Monday, January 19, 2009

God In the White House

I am reading a book called "God In the White House" by Randall Balmer. This is a history of how faith shaped the presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush.

From Kennedy who had to make us believe that his Catholic faith would not inform his political opinions to W who wanted us to believe that his right wing claim to faith influenced every thing is an interesting trail.

I laughed about Norman Vincent Peal's remark about Nixon's faith. He said, "I don't know that he ever let it bother him." Well that says a lot about one of the most corrupt presidents we ever had.

This book is well worth reading as we enter the Obama term of office and think about who faith affects our leaders. 

Let us all pray for our new president and congress to lead us with wisdom and righteousness
 

7 comments:

  1. We are all excited about Rick Warren speaking at the inaugaration, what do you think of that Pastor Larry. Have we got all the facts here in the UK?

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  2. "Let us all pray for our new president and congress to lead us with wisdom and righteousness. "

    You are right, Pastor Larry!

    I have been praying.:)

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  3. Right wing claim to faith? Where have I read something similar...oh yes, it was today. Bishop Robinson's claim that past inaugural prayers have been "specifically and aggressively Christian...". Even though he is a Christian he seems pretty sure that Christianity should not be a part of what guides a man like the President. He is also sure that anyone that lives by aggressive Christian values is not as Christian as he is.

    To me, your comment, like the Bishop's, smirks of intolerance. Because you disagreed with George W., he could not possibly have followed his Christian conscience but rather he cynically used a "right wing claim to faith" to influence his thinking. Because, after all, a true Christian would not have done the things you disagreed with.

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  4. susananne Rick is doing an opening prayer.

    Judy Thanks for the praying.

    Burstmodes You are correct that I am not a fan of W but some of my evangelical friends are very disappointed in him and feel that Bush only gave them lip service to get elected. Hence claim to be....

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  5. I believe he followed his conscience. I disagreed with him often. But I never doubted that he believed what he did was right.

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  6. this whole thread scares me
    that 'faith' and 'prayer' and their nature are such big discussion points going into today just proves to me how much mankind is regressing. carry on down this path and in two generations we'll be talking about which animal they'll slaughter to appease god.

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  7. You think so, Dick? Perhaps in two generations we'll forget completely the value of faith and believe in the purity of man. Right and wrong will have no meaning and whatever goes, goes. You could marry your cat if you wanted. Why stop there, why not marry your car and carry it on your insurance in case it breaks down?
    Now lets see...which scenario scares me more?

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