Bush, Tyndale and the dilemmas of Christian leadership
Editor's Note: A September 20 breakfast event with former American president George W. Bush organized by a supporter of Tyndale University College and Seminary was cancelled after some students and staff publicly questioned whether Bush's values were in keeping with the college.
Arthur Paul Boers, who holds the endowed Chair of Leadership at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, explains his concerns on how the event was handled, and why he thinks Bush doesn't represent evangelical Christian faith. The following is a revised version of the column originally posted on September 19.
TORONTO, ON - Our family moved to the U.S. shortly after September 11 and experienced what it meant to be foreigners under the George W. Bush administration. We had lived there in the 1980s. Our children were born there then. We thought that we knew what life in the U.S. was like. Yet we were unprepared for how much had changed in the intervening decades, with the ramped up rhetoric and suspicion of all things foreign. On occasion we attracted hostility for being Canadian and learned to keep our nationality quiet, even toning down accents.
Much fear and hatred was couched in Christian terms. I was galled and alarmed by American Christians who were jubilant over Bush's Christian rhetoric. I was heartsick over how the term "evangelical" came in the U.S. to be understood as automatically implying right-wing militarism. When I left Indiana to teach at a Canadian evangelical school, some friends criticized me. I repeatedly said that Canadian evangelicalism is different.
I visited overseas during my U.S. years and had long conversations with seekers from around the world. When they asked what I believed as a Christian and I explained my commitment to reconciliation, conversation partners were startled, even shocked, often asking: "What about George Bush?" He had become the face of Christianity for many.
My chief concern about George W. Bush was his use of faith. Early on, he employed "crusade" terminology. After September 11, he deliberately echoed words of Jesus, saying, "You're either with us or against us." On the first anniversary of September 11, in front of the Statue of Liberty's flame he messianically proclaimed that the "ideal of America is the hope of all mankind." Rewriting Scripture, he added: "That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it." He conflated the light of Christ with pompous American pretensions.
His carefully crafted remarks distorted sacred texts into words of mass deception. In a State of the Union address, Bush said: "There is power - wonder-working power - in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people." This time he rewrote a beloved hymn, substituting American qualities for "the precious blood of the Lamb."
Such claims need to be tested for blasphemy and heresy. Yet few Christians raised questions, let alone criticisms. Instead we often complain about militant Islamic rhetoric. There is a theological term for that: hypocrisy.
All this from a country that pompously called one war campaign "Operation Infinite Justice." Really? Let's talk about justice. As no one has been convicted, I do not label anyone a war criminal. Yet George W. Bush ought to be investigated and held to account for: wrongful abduction and imprisonment without trial; employment of torture; tens of thousands of civilian casualties in Iraq (conservative estimates total 100,000); other civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Pakistan; invading Iraq on mistaken if not fraudulently deceptive grounds; gross human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere; and greater instability around the globe.
As an orthodox believer who honours and upholds Christian creeds, who believes that only God Almighty is infinite and that Jesus Christ is the hope of all humanity, I am heartbroken over the absence of careful deliberation, discernment or debate about the arrogant theological actions and assertions of George W. Bush.
In recent months, I helped facilitate a group of pastors, professors, business people, professionals and parachurch leaders who pondered and discussed the life and witness of German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. As a group with diverse theological and political beliefs, we were energized to examine how we might grow in faithfulness to following Jesus today.
Over and again, we noted Bonhoeffer's commitment to truth-telling especially when his nation, the German church or indeed even his beloved Confessing Church, fell short of God's Reign. He was particularly passionate whenever authorities usurped, exploited or distorted Christian faith for political purposes. Christians have an obligation to speak up and speak out in such times.
Little did I realize that I would soon be faced with a dilemma where I longed for Dietrich Bonhoeffer's wisdom. I learned of the planned Tyndale breakfast with George W. Bush three weeks before it was scheduled to happen and I had several concerns.
First, I saw the damage that occurred when Christians were silent during the Bush years about theologically questionable claims and ethically questionable actions. I witnessed Christian faith discredited, largely through our own fault, our own commissions and omissions. If Bush was going to be associated with my school, conscience compelled me to speak.
Second, in Canada I hear evangelicals - especially leaders in major parachurch organizations - regularly worry and complain about being automatically lumped with American counterparts. As Bush was going to be honoured at a private invitation-only event, Tyndale risked contributing to popular perceptions that Canadian and American evangelicalism are equivalent.
Moving back home to Canada, I did not want to think anymore about George W. Bush, the world's most controversial Christian. I naively heaved a huge sigh of relief and crossed the border. I never dreamed that Mr. Bush would so directly impact my life even at Tyndale. Still a stranger in a strange land, I'm struggling to figure out how to speak up and to sing the songs of Zion.
Arthur Boers holds the endowed chair of Leadership at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto and is the author of The Way is Made by Walking: A Pilgrimage Along the Camino de Santiago.
Do you agree with Tyndale's decision to invite George W. Bush to speak at a fundraising breakfast? Has he cast a negative light on evangelical Christians? Click below to send us your comments.
To read a selection of Letters to the Editor on this story, click here.
To read "Torture's voices: no neutral ground," a follow-up column by Catherine Morris, click here.
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