Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Dangerous Delusions of Messianic Self-Faith

The founder of the US Christian Coalition said Tuesday he told President George W. Bush before the invasion of Iraq that he should prepare Americans for the likelihood of casualties, but the president told him, "We're not going to have any casualties."

Pat Robertson, an ardent Bush supporter, said he had that conversation with the president in Nashville, Tennessee, before the March 2003 invasion. He described Bush in the meeting as "the most self-assured man I've ever met in my life."

"You remember Mark Twain said, 'He looks like a contented Christian with four aces.' I mean he was just sitting here like, 'I'm on top of the world' " Robertson said on CNN show Paula Zahn Now.

"And I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. and I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualities.' "

Robertson said the president then told him, "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualities." ---CNN.com, October 20, 2004

We now realize that Bush's excitement for the Iraq war was because he would at last destroy his family's fierce enemy, Saddam Hussein. His messianic belief that our troops would incur no harm.... like Moses parting the Red Sea and the Israelites crossing without harm....was deluded and frighteningly disconnected from reality.

Bush's words and actions in our attack on Iraq, and in most of his presidential actions, reveal not faith in a prophetic messiah, but faith in himself as Messiah.

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