OxBlog

# Posted 6:24 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

THAT CHRISTIAN NUT IN THE WHITE HOUSE: Isn't there anyone over at 1600 Penn. Ave who realizes that the leader of the free world shouldn't say things like this:

Our government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith.

Or that:

Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic expression of Americanism. Without God, there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life.

Or that

We can stand up and hold up our heads and say: America is the greatest force that God has ever allowed to exist on his footstool. As such, it is up to us to lead this world to a peaceful and secure existence.

Or finally, that:

Faith is evidently too simple a thing for some to recognize its paramount worth...But your husbands and brothers and fathers can testify that in the terrifying nakedness of the battlefield, the faith and the spirit of men are the keys to survival and victory.

If faith and spirit are the keys to victory, then things are looking up for the insurgents in Iraq. But what the f*** did Dwight Eisenhower know about guerrilla warfare?

Yeah, that's right: Eisenhower. Who did you think said all of those offensive things mentioned above? George W. Bush? Bill Clinton?

FYI, all of these quotations come from a 1994 article by Rachel Holloway entitled "Keeping the Faith" in a book entitled Eisenhower's War of Words, edited by Martin Medhurst. Holloway's main argument is that Eisenhower suppressed dissent about his reckless nuclear policies by suggesting that anyone who disagreed with him was either un-American or an atheist or both.

For the record, I don't agree with Holloway. But her take on Eisenhower should make it clear that she has absolutely no interest in defending overtly religious rhetoric by suggesting that even the great Eisenhower was always talking about God. Only OxBlog has the chutzpah to do that.

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