The Crow - George W. Bush and religion - Brief Article - Column

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RELIGION AS A TOOL TO RULE

THE CROW wonders what happened to the US concept of 'separation of church and state'.

It is not hard to believe that 'man was created in the image of God', when you realise that our God is actually a mirror image of ourselves -- a deified double designed to justify the abuse of our fragile planet and its other occupants. Throughout the brief history of mankind religion has been a trusted tool in the hands of elected as well as self-anointed rulers, whether in the spiritual or material realm. For kings and clerics alike, 'God's will' has always been the most persuasive weapon in their bag of self-serving tricks: it is much easier to get your subjects or converts to do your bidding, if you claim that it is 'the will of God', and threaten the intractable with eternal damnation in some fictional hell.

But for those in a position of power it is crucial to exercise sound judgment in the choice of religion; its tenets should preferably conform to their personal politics and prejudices. Thus Henry VIII found himself in a bit of a pickle when His Holiness, the Pope, refused to grant him a divorce from that Spanish wench, Catherine of Aragon. This refusal caused the king to have a spiritual epiphany and establish a rival religion, the Church of England -- loosely based on the teachings of a contemporary German heretic by the name of Luther -- with the King as the secular deputy of Christ. His timely conversion allowed him to betroth, and subsequently behead, a comely English lass, Anne Boleyn. To add injury to insult, the king proceeded to confiscate all papal property within his British bailiwick, and doled it out to his loyal vassals, thus securing their allegiance to the crown. Such is the power of ardent faith!

Several consorts and centuries later some disgruntled Englishmen fled the stifling fold of the Church to establish their own spiritual haven in America. When the Founding Fathers (this being long before women's emancipation, there were no Founding Mothers) drafted the constitution which was to become the foundation of their new republic, one of its corner-stones was the separation of church and state. They wanted no clergy breathing down their necks, any more than they would allow themselves to be browbeaten by a king. For over two centuries freedom of (or from) religion was to make the United States a magnet for millions of immigrants of every religious persuasion -- or lack thereof.

The principle that a person's beliefs is nobody else's business is fundamental to the American Way of Life -- or so it was until the ascension to the presidency of George W Bush, aka George II, a nickname rife with historic irony. In his inaugural address Bush invoked 'our lord Jesus Christ', thus with one exclusionary phrase disenfranchising millions of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and native American animists -- as well as assorted agnostics and atheists -- who had heretofore been able to claim full membership in the Great Society.

After announcing that no US funds shall henceforth be made available for such frivolous pursuits as defusing the population explosion which is threatening the very survival of our planet, the former Texas playboy and born-again Christian proposed to Congress that federal funds be made available to religious organisations for charitable work. This would free church funds previously used for this purpose to be applied to other activities -- such as proselytising for new members. In legalese, such funds are called fungible -- monies that can be transferred from one budget to another -- the very principle that the new president quoted as his reason for denying aid to Third World groups advocating birth control: their own funds might then be applied toward abortion counseling -- a no-no to any true 'pro-lifer', for whom the end-all of life is being born, even if you are doomed to an early death or an existence of utter misery and deprivation. Nevertheless, dozens of bishops and prelates from every corner of the U nited States lost no time in boarding a jet for Washington, skullcaps figuratively in hand, begging for a handout from Uncle Sam.

At best, this double standard reflects an intellectual dishonesty which does not bode well for the continued White House tenure of the junior Bush, burning with new-found religious fervour. At worst, it is a sign of utter contempt for the US Constitution, or a failure to grasp the significance of the concept of separation of church and state. Perhaps we should expect nothing more from a president who made a self-fulfilling prophesy of an imminent recession as an excuse for opening up the last vestiges of Alaskan wilderness to exploitation by his buddies in the oil biz.

But then, what good is wilderness? Didn't God make man lord of all creation? Or is it possible that we are committing 'a weird form of suicide [by] bleeding our planet to death' -- as naturalist Gerald Durrell has suggested. And did that 'primitive heathen', Chief Seattle, have it right back, in 1854, when he said: "The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth."

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