HOME	Your Most Trusted Source of Foreign News and Views About the United States

By Mario Diament

October 8, 2005

Original Article (English)

Religion: Bush's Ace-in-the-Hole?

MIAMI: These days, nobody, not even the Republicans themselves, deny the fact that the Bush Presidency is facing difficult times. This is an impression that his speech on Thursday, during which he returned to his warnings about the threat of terrorism, failed to dissipate.

But if Republicans are worried about their political futures, the Democrats, who should be the natural beneficiaries of the Bush Administration’s drop in popularity, are no less concerned. Disintegrating, incapable of showing clear leadership or articulating a unified position in respect to the war in Iraq, the Democrats seem resigned to stand like spectators in the face of the major issues that divide American society. The emptiness created by the lack of political debate is instead being filled by a religious debate, often disguised as a preoccupation with morality.

In the same week that three American scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discoveries in physics and chemistry, a case at the U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, debated whether God had to occupy a place equivalent to that of Darwin in Biology textbooks.

[Editor’s Note: Now being compared with the Scopes ‘monkey trial’ of 1925, Kitzmiller et al. vs. Dover Area School District opened last month in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pa., with scientists arguing against intelligent design - which holds that the complexity of biological organisms is evidence of a creator - READ: Story from the New York Times]

In the same way, the controversy surrounding the nomination of Harriet Miers to fill the vacant chair on the U.S. Supreme Court refers directly, not to her knowledge of the law, but to the nature of her religious convictions. This is because she has never been a judge and so lacks a “paper trail,” establishing her position on issues such as abortion and the place of religion in civil society. The main point being emphasized to rally alarmed conservative senators is the fact that she is a "reborn Christian," which is the phrase Evangelicals use to describe receiving [God’s] Revelation, and which is intended to function as a guarantee of loyalty. 

Good part of the confusion that obstructs the democrats comes as opposed to from its indecision a controversy that today divides to the society and that is, essentially, about God, its paper in the Creation and the responsibility as opposed to the human life. All the remaining problems - from security and the war, to civil rights and racism seem subordinated to this essential question. The rest of the world can only watch with astonishment at how, while managing to decipher the genetic code, the world’s greatest industrial power debates in its courts of Justice whether man descends from the monkey or a handful of mud heated by divine fire. But nevertheless, a majority of Americans take this question very seriously.

One recent report by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press determined that a majority of Americans (64%) favor the idea that public schools should teach the Biblical version of the creation of the world on a par with the theory of evolution, and 38% favor the complete elimination of Darwinism form school curriculums.

The Democrats are baffled about what to do with this information. Studies suggest that religious factors tipped the electoral balance in Bush’s favor during the 2004 election, and the same survey reveals that only 29% of those interviewed think the Democrats have a friendly attitude toward religion. The trap for Democrats is that in the perception of most of the electorate, religiosity is equivalent to being against abortion rights, which is a key issue in the Democratic platform.

The war in Iraq also constitutes a reason for Democratic confusion. Although critics of the war have increased, many Democrats that voted for the invasion are now hesitant to look like they are fanning opposition to it, and hence taking an ambiguous position. If the situation in Iraq worsens, Bush’s position will continue to deteriorate by itself. But his fall does not directly aid the Democrats. Before they present themselves as a political alternative to the American people, Democrats should come to an agreement on what they have to offer. From Bush, it is God’s invocation they receive.