Straw Man

I don't really know why I waste my time on David Brooks...

I like to think about this episode when I hear militant secularists argue that faith should be kept out of politics. Like Martin Luther King Jr. a century later, Lincoln seemed to understand that epochal decisions are rarely made in a secular frame of mind. When great leaders make daring leaps, they often feel themselves surrendering to Divine Providence, and their strength flows from their faith that they are acting in accordance with transcendent moral truth.

No, no, and no... we folk who get more than a little ticked off when government and churches get really cozy aren't against people (politicians or otherwise) leaning on their faith for guidance and/or strength while in office. My faith certainly drives my personal moral and political principles... but people like Bush have stopped using that as a personal guide and inner strength and started to foist it on everyone else and giving preference to particular religions.