Oct 2005 # 2 - Conversion, Power and Fear

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DATE : Thu, 12 Oct 2005 11:00:00 EST
Entered in Database : 2005-10-12 16:00:00
length : 4700000
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Some things fade with time. Others just keep coming back to haunt you, don't they?Many years ago when I was much younger (and some say better looking) I had what is termed a "conversion" experience. Being from a Christian family, my primary religiousunderstandings were, of course, shaped by that environment. So 'becoming a Christian' was not something I thought was foreign. Being young and full of beans I threw myself into thisnew experience. My eyes had been opened, I thought. My spiritual being was assured of a place in the eternity of paradise. I was, so I thought, finally surrendering to the finality of God'swill and was prepared to surrender all.I became involved in the local youth scene and threw myself into evangelism with gusto. I was working with lots of other young people and those that weren't already part 'of the kingdom'were fair game in the war on souls. So it was not surprising that I soon had a 'god told me to ...' experience. In my zeal to show how in touch with god I was and how ready I was to listen tohis direction, I told the church heavies that I was now anointed and would need their support to get the project going. Fortunately, as I now look back on it, one of the wiser headsprevailed and said, "Shane, god might have told you but he hasn't told us yet. Besides, if he did tell you, then he'll provide the means, won't he?"I was deflated at one level, on another full of anger that these blind men couldn't see the great work god had called me to. I certainly didn't have the resources and so far, god wasn'tcoming through either. What was I to do? As I now reflect back on this time I'm glad I was only full of hot air and my own self importance. From my current perspective, I wonder how timewill treat George Bush's declaration that he "is on a mission from God"?George's declaration is revealed in a new BBC documentary being aired in Britain this month. In the program, titled "Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs", Palestinian Foreign Minister,Nabil Shaath, tells of how, during a meeting with Bush, the US President told him that, "I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists inAfghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq', and I did." The President is also quoted as telling his host "I feel God's words coming to me:'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East'. And by God, I'm gonna do it". I guess this is George's way of saying he had a, 'godtold me to…' experience.Should we be surprised by this latest utterance by Bush? Not really. George had his own personal epiphany in 1985. By his own admission he had been till then, what might politely betermed, a tearaway. He drank, he smoked, he took drugs, and he screwed around. He was, by the sounds of it, a fairly regular kinda guy. But after his encounter with the Reverend BillyGraham, he "came to the Lord" and was saved. Given Graham's avowed anti-Semitism, anti-gay, anti-liberal, anti-union, and anti-just about everything else he deems to be 'non-Christian',we need to ask, if Bush's confessor is so out of touchwith reality, where does that place Bush?Writing on the beliefnet.com site Deborah Caldwell observes that, "Bush has clearly seen a divine aspect to his presidency since before he ran." She notes, "there is evidence that Bushbelieves his election as President was a result of God's acts". She recounts Bush's speeches where he invokes some sort of divine anointing not only on himself but also on the USA. Sherecounts how Bush has spelled out an absolutist moral position by calling on the notions of "good" and "evil". Caldwell writes that Bush, whatever his original 'faith' may have been, isnow firmly entrenched in the Calvinist theological camp. Calvin's theology, she writes, is "critical to contemporary evangelical thought, focused on the idea of a powerful God whogoverns "the vast machinery of the whole world." Bush ... believes God is involved in world events and that he and America have a divinely guided mission ..."Back when I had my little conversion experience I had very few resources at my disposal to attempt to re-create the world as I thought it should be. Bush, on the other hand, has all theresources of the most powerful (if fading economically at least) nation on earth. What could it mean for all of us if Bush and his White House believe in divine guidance? It means onething. If we think it's bad now, we should not wait for the future because it will not get better. Rather it will get much, much worse.Bush's delusion is like a kind of moral and ethical bypass. When a powerful group embark on a course of action that they know from deep within their humanity is wrong - such as thesenselessness of war - they need to find some higher authority or power upon which to cast the blame. It works like this. A powerful group of ideologues believe that God has given them adivine task. As they plan the enactment of that task they realise there will be casualties - collateral damage they might call it. They embark on the calling and find the slaughter is terriblebut, and this is the crucial bit, they know that this slaughter is a necessary part of doing God's will. Remember, they are only acting on orders. God has told them what to do and so if thereis any wrong, it must be on God's part. But, as we all know, God cannot be wrong because, well, God is God.What is emerging is a new global theocracy. This belief in a higher authority has been used and abused since Adam was a pup. It has been used as much by "us" as it has been by "them".During the last four centuries it can easily be argued that "we" have consistently resorted to using some form of divine invocation to defend the most atrocious acts. Whether it's at thepersonal level of deriding, say, the theory of evolution or the global scale of subjugating whole peoples and destroying their heritage in the name of a 'civilised god', the supposedly'civilised Christian world' has little to be proud of. And now the theocrats are in charge of the global village.I can openly admit, even if it causes me some embarrassment, that what I thought was god's whisper in my ear was, possibly, a bad prawn on a pizza. Or perhaps it was just good oldfashioned vanity. Whatever it was I was dangerous. When no-one else saw 'the bigger picture' like I saw it or supported the mission like I did, they were the ones who were deluded andwrong. They were the ones out of touch. They were the ones who were opposed to what god wanted. They were the ones who were inferior in their faith.Right here, right now in 2005 the deluded theocrats stand ready to roll out their hate and anger and spew on all who don't see the world their way what they would call "divine wrath". Inreality it is greed, power-lust and fear that drive them. Greed because they fear others might gain something they don't. Power-lust because they feel powerless. Fear because that is all thepowerless can feel.God is not on George Bush's side any more than he or she is on my side or your side. What we can only do is see the actions of those who claim a divine mandate and measure them upagainst the overriding ethical and moral absolutes that do really matter. Those absolutes are that we all have the right to live without fear and to attempt to understand each other so wecan travel together and create a better world than we already have. My question for George Bush is, are you prepared to face your own humanity and acknowledge the humanity you denyin others?

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