the Progressive
January 21, 2005
The Hidden Passages in Bush’s Inaugural Address
Bush’s Inaugural Address contained many explicit references to God,
but there were even more hidden allusions to the Bible that may have
been lost to many in his audience, as they were to me, before I did
some research.
The subtle subtext of his speech carries with it a profoundly
disturbing message about the separation of church and state in this
country.
Here are a few of the hidden passages.
When Bush thanked the American people for granting him patience in
“good measure,” he was echoing Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given
unto you; good measure. . . .”
When Bush talked of the “ideals of justice and conduct that are the
same yesterday, today, and forever,” he was echoing Hebrews 13:8,
which says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
When Bush talked about the “untamed fire of freedom” in a passage that
included the phrase “hope kindles hope,” he was echoing passages from
Jeremiah. For instance, Jeremiah 17:27 says: “I will kindle an
unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem.” And Jeremiah 50:32 says:
“I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are
around her.”
There are many other passages in the Bible that have a raging fire in
them. For instance, Isaiah 33:14: “The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless: ‘Who of us can dwell with the consuming
fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?’ ”
When Bush talked about the day when “the captives are set free,” he
was echoing Ephesians 4:7-9, which says: “He led the captives free.”
When Bush talked about the day “the unjust encounter justice,” he was
echoing Job 27, which states, “May my enemies be like the wicked, my
adversaries like the unjust.” (This section of Job says that the
unjust and the wicked and the ruthless will meet a grisly fate:
“However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring
will never have enough to eat.”)
When Bush talked about the need to “surround the lost with love,” he
was echoing the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15.
When Bush said, “History also has a visible direction, set by liberty
and the Author of Liberty,” he was being none too subtle. But he was
also alluding to Acts 3:15 (“You killed the author of life”) and
Hebrews 12:2 (“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of our faith”).
Toward the end, when Bush said, “Freedom is the permanent hope of
mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul,” he was
echoing Psalm 107: “For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth
the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness. . . .”
In these passages, Bush may have been intent on reassuring his
evangelical base that he is one of them.
But in the process, he was also doing something dangerous to our
democracy.
Our First Amendment says that there shall be “no establishment of
religion.” In his speech, Bush was clearly establishing religion. He
was denying a place in the United States for those without faith. And
while he waved at those of other faiths, his repeated allusions were
mostly to the Christian Bible.
If you follow his metaphors and allusions to their logical ends, you
realize that Bush was cloaking our secular values of freedom and
liberty and justice in distinctly Christian garb.
“The Author of Liberty” is “The Author of Life,” and that author is
Jesus.
The “ideals of justice and conduct” equate with Jesus, since both are
“the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”
Both freedom and Jesus satisfy the hunger and the longing of the soul.
For Bush, they are one and the same.
In his America, there is no distinction between our public, secular
values and his private, religious faith.
For those who don’t share his faith—and for those who do but who also
appreciate the need to separate church from state—America is becoming
an increasingly inhospitable place.
-- Matthew Rothschild
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