New York Times Goes Christian Bashing Again!
Traditional Values Coalition | 10/22/2004 | TVC
 

Posted on 10/22/2004 12:53:00 PM PDT by cybersaint
 

NEW YORK TIMES AND VOICES OF DESPAIR LINE-UP AGAINST BUSH AND “FAITH-BASED” PRESIDENCY

Cover Story Says Bush’s Faith Makes Him “Just Like” Al Qaeda

Washington, DC – The cover story of the New York Times Sunday Magazine was headlined “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush” and it surveyed a long list of mostly liberal or disgruntled Republicans concerning the President’s religious beliefs.

“This is a vicious, last-minute attack on the President and all faith-filled citizens,” said Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition.

“America was founded by people of faith and, if you believe George Washington, can be successful only as long as people of faith are its citizens.”

George Washington said, in his farewell address on September 19, 1796, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them.”

“One ex-official interviewed in the article volunteers that George Bush is “so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy …because he’s just like them.”

“The New York Times should have called Sunday’s issue a ‘Special Bash Bush Issue’ complete with this story and its endorsement of the President’s opponent on the editorial page,” said Rev. Sheldon.

“From beginning to end of the article, there are complaints that the President is too certain about America’s future. There are anecdotes about mistakes the President has made and stories about how he has not heeded the advice of this liberal Senator or that liberal Congressman. All of this is blamed on the President’s ‘absolute faith.’

“Faith is depicted as making the President close-minded, arrogant and unreasonable. Real faith leads us to deeper reflection; the article quotes Jim Wallis of the liberal Sojourners. It does not lead us to the ‘easy certainty’ which he alleges President Bush and other Christians have about this world.

“But this article is replete with the liberal ‘easy certainty’ that religious citizens are without reflection and not nearly as sophisticated as their wiser liberal observers. It drips with the same condescending liberal viewpoint that religion is nothing more than the superstition of the uneducated.

“The bottom line about this article is this faith which causes certainty and clarity is a good thing. Faith is the basis for all true hope. America needs a leader who is soundly grounded in Faith and not shifting about trying to stumble on solutions and principles from which to govern.

“Given a choice between the President and any shortcomings he may have in his management style or his openness to liberal ideas and the litany of despair that we have heard from his opponent, the American people are faithful and therefore hopeful. The forces of despair may flourish in the Congress and at the editorial writers’ desks but not at the White House where certainty is required of the leader of the free world.

“The President is as prone to mistakes as the rest of us, but his deep Christian faith is not a mistake or a shortcoming. It is his greatest strength.”