George Bush is not a good Christian

The devastating tsunami this past weekend, and Bush's reaction to it, prove beyond a doubt that this man is hardly a good Christian.

Bush's first reaction on hearing of the devastation, as leader of the free world, could have been to immediately announce that the US was taking the lead in coordinating disaster relief. When we've already spent over $200 billion on Iraq, we shouldn't have said we were committing $15 million to the relief effort; we should have announced the creation of a billion-dollar global fund and called on all nations and private citizens on the planet to come together and help finance it. He should have called on all the liberal and conservative donors to both presidential campaigns, red state and blue state, to put aside their differences and donate to this worthy cause.

But he didn't.

Bush stayed on vacation and had a deputy press secretary -- not even his real press secretary -- answer questions about the catastrophe. Not until 5 days after the disaster struck, and after news reports indicated the death toll was approaching 100,000 -- and most importantly -- not until after the Washington Post ran a story saying that Bush was being criticized for ignoring the humanitarian crisis did Bush finally speak publicly on the matter.

A good Christian would have been mortified by the death and destruction in Indonesia. Occuring just a day after Christmas, his heart would have gone out to the millions of lives affected by this tragedy. He'd demand his aides come up with an immediate "Marshall Plan" for helping the affected regions. He'd have gone on TV immediately to convey his condolences -- not simply because it was the right thing to do, but also because that region of the world is one where such ceremony and attention to public statements are given great weight. He'd have done it not only because it was the right thing to do, but because the disaster struck a region of the world with the largest Muslim population on the planet.

Imagine the political and public relations impact of the United States coming to the rescue of the world's Muslims during our own high holiday.

Alas, it never happened.

It never happened because it's something a good Christian would do. It's something a good church, a good faith, would do. It's something that any decent human being, let alone a decent person of faith, would do. But it's not something that George Bush did, and it's not something that the religious right in America did. You didn't hear Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell organizing any telethons to help the dead and dying. You didn't hear the religious right demanding the White House get more involved to help the devastated. The religious right's call to arms include prohibiting gay marriage and attacking those who say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays", but mobilizing relief to the millions of tsunami victims in Asia? Not so much.

George Bush is a bad president, but worse yet, he is a bad Christian. And the Christians who stand with him, right there alongside him; the ones who are currently girding their loins for the battle to get Bush's judges rammed through the Senate, are just as bad.

One has to wonder if the reaction would have been different from this White House had the victims been Christian.