Is President Bush a Christian?

President George Bush has on many occasions professed to be a devout Christian. He has stated that God told him to attack Iraq. Can one tell if he is genuine, or merely another hypocrite politician, cynically using religion to manipulate the people of the United States? Maybe he has not understood cultural paradigms or even the concept of religious paradigms?

There is the rule of thumb, “By their fruits you will know them.” There are Internet sites tracking the President's fruit and they weigh heaviest on the “bad fruit” side. Another sign is how concerned he is of the plight of other Christians. In this test he has failed miserably.
Before the United States army entered Iraq, there were 1.2 million Christians living in relative peace. Although they made up only a few percent of the population in Iraq, they make up forty percent of the refugees who have fled the country.

Saddam, left them in peace, but after Saddam's fall they were free game for Sunnis, Shiites and any other faction to attack with impunity. The are the most persecuted group in Iraq.

Unlike Iraq's Muslim factions, Iraq's Christians do not answer violence with violence.

Bush should have been aware, before he sent the troops in, that there was a vulnerable Christian community in the predominantly Muslim country. If he did not know, shouldn't his pastor or priest have told him on his Sunday visit to church, or one of the congregation during the after service tea and chat.

By the end of 2006 he should surely have known. That was when faith leaders and religious freedom activists held a rally in Washington, calling on the political leaders of the United States to “save Iraq’s most vulnerable population.”

The situation of Iraqi Christians has been called a humanitarian crisis.

Christianity in Iraq has a history going back to Jesus disciples. There was an established Christian Church in northern Iraq before Christianity spread to Europe outside Rome and Greece.

Because of President Bush's unfortunate choice of words early in the crisis, when he compared going after the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks, to a “crusade,” he firmly identified Christians with the West, in the minds of Muslims. This association of Iraqi Christians with the United States (Great Satan) and the West, makes them unprotected and vulnerable allies of the occupying forces. They are an easy target as there is little protection they can expect. Not from the police, the surrounding community, and neither from the occupying forces, who ignore their plight.

Churches are bombed, Christians killed some through crucifixion or burning alive and the White House says nothing. The Western press is filled with reports of Sunni-Shiite violence, ignoring a genocide, an ethnic cleansing, in open view.

Another result of the association with the West, and that so many of their fellows have left Iraq, is that some extremists think the Christians who are left can raise money abroad, from family and friends. This makes them prime targets for kidnapping and ransom demands.

Bush says he regularly reads the Bible. Maybe he should pay some attention to what the Bible says. After all, in Christian matters Jesus should have the last word.

In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 to 46, Jesus says:
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right-hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say to them on his right-hand, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger, and you took me in, naked, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me.’

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you? Or thirsty, and gave you drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and took you in? Or naked, and clothed you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and came to you?’
And the King shall answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me.’

Then shall he say also to them on the left-hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food, I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger, and you did not take me in, naked, and you did not clothed me, sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.’

Then shall they also answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not care for you?’

Then he shall answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did it not do it to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life everlasting.’