How can Christian GW Bush supporters reconcile their beliefs with Bush policies.

Great Debates
1

I was brought up a Christian; I respect and follow Christian values, although don’t believe in the supernatural stuff. Some things I was taught:
Respect other people - love thy neighbour
Help out the less fortunate
Value truth - be honest
Avoid violence - turn the other cheek
Forgive others
Do not be a hypocrite
Do not be greedy

How on earth can a Christian person vote for Bush when he is apparently against all of these Christian values?

His disregard for these values is evident in both international matters and domestic policy.

2

Because, deep down they’re all just really mean people.
Other people honestly interpret political events differently than you. Why is that concept so hard to grasp?

3

Let’s just take this one item and explore it in depth. After the attacks of 9/11, what would you propose as the “Christian response”? Let’s not get into Iraq, let’s just talk about what your proposal would be to deal with Al Qaeda. Shouild I assume that it would be “Hey Osama, here’s our other cheek”?

4

Good God, Mace, are you one of those people who thinks that Iraq had something to do with 9/11? I thought you were better informed than that.

5

I think he wants to avoid talking about Iraq at all and is just asking what your response to 9/11 would have been.

6

I am not just refering to aggression against sovereign nations and abuse of prisoners, but also about domestic policies and actions.

7

Sorry DtC, I meant to say what the OP’s response to 9/11 would have been.

8

Even more clueless. Am I to take it that you seriously think that people support, say, Bush’s tax policies because they’re just mean and greedy or something?

9

Not everything Bush does is un-Christian but some things are and it’s fair to ask how Christians reconcile that stuff. The invasion of Iraq is a good example

10

John Mace is better informed - I think he was just highlighting the big lie that the Bush government pushed to sell the war.

I agree John. Small lies I can deal with, but something like this one - wow - that is very un-Christian. It is hard to think of something worse.

11

I am unable to reconcile my Christian beliefs with the policies of George W. Bush. I don’t know what I would have done in Afghanistan – looked for alternatives to an invasion, surely. But the invasion there may have been the only realistic way of responding to the Taliban. I do think that we have left a lot of work yet to be done there. The women who vote in the election still have to ask permission to leave their houses. Not much of a democracy!

The French had an excellent plan for proceeding with Iraq. It was presented to the UN Security Council but didn’t get much attention because a very stubborn and ill-informed President was determined to go to war with Iraq even if it meant telling so many lies about it that some Americans still get Iraq confused with what happened on 9/11 – even though Republicans admit that there was no evidence linking the two!

I couldn’t vote for George W. Bush because I have seen evidence that he may be manipulating Christian fundamentalists to build his power for purposes other than peaceful and loving resolution of conflict and the preservation of the Constitution.

I couldn’t vote for George W. Bush because he tells two different stories about when and where and how he was converted to Christianity. This isn’t to say that becoming a Christian can’t happen in stages. But that’s not the way he’s told it.

I have voted for other Republicans along the way, though never for President.

Ultimately, my vote is still not against George Bush. I have a great deal of confidence in John Kerry and have for a long, long time. * Blessed are the peacemakers.*

Go, Johnny, go!

12

Kerry is not a pacifist either, though. I have wondered a long time how Christians manage to reconcile their beliefs with any level of support for war; I’m not a Christian myself, but as far as I can tell the teachings of Jesus are pretty radically pacifist. However, in that respect, the difference between the current Administration and mainstream Democrats is a difference in degree, rather than kind. A vote for Kerry may be a vote for less war, but it’s not a vote against war.

13

A weird position for sure, I’ve often wondered how they reconcile it myself. My only thought is that established conservatism in dogma is more important than the gospel of Jesus. They want to preserve some regressive puritanical way of life and protect against progressive attitudes and change that threatens their authority. I assume its about control and politics. It seems hypocritical to me and certainly not “life in the word”. I’d probably be more receptive to Christianity if so many weren’t Republicans, looks like this sheep got away.

14

Punish those individuals and organizations (i.e., Al Qaeda) most directly responsible, and at the same time try and empathize with those individuals and organizations so you can discern their motives and mitigate their causes through peaceful means.

I think our current response has failed on both counts–we didn’t do a complete enough job in Afghanistan and the depth of the current administration’s empathy towards terrorists seems to be “They hate our freedom!,” which is more an insight into our corporate arrogance and less an understanding of their motives.

15

Being Christian does NOT mean that you do not seek out, arrest, prosecute, and imprison criminals. The 9/11 acts were criminal acts. The Afghan war is not inconsistent with going after criminals.

I agree that the Bush agenda is, for the most part, 180 degrees away from Christian philosophy.

16

One of the biggest mistakes people make is applying biblical text meant for the individual and applying it to a government.

17

When Christ said, “feed the poor” do you think He really meant “make sure you do it as individuals and not some eeeevil eeevil government program?”

18

What I’m talking about is when people use “turn the other cheek” and apply that to a government. Some people seem to forget about the old testament.

19

And how about all that ‘rich man/camel/eye of needle’ stuff inthe light of the ‘to the victor the spoils, for he that hath, have a whole lot more’ economic and tax policies.

IMHO a lot of conservative voting Christians are voting out of their prejudices and selfishness, not through any view of Jesus’ teachings I grew up with. Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with a ‘devil take the hindmost’ society where the poor have to be forced to work for low wages with a minimal social safety net while the well-to-do, miraculously, need trough after trough of money to get them out of bed in the morning.

20

There are a lot of mistaken assumptions being made on this topic. The first glaring one is that you can simply boil down Christ’s teaching to a few simple words. People have been arguing about what Christ said and how to apply that to our lives for two thousand years. For anyone to simply assume that he or she knows what Christ’s words mean and that anyone who disagrees with this assumption is unchristian is simply ignorant of fundamental theology as well as church history.

Two, the other assumption that is being made here is that, as was pointed out, Christ’s teachings that he said to individuals can be applied to government. From the way I read the text, I don’t think we can make that assumption. For example, when Christ taught these things:

I do not think He meant them to apply to how governments operate. Christ was not concerned with politics. It was irrelevant to Him. He taught people how to love God and love others. In that, he said that we need to help the poor, forgive others, etc. However, does it logically follow that our government must do this? I don’t think it does. If this is the case, we would have no criminal justice system. How can we lock someone up if the government forgives them? And if the government followed Christ’s teachings, then it would be obligated to be actively involved in evangelism. I don’t think anyone thinks that’s a proper function of government.

In short, I don’t think you can say that Bush is not a Christian (or that he’s doing unchristian things) because of a simplitic reading of the Gospels. Should his values inform his actions? Sure, but you can think that we should help the poor and not support government “anti-poverty” programs. You can still think that we should forgive those who sinned against you while believing that Osama bin Laden should be captured. There are no contradictions or hypocrisies there.