Friday, November 7, 2008

Can We Be Comfortable Knowing Our President's Faith?

I remember the worry (or even weeping and knashing of teeth) when President George W. Bush took office. He made no secret of his faith, and soon it became known that there were Bible studies and prayer sessions in the White House - oh, my!

For some reason the public seems to be less and less comfortable with hearing that a leader prays and actually means it; with knowing that a leader reads the Bible daily; with thinking about that leader sharing in faith activities with members of his staff. But discussions of one's faith were quite common in earlier days, whether you were a "common" citizen or a powerful leader.

Here is another example of a President expressing a faith-based idea (there are many other such on this blog):

The 26th President of the United States was Theodore Roosevelt. In June of 1906 he said:

After a week on perplexing problems and in heated contests it does so rest my soul to come into the house of the Lord and to sing and mean it, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty," and to know that He is my Father... [my] great joy that, in occupying an exhalted position in the nation, I am enabled, to preach the practical moralities of the Bible to my fellow-countrymen and to hold up Christ as the hope and Savior of the world.

See: Grant, George, The Third Time Around (Brentwood, TN:, Wolgemuth & Hyatt Inc.) 1991, p.118

Or refer to Google Books entries for:

Theodore Roosevelt by Ferdinand Cowle Iglehart

America's God and Country by William Joseph Federer

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