Reporters are slowly beginning to notice the elephant in the room, Bush's fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Bush, who says he reads the Bible daily, acknowledges his fundamentalist beliefs. Biblical and Middle East scholar Karen Armstrong writes in The Guardian, "Whatever Bush's personal beliefs, the ideology of the Christian right is both familiar and congenial to him. This strange amalgam of ideas can perhaps throw light on the behavior of a president who, it is said, believes God chose him to lead the world toward Rapture, who has little interest in social reform, and whose selective concern for life issues has now inspired him to veto important scientific research.
"It explains his unconditional support for Israel, his willingness to use 'Jewish End-Time warriors' to fulfill a vision of his own, arguably against Israel's best interest, and to see Syria and Iran...as entirely responsible for the unfolding tragedy."
Noting that "the same time as Bush decided to veto the stem cell bill, Israeli bombs were taking the lives of hundreds of innocent Lebanese civilians, many of them children, with the tacit approval of the U.S. " And she suggested there is "a connection between a religiously motivated mistrust of science...and a war in the Middle East."
As she notes, Bush and his administration not only rely on Christian fundamentalists, he espouses many of their ideals, including their belief that "the second coming of Christ is at hand" but Christ cannot return unless, "in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, the Jews are in possession of the Holy Land."

I have been writing about this for over a year and I am constantly amazed that the media does not report on it far more often then it does. If the leader of the free world believes that the end of that world is imminent, then that is news! It should be reported every single day!

George Bush has done an incredible amount of damage based on his beliefs. He really believes that he is appointed by God to pave the way for the second coming of Christ. That is insane! And he is clearly surrounded by people who support his sense of destiny.

And how much damage has he done?

The belief that Bush is a modern crusader is sharper among thinking Muslims. An essay in the May issue of The American Muslim, is entitled, "The Faith of George W. Bush: Christian Supremacy, American Imperialism, and Global Disaster." The writer, Yoginder Sikand, cites Stephen Mansfield's "The Faith of George W. Bush," which says that the president "incorporates his faith and belief into every detail of life," and that faith is rooted in Christian fundamentalism.

Sikand condemns religious fundamentalism, "but as a Christian fundamentalist," he writes, “Bush sees the most complex questions in the most simplistic terms, as a battle between good and evil...Bush is convinced that Islamic militants and many other Muslims are opposed to America because, America is ‘freedom's home and defender’ and Islamist militancy stems from a congenital Muslim/non-white/non-Christian barbarity that can only be cured through military bombardment."

So George Bush's arrogant belief that he is being guided directly by God's hand feeds right into the Muslim belief that the west is filled with Cristian crusaders who want to crush Islam. We are sitting on a powder keg that is about to explode, and there will be not innocents on the sidelines. This conflict has the potential of involving every country and nationality on the planet. It could very well be much bigger then World War 2.

I leave you with this from Saul Freedman:

"Fundamentalists do not want a humanely constructed peace; many, indeed, regard the UN as the abode of the Antichrist. The willingness of the U.S. to turn a blind eye to the suffering of innocent people in Lebanon will certainly fuel the rage of the extremists and lead to further acts of terror. We can only hope that it does not take us all the way to Armageddon."