Good Intentions and Religion - George W. Bush's Freedom Crusade

It seems to me, religion has a history of masking itself in good intentions. Christianity has a long history of this. Christopher Columbus’s search for gold was a good intention until he decides converting the natives to Christianity should be a priority as well. Pilgrims wanting to escape religious persecution by coming to a newly discovered America was a good intention until they proceed to persecute the American Indians with the hope of converting them to Christianity. Flash forward a few hundred years. The United Nations (with the strong backing of Christian Nations) creating Israel to give the Jews a place where they can finally be free from persecution was a good intention, of course Christians know that this must happen for the prophecies in their scriptures to be realized. Now, America invading Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Ladin was a failed good intention and while there they eliminate religious law, Shariah, and install a Western style government. Next, America invading Iraq to remove the apparently nonexistent threat of weapons of mass destruction sounded like a good intention, except while there American corporations regain control of a Muslim countries source of wealth and possible power, oil. America is a Christian nation, lead by a devote Christian President. There are hundreds of examples before, between and after those mentioned, in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.

This is why President George W. Bush’s inauguration speech scares the hell out of me. He speaks of this Freedom Crusade. Freedom is the good intention used to disguise the real Crusade he wants us to embark on. The people fighting us in Iraq do it because we are occupying there country not because we are a Christian nation, that is secondary. Imagine America is taken over by an invading force of Buddhist; Americans would fight them not because they are Buddhist but because they are an invading force. Religions are quick to recognize aggression by other religions, in turn they respond by inciting their followers and taking advantage of the others aggression. The people are now given an additional motive to fight their invaders, God tells them to. Take all religion out of these situations and the people will still fight the invading forces, though most likely with out religion the invasion would not have occurred in the first place. The people fighting us in Iraq are not afraid of freedom, they are afraid of America’s Christian version of freedom. The same version of freedom a devote Christian President Bush has made a policy of the United States to spread to the world.

I am a Christian who loves his country and enjoys the freedoms America offers me. I will fight everyday to protect these freedoms for myself and my family. I will not fight a single day to give my version of freedom to someone who needs his own. Let them find their own version of freedom. Then, if necessary, fight and die for it as my fore fathers did.

One mans freedom fighter is another mans terrorist. We as Americans need to understand that a good intention can sometimes mask an alterative motive. What if Great Britain and its allies had continually medaled in our politics, propped up dictators who were friendly with them to run our country and when ever possible had corporations gain control of our resources? Our founding fathers were at times called terrorist by the people of England for their refusal to stand and fight in the traditional standard of the day. Our interests in the Middle East are just that, our self interest. We can mask our motives in wonderful grandiose ideas, mislead, and when need be lie to Americans and the world but if you live in the Middle East you know whose interests America is looking out for. America is free partly because Great Britain chose to stop fighting us. It took courage on their part to concede. Someday we may need to find this same courage in the Middle East.

Ask yourself why America even gives a damn about the Middle East? There is only one true answer, OIL. Take the oil out of the equation and we are looking at a bunch of Muslims in a desert. Without oil they pose no threat, they have no power and America is nowhere to be found in the Middle East. Unfortunately the one thing at this date and time America can not function without is oil. The U.S. has a severe addiction to oil. As those in Alcoholics Anonymous point out, it’s not until you hit rock bottom that you realize how severe the addiction really is. Right now America is in the “I will do anything to get my fix” or the “give me that crack before I shoot you” stage. This, combined with a fear of the Muslim faith gaining any more strength, is leading us down a very scary road.

I suggest we take a page out of John F. Kennedy’s notebook. J.F.K. laid out an ambitious plan that years later put a man on the moon. America must again use its great potential, ingenuity, and will power to break our dependence on oil. We need leaders with the integrity to break their bonds with special interests and lead us. If we could put a man on the moon, thought to be impossible at the time of Kennedy’s speech, we can easily eliminate our dependence on oil, we know for a fact that it can be done. So what is stopping us? Are we just lazy or is it easier to take the oil at gun point.