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Bush's Hypocrisy Shines
Tony Hileman
Al-Jazeerah, 11/2/03
President Bush’s statements favoring America’s constitutional rights and freedoms sharply contrast with his actions to preserve them. While sometimes there simply is no action, often the initiatives of his administration serve to undermine rather than preserve our unalienable rights. Such inconsistencies underscore America’s need for public policies that protect the nation’s liberty, health, and welfare.
In a news conference on Tuesday, October 28 George W. Bush stated, “In America, we love the fact that we are a society in which people can pray openly or not pray at all for that matter.” It’s hypocritical for Bush to make such a statement when at the same time his administration has not hesitated to push for changes that significantly violate the principle of church-state separation.
The Bush administration is promoting taxpayer-funded vouchers that redirect public funds to sectarian private schools. Even over the objections of Congress, Bush is enacting his faith-based initiatives that divert public dollars to religious charities, ignore civil rights protections, and allow proselytizing. The administration has also bolstered the annual presidential declaration of a National Day of Prayer, going so far as to suggest the prayer Americans should use. All these measures open the door for inappropriate governmental pressure to participate in religious activities—especially for those who prefer a different prayer, would rather pray privately or who'd rather not pray at all.
Bush makes clear through his actions that he hasn’t seen the light about what it means to have true religious freedom—that the only way to enjoy the full freedom of your own religion is to be fully free from impositions of another’s religion.
Referring to the war on terrorism, Bush explicitly declared, "Ours is a war not against a religion, not against the Muslim faith. But ours is a war against individuals who absolutely hate what America stands for.” Yet, Bush allowed Army Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin’s intolerant religious rhetoric to stand without reprimand.
Boykin’s inflammatory comments to Muslims that his God was bigger than theirs, and that his was real and theirs just an idol, inflamed tensions in the Middle East and placed American troops abroad in danger. Boykin also said George W. Bush is a president “appointed by God” and specifically called the enemy “Satan” rather than the Bush administration’s declared enemies, Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden. While Bush publicly declared that Boykin's comments about Muslims don’t reflect his point of view, he failed to dismiss, reassign, or even reprimand him.
Bush has also allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to seek lists of law-abiding American Muslims. This doesn’t square with his platitudes about Muslim friendship. What’s more, the FBI acted on instructions to count all mosques in an area and use that number to determine their “quota” for a region’s anti-terror investigations.
Perhaps Bush’s biggest blind spot is in the area of scientific research, its interpretation, and its applications. The Government Reform Committee, at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, assessed whether scientific integrity has been compromised to further an ideological and political agenda. The report shows that the administration has obstructed the development of science-based policies and research on HIV/AIDS among the gay population, despite Bush’s statement that the international efforts to fight HIV/AIDS should be concentrated on “programs that work, proven best practices.” Both at home and abroad Bush is pushing relentlessly for ineffective abstinence-only programs that threaten the lives of millions.
Scientific information from the Bush administration is also becoming suspect. The National Cancer Institute website was changed to incorrectly tie abortion to an increased risk for breast cancer. The Center for Disease Control’s website quietly removed information verifying the effectiveness of condoms. Interior Secretary Gale Norton failed to mention government scientists’ research which found that oil drilling in the Far North might harm wildlife. This intentional withholding of pertinent, accurate information is unconscionable in an open society. What we don’t know can and will hurt us.
Is Bush really someone interested in objective evidence? Or is he more interested in imposing his “revealed truth” on America? The president needs to stop living in the fog and friction of hypocrisy and conform his behavior to his high-minded rhetoric—which is much more humanistic that his actions.
Tony Hileman Executive Director American Humanist Association
Washington, DC, USA
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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