Opinion: Religion in politics should be used to encourage tolerance, not promote war

11/9/04In the months leading to Nov. 2, pamphlets that were sent out to millions of Americans by the Bush Administration showed George W. Bush and his family standing in front of a church, accompanied by a headline that read "George W. Bush shares your values. Marriage. Life. Faith."

It was this type of message that appealed to the 22 percent of American voters who cited "moral values," as the most important issue of the 2004 election, over the economy, terrorism, and Iraq. Drawing attention to religion-based domestic policies and away from Bush's clear international failures was a cleverly manipulative move on the part of the Bush Administration. A republican fixation on God, guns, and gays prompted a growth in Evangelist Christian voters in Midwestern and Southern states, voters who used faith over logic in their choosing of a president. Reason would suggest that a leader who values "life" wouldn't be so casual about war and civilian/soldier casualties.

This fusion between religion and politics that "moral values" voters have demonstrated could be propelling Americans into dangerous territory. Bush, who has continually cited God and faith as the reasons behind his foreign and domestic decisions, has injected his religion into every issue that comes into the white house. This is unacceptable from a country founded with the belief in separation between church and state.

While it is irritating to have an American domestic policy be rooted one leader's religious ideals, it is absolutely appalling to use God and faith as tools to propel a country into war. Religion should be used to encourage tolerance, not flaunted as a tool for war and hate.

President Bush, who has gone on record as saying that God chose him to lead America, takes the precarious position that, in the war on Iraq, God is on the side of Americans, that God frowns upon "evil doers." Like a preacher, Bush presumes to know what is "bad" and what is "good", what is "right" and what is "wrong." This is a trite, presumptuous way of thinking that breeds hate.

For a leader who has as much power as Bush, these ideologies could be explosive. History has shown the great religious wars have resulted when both sides are arrogant enough to assume that they each have the backing of God.

Al Qaeda thinks that God is on its side, too.

With President Bush as a second term president we have the making for a major war on our hands. We have alienated the Muslim world and we have angered the international community.

For now, let's leave "good guys" and "bad guys" to Western movies and use a shared faith in God as a stepping stone for diplomacy in the Middle East. Let's focus on where we unite, not where we part. Tolerance is, after all, a moral value. It's not, however, one you would find in one of the pro-Bush pamphlets.