Bob Bauman has his own ideas about the voice of God

Date:   10/13/2005 7:02:06 PM ( 19 y ago)

COMMENT: The Voice of God.

Dear A-Letter Reader:
Albert Einstein, in an unrelativistic moment, is quoted as saying:
"God is subtle but He is not malicious."

I was about to claim falsely that we rarely mention God in these
comments, but a search of back A-Letter issues found a great many
mentions of the Deity. Often these relate to individual rights and
US constitutional origins, based on the words of the Founding Fathers
who believed religion had an important place in our national life.

Be that as it may, God briefly became a side issue in the world media
last week when a BBC TV documentary made the claim that Pres. George
W. Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade
Afghanistan and Iraq, and to create a Palestinian State in order to
bring peace to the Middle East. (If true, that would give an entirely
new meaning to the phrase "act of God.") Mahmoud Abbas, then the
Palestinian prime minister, and Nabil Shaath, then the Palestinian
foreign minister, described Bush's alleged words to them and insisted
they had heard him correctly.

The White House was quick to deny the BBC claims unequivocally. "He
never made such comments," a White House official insisted, adding
that "it's pretty clear-cut...black and white" that such a Bush
conversation never took place. (With them? With God?)

We don't know whether the President claimed divine inspiration for his
plans for world democratization and anti-terrorism. It would be
comforting to think that God had more influence on some of America's
policies. But the recent foreign misadventures seem more the fault of
Defense Sec. Rumsfeld (a friend from my Capitol Hill days) et al. I
blame Rev. Ashcroft for much of the worst of the PATRIOT Act. But while
He is said to permit the existence of evil, I certainly don't think God
should be blamed for Bush foreign policies.

My late, good parents, Florence and Carl, raised me as an indifferent
Methodist. I used to joke that I became a Catholic so that I could
drink. (I overdid that, but the Church still has to suffer my adherence
to the Faith, if not to all its pronouncements).

I do believe in the power of prayer, but few of the faithful, when
asking for a sign from God, are forthwith struck by lightening or enjoy
instant levitation.

The problem is, as I see it, how do you know from whence cometh those
commanding voices? Is it God, or, as Dickens suggested, a bit of
underdone potato? After all, schizophrenics hear voices -- and sometimes
obey with horrible consequences to themselves or others. (Thank God for
lithium).

There's rather solid proof that God is not the author of the President's
policies. God, as I understand the theological concept the Georgetown
Jesuits taught me, is all knowing and all wise. That suggests
consistency in all things, not just now, but always.

If the President has been getting consistent advice from anyone, On
High or on the Down Low, his sources are anything but consistent.

Examples:
* Mr. Bush ran as an anti-big government "conservative" but he has
become the biggest spending president since FDR, even beating LBJ's
"guns and butter" billions.
* He claimed to be a conservative, but he has run up trillions in debt
and has yet to veto even one bill of any kind, even when loaded with
billions in unneeded pork.
* He said he had no intention to engage in "nation building" yet the US
is mired down in not only Iraq and Afghanistan, but in almost every
corner of the earth in one way or another, while other areas, such as
Latin America, are neglected to the future detriment of the US.
* He promised that he had made the US ready to defend itself after the
9-11 attacks, but Hurricane Katrina proved that promise to be an
outrageous, cruel hoax.

Politicians habitually cloak their actions in words about religion,
invoking the blessing of God on their nations (and by inference) on
themselves. You often hear that more people have died in wars over
religion than from any other cause. If that's accurate, it should give
us all pause about knowing God's will.

In the Rose Garden last week, a reporter asked President Bush, "Are
you still a conservative?" The president's reply: "Am I what?"
(Without the trademark smirk).

An improbable authority on the Almighty, Pablo Picasso, once observed
that: "God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the
elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying
other things."

Perhaps that is the kind of Divine Inspiration that motivates the
President's policies. Remember him (and America) in your prayers.
And be careful to identify the source of voices. Vox Dei, Amen.

That's the way it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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