George W. Bush is NOT a Christian
(David R. Hoffman, Pravda, 09/22/2004)
Perhaps the "greatest lie ever told" by the Bush dictatorship is that its megalomaniacal, bloodthirsty, cowardly, thieving, deceitful, hypocritical leader is somehow a "Christian." Even a cursory examination of Bush's legacy demonstrates that he has more in common with Pontius Pilate, the executioner of Jesus Christ, than with the gentle soul from Nazareth. . . . Pilate zealously exploited the death penalty to increase his grip on power. Bush, while governor of Texas, executed over one hundred and fifty people to bolster his political career. Pilate, as demonstrated by Christ's crucifixion, had little regard for whether those condemned to death were guilty or innocent. Bush routinely denied requests from death-row inmates for independent DNA testing that could have established their innocence . . . Yet in August of 2003, thirty-five defendants, primarily African-American and all tried under Texas "law," were pardoned after it was discovered that perjured testimony had been used to convict them. More recently, a report in USA TODAY (8/6/04) revealed that the DNA unit of the crime lab in Harris County, Texas, where the City of Houston is located, had to be closed down in 2002 because of "irregularities in the way technicians were trained, handled evidence, interpreted tests and kept records." And in Angelina County, Texas, on August 20, 2004, after more than forty-one years in prison, Robert Carroll Coney was released after it was revealed that his confession had been extracted by torture. . . . Pilate, through his minions, avidly used torture. Bush, through his minions, avidly used torture at places like Abu Ghraib prison, while the CIA concealed dozens of "ghost detainees" from Red Cross monitors. Pilate committed atrocities against an occupied people. Bush continues to commit atrocities against an occupied people, having murdered, at last count, over ten thousand Iraqi civilians around Baghdad alone. . . . Furthermore, the Bush dictatorship's policies and practices bear no resemblance to the teachings of the Christian faith. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Bush brags about being a "wartime president." Jesus was willing to suffer and die for his beliefs. Bush causes the suffering and death of others, yet during the Vietnam era was too cowardly to risk his own life, choosing instead to use his family's wealth and influence to perform some nebulous National Guard "duties." . . . Many of the disciples who followed Jesus also suffered and died. Bush surrounds himself with cowards like Dick (five deferments) Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, John Ashcroft and Karl Rove, all of whom avoided military service through deferments or other schemes, yet all of whom are willing to callously sacrifice the lives of others. . . . Jesus proclaimed it is as difficult for the rich to get into Heaven as it is for a camel to travel through the eye of a needle. . . . Bush gives tax breaks to the rich, and calls them his "support base," while Cheney gorges himself on war profits through links with corporations where he has financial interests. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Bush's policies caused over one million Americans to lose their health insurance last year alone. The inevitable result will undoubtedly be more sickness and premature death. Jesus consistently rejected the reins of mortal power. Bush used his cronies on the United States Supreme Court to steal such power. In fact the only link Bush has to Christ's teachings is that he personifies the very hypocrisy, corruption, counterfeit piety and self-serving exploitation of religion that Jesus so openly condemned. There is no doubt that America, and the world, would be a much better place without so-called "Christians" like George W. Bush.
posted by Lorenzo 2:04 PM
