Bush Sees "Third Awakening" [Jack M.]

Andrew Sullivan's next frenzied "Christianist"article in 5..4..3..2..1....

Apparently, as reported in the Washington Post, President Bush had a little face to face sit-down in the Oval Office today with a group of conservative journalists and said the following:

""A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me," Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he sees lasting decades. "There was a stark change between the culture of the '50s and the '60s -- boom -- and I think there's change happening here," he added. "It seems to me that there's a Third Awakening."

A third awakening??? Oh noes!!! Sounds evil. Better get that freakout meter adjusted.

What's a "third awakening" you ask? Luckily for you heathens, the article explains it.

"The First Great Awakening refers to a wave of Christian fervor in the American colonies from about 1730 to 1760, while the Second Great Awakening is generally believed to have occurred from 1800 to 1830.

HORRORS!!!!

And how, pray tell, is this "third awakening" manifesting itself? Surely, as Sullivan is probably feverishly writing now, these Theocratic Christianists are imposing Taliban-like restrictions upon the very freedoms that are part and parcel of the AoS lifestyle. Right? Let's see what the President says:

"Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham Lincoln's strongest supporters were religious people "who saw life in terms of good and evil" and who believed that slavery was evil. Many of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar terms."

Dear Lord! People displaying open expressions of faith??? In public??? In AMERICA????

The next thing you know they will want to pray at football games. Or high school graduation ceremonies.

And what's with all this judgmentalism about good and evil. That's not the Spirit of the Sixties, man. Well, OK, maybe the 1860's you clock-turner-backer!!!

In all seriousness, how can anyone find anything about the President's comments to be objectionable?

And yet, it's a big story in the Post. And it will provide fodder for the next 50 or so Sully columns.

Which, come to think about it, is the most objectionable thing about this whole non-story.

posted by Ace at 04:20 PM

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