God-Talk on I-Day
Revealer contributors David Domke (author of God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the “War on Terror,” and the Echoing Press) and Kevin Coe predict the tenor of Bush’s inaugural address this afternoon. He will talk about God, as all presidents have. Just yesterday, Jewish Press pointed to FDR’s surplus God-talk, sneering over the […]
Revealer contributors David Domke (author of God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the “War on Terror,” and the Echoing Press) and Kevin Coe predict the tenor of Bush’s inaugural address this afternoon. He will talk about God, as all presidents have. Just yesterday, Jewish Press pointed to FDR’s surplus God-talk, sneering over the efffect such news will have on those “who go to sleep with images of New York Times editorials dancing sweetly in [their] heads.” But Bush talks about God differently than did Roosevelt, who spoke of placing the nation’s destiny in the hands of its free citizens “under the guidance of God.” Bush, conversely, does not address God as a petitioner or a supplicant, but speaks to his audience as a prophet, “issuing declarations of divine desires for the nation and world.” It’s enough, write Domke and Coe, to make you hope for a president who doesn’t just speak for God, but also listens.