From the WSJ Opinion Archives
THE WESTERN FRONT
The Evangelical President
America's commander in chief answers to a higher Power.
President Bush has just returned from a tour of sub-Saharan Africa, where he condemned slavery (calling it a sin), indicated a willingness to intervene in Liberia's civil war and promised more money to combat AIDS--this on top of his earlier $15 billion pledge to fight a disease that threatens to decimate the continent's population.
This keen interest in Africa shouldn't be too surprising. After all, in his speeches, nominees and spending priorities Mr. Bush is very much the evangelical president. Mr. Bush famously thanked Jesus on the campaign trail in 2000 for helping him get his life in order by quitting drinking in the 1980s. And now he's using the bully pulpit and the power of the presidency not so much to shrink the power and scope of government as to reorient its policies toward Christian, conservative principles.
Africa is a clear example. In January's State of the Union Address, Mr. Bush announced his AIDS initiative. He then surprised many of his critics by fighting for full funding and for keeping the most controversial part of his proposal--spending on abstinence programs. Uganda, which Mr. Bush visited at the end of his trip, has the type of abstinence program the president would like to see more of. It's helped cut the infection rate to 5% from more than 15% a decade ago. (The program does advise condom use for nonabstainers.)
Those who thought Mr. Bush's AIDS initiative was a political ploy, to be dropped at a convenient moment, didn't take into account the support for Africa within the American church community. Nearly every church and Christian organization in the country has a special African fund, sends volunteers to war-torn African countries, or in other ways sends aid to Africans.
I saw this as a cub reporter at a small newspaper in a rural Virginia county of about 30,000 people. Christian Freedom International in Front Royal, Va., asked for donations for Sudanese Christians. The response from churches and individuals was overwhelming. When I went to interview a CFI official at the storage unit used to warehouse donations, I found him blocked in after the bags of clothes he'd piled up had collapsed against the door--I could barely make out his muffled apologies for making me wait while he dug himself free.
This is not unusual. Many Christian Americans hold a special place in their hearts for Africa because the need is great and because Christianity is rapidly finding new followers on the continent. This translates into an outpouring of support. Mr. Bush is just repeating this with the full force of the U.S. government.
Domestically the president's evangelicalism is barely beneath the surface. He's expanded funding for volunteerism with Freedom Corps and, with his Faith Based Initiative, is fighting to allow religious groups to get more federal money without compromising their faith. In nationally televised speeches, he's also called on average Americans to perform good works by volunteering in their communities, including finding shut-ins and talking to them--a call for service that could have come from the pulpit in any number of American churches.
In dealing with tragedy, the president has repeatedly offered scripture to console the nation. This was the case after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the president delivered a moving speech from the National Cathedral in Washington. It was also the case after the space shuttle Columbia broke apart on re-entry.
In his appointments, the president also has a pattern of picking conservatives who share a strong religious conviction. Attorney General John Ashcroft holds prayer meetings with some of his staffers. Education Secretary Rod Paige created a minor stir recently when he granted an interview to the Baptist Press and said he admired the values that Christian schools promote.
Some of the president's most controversial judicial nominees have also been people of strong faith. James Leon Holmes, nominated for a district court judgeship in Arkansas, is a conservative Catholic. His views on abortion, marriage and the role of women drew fire from Democrats, who tried to bottle up his nomination in committee. His nominees to appellate courts include Justice Priscilla Owen, a Sunday school teacher, and Judge Charles Pickering, a former president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats voted down both nominees when they held the majority. Mr. Bush has since renominated them, but Democrats are filibustering Justice Owen's nomination and threatening a filibuster against Judge Pickering.
The president's evangelicalism hasn't gone unnoticed. The Washington Post's Dana Milbank pointed out in covering a February speech that "statements of faith are standard for presidents," but noted that most have done so subtly, at least since Jimmy Carter, himself a born-again Christian. Mr. Bush never hid his faith and his references to it became even less subtle in the run-up to the liberation of Iraq.
Far-left extremists have likened the president to the Taliban. The comparison is ridiculous, of course. Removing antireligious bias from federal grants, calling for good works, spending more on volunteer programs, and imbibing policies with compassion may not satisfy those of us who'd like to see smaller government, but it is a far cry from creating a theocracy. And finding inspiration from a higher power is an excellent antidote to typical Beltway cynicism.
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.
