President Bush is not inclined to believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. That’s not me saying that. He said it himself in an interview with ABC’s Nightline. Watch it here and read from Religion News below:
President George W. Bush said his belief that God created the world is not incompatible with scientific proof of evolution.
In an interview with ABC’s “Nightline” on Monday, the president also said he probably is not a literalist when reading the Bible although an individual can learn a great deal from it, including the New Testament teaching that God sent his only son.
Asked about creation and evolution, Bush said: “I think you can have both. I think evolution can — you’re getting me way out of my lane here. I’m just a simple president. But it’s, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don’t think it’s incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution.”
He added, “I happen to believe that evolution doesn’t fully explain the mystery of life.”
Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true.
“You know. Probably not. … No, I’m not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament for example is … has got … You know, the important lesson is ‘God sent a son,’” Bush said.
“It is hard for me to justify or prove the mystery of the Almighty in my life,” he said. “All I can just tell you is that I got back into religion and I quit drinking shortly thereafter and I asked for help. … I was a one-step program guy.”
“I do believe there is an almighty that is broad and big enough and loving enough that can encompass a lot of people,” Bush said.
More here.
Well here’s the good news for President Bush. At least he doesn’t have to worry about winning the socially conservative base anymore because with comments like that, he’d have to go into damage control mode.
Just asking: put politics aside for a moment. Philosophically, how are President Bush’s comments about God and Jesus different from what Barack Obama is saying? It sounds very similar doesn’t it? The policies and politics are different but they sound awfully close in how they view God.
I am sure not playing judge and jury so don’t even go there. I’m just saying that if you’re a socially conservative Evangelical, I would think you’d have a problem with some of these comments. Yes? Or would you like to simply tell me to shut up?