Just to interject some American tradition and law as it relates to religion ...
Our country was not founded as a Christian theocracy;
it was founded on the basis of religious PLURALISM, by Christians, Jews and other Deists. I find it an honorable reflection that devout Bible following men who had the opportunity to make this new country into the image of their own faith, chose the higher ground of liberty, confident that truth wins when its unfettered.
Pluralism, simply put, is the free market of ideas in which in the eyes of the government, no religion has greater merit than another. As codifed in the 1st Amendment, all citizens have a right to follow the faith to which they cling, and no one is required to follow them, or agree with them. But we do have to respect, honor their right to be wrong, just as they must return in kind for us. We get into problems when we foist religion on someone else, or expect them to adhere.
But what is religion? Is religion being pro-choice? Sharia law? Is it moral rules constricting behavior? No ... actually, religion is a belief about how things work and relate to the divine. Morals are derived from our religion, but they do not define the religion. And the morality laws of our nation were extrapolated not from one religion, but on the consensus of representatives of several religions who all agreed on certain moral boundaries in our community. Truth be told, Islam takes a tougher stand on abortion than our "Judeo-Christian" nation has ever taken. Its self-proclaimed Jews and Christians in our nation that have taken up the cause of pro-choice ... very sad.
President Bush had his flaws, but he understood the restriction of his office, and his statements above were neither for nor against Islam. They were simply a statement of our national heritage of pluralism. That is appropriate speech for a president, and does not in any way shape or form indicate an abandonment of his own convictions as a growing Christian. President Obama would do well to take note.
But if you compare the content of his speech with the content of President Obama's, it is very clear to me, as an academic in the field of comparative religions, that Obama lacks a unifying faith. He is what we would call "spiritual" as opposed to "religious". He is not a Christian, Muslim or Jew ... he draws on ideas from anything he finds as they suit his purpose. I've mentioned it here before, he is what we call a Moral Therapeutic Deist. He also is a Subjective Moralist, which means as fluid as his ideas are, so can his behavior - Morals - be as well. There are no absolutes to this man, just what works at the moment. This is his essential nature, upon which his politics have been built. When you recognize that, he makes sense ... within his own context.
If he were a Muslim, he would be under fatwah for his policies on abortion and homosexuality. He would be banned from the Hajj were he not a public figure. He is the subject of many many jokes in the Muslim world - in Arabic, Farsi, Tagalog, etc. - that are typically of a racial nature. The Muslim world has no regard for him as a man, never mind a leader. And as a person that was raised to understand the Muslim faith, he understands it, which I believe is why he very quickly apologizes to Islam. He has a sense of shame about himself in that context. It also explains his arrogance towards us - he is a man compensating for himself.
