BUSH'S CONVERSION

Bush has the reputation as a born-again evangelical, but Alex Johnson finds it's something Bush has implied rather than openly stated:

Any discussion of President Bush’s presumed evangelicalism is complicated. Evangelicalism is a style of worship, not a set of beliefs, and to a large extent evangelical Protestants are defined by their personal stories of faith and by whom they choose as their pastor. But core to many evangelicals’ identity is the “born-again” experience described in John 3:3, when a sinner undergoes an intense conversion during a personal interaction with the Holy Spirit, often Jesus Himself.

George Bush has not said directly that he was ever born again. He has often said he was pointed on the path to God after a discussion with evangelist Billy Graham in 1985.

But as the article points out, there is another conversion account floating around as well. Of course, as someone who does not self-identify as an "evangelical" (and who would quibble with the article's definition) I don't really have a dog in that hunt. Bush is someone with an Episcopalian background and currently identifies as a Methodist, one suspects on the more Episcopalian end of Methodism rather than the Pentecostal.

I do believe Bush is a man with a strong faith in God. I have no doubt that his belief and practices differ a great deal from my own. I also have no doubt that there is a great deal of political calculation by Bush and his staff on how to use his religion to his political advantage.