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American Morning
Role of Faith in Policies of President Bush
Aired March 04, 2003 - 07:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has often spoken of his strong personal religious convictions, but his private beliefs have become a public topic.
From a cover story in "Newsweek" magazine to a poll by the multi- faith Web site, Beliefnet, on the president's frequent use of religious language, 53 percent said moral clarity helps to make him a good leader, 18 percent liked it enough but said talk of a divine calling makes them nervous, and 29 percent said he talks too much about his faith and religion.
So, what is the role of the president's religious faith in his policy-making?
Joining us now to talk more about that, Deborah Caldwell, senior producer for Beliefnet.
Good morning -- welcome.
DEBORAH CALDWELL, SENIOR PRODUCER, BELIEFNET: Thank you.
ZAHN: Nice to see you in person.
CALDWELL: Yes.
ZAHN: Now, many other presidents have used scriptures in speeches, but you say this president uses it in a different way.
CALDWELL: That's right. All presidents have used scripture. Lincoln was probably the first president to use scripture extensively, but thats because his audience knew the Bible. But Bush uses his scripture differently in the sense that he has sort of changed his theology some in the last couple of years.
Early on, he would talk about his personal transformation with his religion, and so he would talk about the fact that he'd overcome drinking and that he'd accepted Christ, and this had created a personal transformation in him. And he would often say -- quote Jesus and say, "Don't worry about the spec in your neighbor's eye unless you take the mote out of your own eye." And so, it was a very personal feeling about his faith.
Now, however, when he talks about religion in his speeches, and some just in passing, he seems to be talking about Jesus in a -- or about his religion in a way that invokes a God with a -- who is watching over him, who is filling him with divine guidance. It's a more remote God, but also a God who is more in control. ZAHN: And that was evident in his State of the Union address, and we have a short clip from that to reinforce the point you just made -- let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not on ourselves alone. We do not know -- we do not claim to know all of the ways of providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life and all of history. May He guide us now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Do you think the president believes he has a divine mandate?
CALDWELL: Well, the president wouldn't put it quite like that. But I do believe he -- and he has said that he believes that God has a divine plan, and that he, George Bush, is involved in that plan in a special way.
So, he would say, and many of his friends have said or people in his administration have said around him, that he is God's man at his hour. You will often hear evangelical Christians talk about it in that way.
ZAHN: Nicholas Kristoff (ph) of "The New York Times" has an interesting piece, where he writes today: "It's impossible to understand President Bush without acknowledging the centrality of his faith. Indeed, there may be an element of messianic vision in his plan to invade Iraq and remake the Middle East." Do you agree?
CALDWELL: A lot of people do believe that. And I think that it may be overstating it to say there's a messianic vision, but the Christianity that he believes in is absolutely clearly what guides him towards believing that he has God on his side. When he's calling Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein evil, he's therefore saying that he and America are good, and therefore on the side of God. And so, in that sense, you can say that he has a messianic vision.
But if you put that to him or to his colleagues in the administration, they would back off from that, and say, no, we have a humility in the sense that we believe we are following God's call.
ZAHN: Well, it's fascinating to understand, and we appreciate your dropping by. And I didn't know Beliefnet got, what, five million hits a month with various religious questions.
CALDWELL: Yes, five million visitors.
ZAHN: That's great. Deborah Caldwell, thanks for dropping by.
CALDWELL: Thank you.
ZAHN: Appreciate your perspective this morning. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired March 4, 2003 - 07:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has often spoken of his strong personal religious convictions, but his private beliefs have become a public topic.
From a cover story in "Newsweek" magazine to a poll by the multi- faith Web site, Beliefnet, on the president's frequent use of religious language, 53 percent said moral clarity helps to make him a good leader, 18 percent liked it enough but said talk of a divine calling makes them nervous, and 29 percent said he talks too much about his faith and religion.
So, what is the role of the president's religious faith in his policy-making?
Joining us now to talk more about that, Deborah Caldwell, senior producer for Beliefnet.
Good morning -- welcome.
DEBORAH CALDWELL, SENIOR PRODUCER, BELIEFNET: Thank you.
ZAHN: Nice to see you in person.
CALDWELL: Yes.
ZAHN: Now, many other presidents have used scriptures in speeches, but you say this president uses it in a different way.
CALDWELL: That's right. All presidents have used scripture. Lincoln was probably the first president to use scripture extensively, but thats because his audience knew the Bible. But Bush uses his scripture differently in the sense that he has sort of changed his theology some in the last couple of years.
Early on, he would talk about his personal transformation with his religion, and so he would talk about the fact that he'd overcome drinking and that he'd accepted Christ, and this had created a personal transformation in him. And he would often say -- quote Jesus and say, "Don't worry about the spec in your neighbor's eye unless you take the mote out of your own eye." And so, it was a very personal feeling about his faith.
Now, however, when he talks about religion in his speeches, and some just in passing, he seems to be talking about Jesus in a -- or about his religion in a way that invokes a God with a -- who is watching over him, who is filling him with divine guidance. It's a more remote God, but also a God who is more in control. ZAHN: And that was evident in his State of the Union address, and we have a short clip from that to reinforce the point you just made -- let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not on ourselves alone. We do not know -- we do not claim to know all of the ways of providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life and all of history. May He guide us now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Do you think the president believes he has a divine mandate?
CALDWELL: Well, the president wouldn't put it quite like that. But I do believe he -- and he has said that he believes that God has a divine plan, and that he, George Bush, is involved in that plan in a special way.
So, he would say, and many of his friends have said or people in his administration have said around him, that he is God's man at his hour. You will often hear evangelical Christians talk about it in that way.
ZAHN: Nicholas Kristoff (ph) of "The New York Times" has an interesting piece, where he writes today: "It's impossible to understand President Bush without acknowledging the centrality of his faith. Indeed, there may be an element of messianic vision in his plan to invade Iraq and remake the Middle East." Do you agree?
CALDWELL: A lot of people do believe that. And I think that it may be overstating it to say there's a messianic vision, but the Christianity that he believes in is absolutely clearly what guides him towards believing that he has God on his side. When he's calling Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein evil, he's therefore saying that he and America are good, and therefore on the side of God. And so, in that sense, you can say that he has a messianic vision.
But if you put that to him or to his colleagues in the administration, they would back off from that, and say, no, we have a humility in the sense that we believe we are following God's call.
ZAHN: Well, it's fascinating to understand, and we appreciate your dropping by. And I didn't know Beliefnet got, what, five million hits a month with various religious questions.
CALDWELL: Yes, five million visitors.
ZAHN: That's great. Deborah Caldwell, thanks for dropping by.
CALDWELL: Thank you.
ZAHN: Appreciate your perspective this morning. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
