For a certain element in the Christian community, political power was at last achieved in the Bush administration. Exemptions were declared regarding the receiving of public funds by the churches and the goodies were supposed to be passed out. However, it was always a fair question of who was being used. Was the administration being used to advance the causes of the religious right, or were the politicians using the churches to get elected. It, of course, was some of both but the religious leaders did not realize how much the politicians held them in contempt and really didn’t care about their agenda.
David Kuo was the deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He has just written a book, Tempting Faith, about his experience. The excerpt below is from his new book:
[The practice was] to make grand announcements and then do nothing to
implement them. Nowhere was this clearer than in compassion announcements. In
May 2001, for instance, the president announced a new $3 billion drug treatment
initiative. By December 2003 not a dime had been spent. I had been around
politics long enough not to be shocked. The announcements were smart politics
because absolutely no one called them on anything. . George W. Bush loves Jesus.
He is a good man. But he is a politician; a very smart and shrewd politician.
And if the faith-based initiative was teaching me anything, it was about the
presidents' capacity to care about perception more than reality. He wanted it to
look good. He cared less about it being good.
Christian leaders, Christian media, and Christian writers, however, didn't
dare question or challenge him or the White House. He wasn't a political leader
to them, he was a brother in Christ – precisely what the White House wanted them
to believe. What they didn't get to see was what the White House thought of
them. For most of the rest of the White House staff, evangelical leaders were
people to be tolerated, not people who were truly welcomed. No group was more
eye-rolling about Christians than the political affairs shop. They knew "the
nuts" were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness.
Sadly, the political affairs folks complained most often and most loudly about
how boorish many politically involved Christians were. They didn't see much of
the love of Jesus in their lives.
There is also an excerpt in Time magazine.
Kuo is not the Washington editor of Beliefnet, a web site devoted to the variety of religious experience. He has a blog at that site. He is scheduled to appear tomorrow (Wednesday, October 18th) on the Terry Gross’ Fresh Air program on NPR. It should be interesting.
1 comment:
Hello again Sisyphus,
Here's some more red-hot ink for your pen. Keep the heat on our evil leader in chief and his cohorts and help me "vanquish the sword!"
More stunning proof that Christians are easily duped into supporting blatant evil
The latest book of stunning revelations titled "Tempting Faith" by former Bush Administration insider David Kuo presents compelling first-hand evidence that the Christian Right was purposely duped into providing pivotal political support and cover for a host of crimes and excesses by Republican leaders and the Whitehouse. This book and the Foley fiasco are serving to awaken Christians to the undeniable fact that they have been deceived into abetting the evil deeds of duplicitous scoundrels, once again.
The events of recent years and the several millennia before them have provided us with comprehensive proof that religion is the chosen and purposeful tool of great deceivers. Whether we view the actions of the Temple priesthood of ancient Israel that conspired with Greco-Roman invaders, the sad and sordid history of the Vatican and Papacy, Christian crusaders and colonizers, injustices by leaders and followers of Islam, the oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel, or the more recent activities of the so-called Christian Right and Republican Party, religious followers are regularly and easily misled into supporting obvious evil.
In recent years, I have produced stunning and comprehensive proof of purposeful deception in the canons of all three Faiths of Abraham and struggled to alert people to this and to related upcoming events and situations. Due to "poisoning of the waters" by deluded religious leaders and followers over the centuries, most have greeted my efforts with derision or indifference, thereby failing to pay attention long enough to discern the accuracy of my research and assertions. Starting with the perfectly timed Atlantic hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, a small number of people, some of them in government leadership positions, began to recognize the truth of my conclusions and assertions. The events of the last year-plus, starting with the ramifications from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, have helped to sweep away many of the facades erected by the Bush-Cheney crew and cohorts. Many of their deceptions have been exposed, their greed and arrogance proven, the myth of their competence destroyed, and most recently the depths of their duplicity and hypocrisy have been illuminated by a series of stunning revelations.
Nonetheless, the so-called Christian Right has continued faithfully supporting them, in spite of mountains of evidence that should have dissuaded any clear-thinking soul. The recent non-stop flood of stunning evidence leaves little doubt that the so-called liberals and the left were 100% correct about the Bush-Cheney crew. Despite assertions to the contrary, conservatives and the Christian Right are now exposed as having arrogantly and foolishly supported blatantly evil scoundrels. We now have proof, beyond disproof, that Republican leaders viewed them as little more than marks and dupes to be milked of their faith, money, political support, and the lifeblood of their son's and daughter's on the battlefields of Bush's and Cheney’s deceptive wars.
It is a sad but true statement that deceived and deluded Christians are much more responsible for the evils perpetrated by the Bush administration than any other group. They have arrogantly and foolishly supported those who simply pretended to have the same beliefs, even though their deeds provided stark and irrefutable evidence to the contrary. My recent articles and book expound upon the reasons why religious followers are so easily duped into doing and supporting blatant evil. Now the events of recent weeks have provided stunning evidence that these assertions and conclusions are true. Christians and conservatives must now come to grips with the sickening reality of the great harm they have caused to everyone else because of their blind support of scoundrels who merely pretended to serve the Creator, as a purposeful ploy to gain wealth and power.
What then is the purpose of "faith" but to prevent otherwise good people from seeking to understand truth and wisdom?
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Here is Wisdom !!
Peace...
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