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I agree that, rather than focusing on whether their alleged conversion is real or not, we first need to combat the destructive actions and uncover the philosophical framework that lies beneath leaders like Bush and Nkunda. Whether they quote scripture for devilish purposes or truly believe their unlawful, immoral, unChristlike means are justified is a question for historians as we have bigger, more pressing fish to fry.
Bill Moyers created a series in the late 80's which featured the Rev. Forrest Church (son of Sen. Frank Church of the commission) in which he described our nation's "virtues" as potentially more dangerous than our "sins." He summarized this by warning that "the devil most often appears in drag." Recently, Church commented on the grip of Bush's brand of Christianity on our foreign policy:
"American fundamentalism... by trivializing sin into a moralistic catalogue of personal foibles... reserve[s] the badge of real evil for others... Luther put it this way: "The final sin of man is his unwillingness to concede that he is a sinner. ... [R]evelations of prisoner abuse in Iraq... should serve as a reminder to all of us, especially the idealists who drive our nation's foreign policy, of the first law of history: to "Choose your enemies carefully, for you will become like them."
Isn't that a pretty good summary of "the Decider" and his tragic legacy? Rather than contemplating how the sermon on the mount (which ironically I discovered via a reference in Vonnegut's last book) should affect a Christian politician's view of government, he simply says "We don't torture" and forces the soldier who reported this into retirement. (And he does this after viewing a picture of a naked Iraqi decorated by an American soldier with lights made in a Chinese factory to celebrate Christ's birth!) In short, the administration is so blinded an "with us or against us" mentality, that they don't see evil even when it plainly emerges from our side.
Rather than mobilizing the moral authority we held in the pre-9/11 world or utilizing any of the world's sympathy we received as a result of it, they disregard this rule of history, along with the Constitution and the law they swore to uphold. Instead of considering whether their policies made us like our enemies, their only response was (and still is) to accuse anyone who questions them of being a terrorist sympathizer or even an outright enemy.
This policy not only distorts true Christianity and corrupts our nation's legacy, it also plays right into the hands of a fundamentalist Islamic radical who similarly, though mistakenly, believes his own faith permits him to use devilish means to achieve heavenly ends.
