kind of change than just a change in government. The oppressed population didn't get that, so it became easier to allow him to be executed than to really listen and understand. Jesus knew the government as it was was a symptom of a much deeper problem. So it is today and his solution still applies in my judgement.

Despite all of his statements about faith, President Bush does not have an active spiritual connection that I can discern. As Jesus said, "Not everyone who calls me 'Master' is my disciple. At the judgement, they will say, 'Haven't we done all these things in your name?' And I will say, 'I don't know you.' " Now I'm not suggesting some Grand Inquisition like the Christians believe is coming. I think the judgement is probably more personal than that. George Bush's day of reckoning is not far off. Depending on how you frame the argument, the chief sins of this administration are pride and arrogance with a healthy dose of hypocrisy. Even the old testament God of wrath particularly despised these sins. Jesus had no patience for the hypocrites of his day either.

So it seems to me that the circumstances unfolding for Bush and Co. follow scripture exactly. Pride goes before a fall, and haughty spirit before destruction. May I also add that the fall comes with a certain amusing irony.

As an observant Jew, I will not take umbrage at Camon's generally negative characterizations of the "Old Testament", because I understand that Camon is characterizing only the views of Bush&Co.

But I'm still curious about one thing. Where in the "Old Testament" does it say that the earth is flat? The only explanation I can think of is the references to the "corners" of the earth. But if that is what leads Camon to the flat-earth idea, then what does he make of the Torah reference to the "corners" of a man's beard? Does he think the Hebrews believed their heads were flat?