The White House's Super Christian Christmas Card

This morning on "The View," Barbara Walters displayed the Christmas card she recently received from the White House. She said it was the most religious White House Christmas card in her memory. The card included explicit religious references beyond just a bible verse.

The super-Christian card features a verse from Nehemiah (Old Testament, it should be noted):

You alone are the LORD.
You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,
and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it,
the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to everything,
and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
NEHEMIAH 9:6 (NIV)

But whereas in previous years the President and the First Lady opted for messages of happiness, goodwill, and peace, this year featured the following closer:

May the joy of all creation fill your heart this blessed season 2007.

It is then signed by both George and Laura Bush.

The card was financed by the Republican National Committee.

Comments

[Chubbster]

Primitive beliefs about the nature of reality....

[Glaswegian]

The White House card may be controversial but a strong White House Christmas message has gone out on Barneycam. Look out on the link for a haggard Tony Blair demeaning himself still further, if that were possible, in the service of Bush. Have a paper bag handy.
http://neoclassics.blogspot.com/

[jazzman]

It makes no difference to Bush what anyone thinks of what he does. He presides as if he were the President of 32% of the American people, it's only the Democrats that keep acting like he is the President enjoying the support of the all of the American people. Thus, we'll probably be in Iraq raising a cross and an Israeli flag in Tehran by 012009.

[ROBOT8]

"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."

- James Madison

"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects."

- James Madison

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

- James Madison

"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

- Thomas Jefferson

"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot.... they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer engine for their purpose."

- Thomas Jefferson

"...religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."

- Benjamin Franklin

"In the affairs of the world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the lack of it."

- Benjamin Franklin

"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."

John Adams

[NotMyPrez]

I hope that one day, when Bush meets his Predessesors in the great beyond ( if he's not roasting on a spit or spit-shining a beggar's foot)
that Thomas, George, John, Ben, et al. and others each take turns kicking him in his ethereal testicles.

[Rocketmind]

[In this "Christman card from George" I see sociopathic self-centeredness, a delusional egomaniacal bully, a self-destructive provocateurism, and PRIMA FACIE TREASON. Can there be any doubt now that those who have Dared To Call It Treason have only been guilty of being a few years ahead of the general public's awareness; it's time to swallow the embarassment, the excuses for fearing to use the word treason; It took 25 years for the public to discover that the US had The Neutron Bomb- its a good thing it was not someone else's, or we would not have survived to realize our ignorance- but now, thanks to traitors, our 'enemies' have it- so what say thee now of "god" but that it can be conjectured that if we Earthmen are to live, we are only as safe as our neighbor's love for us. No nation such as ours can live- defending or allowing such evil as in Bush's Cabal's heartless men engaged in provocations, secret terrorism, and being the "Wolf that cried 'wolf'!" We must stop this now, or surely die at the hands of more righteous earthlings justified by our inaction. Use the word, dare to call Bush a traitor, and bring the wrath of "god" to focus where it belongs. In your hearts, you know I am right, for I was one of the first 4 Air Force Nuke Techs deployed with that Hellfury device! Justice IS coming, and Hell is coming with it. {from "Tombstone"}Shouldn't WE decide where?

[robertlockwoodmills]

Peppermint, nobody would bother crucifying you. Self-absorbed people are rarely attacked by others. Pitied, maybe. Ridiculed, possibly. But you're safe where you are.

[reigndog]

FU George, you hypocrite, you torturer, you evil lizard.

[SunshineDaydream]

"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects."

- James Madison

[Rog49Thomas]

The Prophet Nehemiah is a favorite among certain "religious" people of the right. Nehemiah Project anyone?

Verse is also a favorite Old Testament verse among evangelicals - maybe not as popular as the more focused on Leviticus, though.

Historical footnote:
Nehemiah is associated with the return from the Captivity - and thus a revered figure to some in the Zionist movement and the Christian Zionist movement for his teachings.

[edgespeaker]

Sounds Islamic to me. Same phallus worship. And not every Christian at all. Christianity does not "stress" the father thing on Christmas. It stresses the son thing, etc. etc.
Ugghh...I guess all these weaklings need a father figure since they cannot make it on their own. Ughhhhh

[Earl]

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

[MissingAmerica]

One must expect that these people are so disconnected from reality that they would even offend with an inappropriate Christmas card. I find it ironic that Bush would send out this card while, at the same time, threatening to veto the torture of fellow human beings. "You give life", a quote of recognition coming from a man who is responsible for taking the lives of hundreds of thousands, simply further proves this man's total hypocrisy and, quite frankly, his life on the lunatic fringe. We really should figure out a way to get this joker impeached.

[avergejoe]

It seems super UNChristian to me!

An old testament verse that has NOTHING to do with the birth of Christ.

A cheezy, sophomoric, secular greeting.

No mention of peace on earth.
(which would have been hypocritical, anyway)

Definitely NOT Christian at all.

[rmajh5]

We humans have a tendency to react to daily events as if most of what is happening today is new, is novel, has never happened before. I get a sense of this feeling when I listen to people worrying aloud about the current political debate going on in our nation about religion and faith. Some people worry that our constitution is being subverted for the very first time by some of the religious faithful who seem to be insisting on a faith test for anyone who would dare consider running for president.

Our reality is quite different. Our federal constitution included the concept of separation of church and state for good reason. Way back when our founders were doing their job of jump starting our nation, they knew what history had to say about the intolerance of religions who had gained strength to be able to run a country. Our founders, mostly Christians all, wanted to be able to practice their faith without worrying that someday, one or another of their sects of Christianity would somehow gain the strength necessary to impose their will over all other denominations.

Our constitution gave our nation this protection from religious authoritarianism, but it did not insure that it would always be so. The job of protecting ourselves from this particular danger rests always with each and every generation rising to take over from its predecessor.

John Kennedy, a Catholic, was one of our most recent politicians to speak eloquently about this subject when he assured all Americans as he was running for president that we would all, at one and the same time, have the ability to pray or not as we might choose while understanding that our government would never impose religious tests for our people.

The ability to judge ones religious faith is no easy task. On the other hand, judging anothers ethical and moral compass by that persons daily actions can be far easier and far more important.