'Humble Sinner' Bush Testifies to Power of Faith
Apr 29,10:59 PM ET
By Patricia Wilson [posted on Yahoo! News]
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Declaring "I am just a humble sinner," President Bush on Monday drew on his personal experience with alcohol abuse to illustrate how faith can help turn lives around.
In the South Central Los Angeles neighborhood ravaged by race riots a decade ago, Bush called on Congress to act on his controversial plan to allow religious groups to share in the federal funds available to deliver social services to the less fortunate, from the homeless to unwed mothers.
"Now, I don't want government to be the church and I don't want the church to be the government, but the government should not fear faith and faith-based programs," he said to murmured affirmations of "Amen" and "Yes."
"Faith is a powerful motivator. ... I know first-hand what faith can mean in somebody's life, so I remind people I am just a humble sinner who saw redemption," he said. Stopping himself, Bush added: "I don't want to get too far."
Speaking at a church-sponsored redevelopment program to a mostly African-American audience, Bush said the universal call to love was something "to be nourished, not feared."
... "When we fund programs we ought not to discriminate against faith-based programs or cause the faith-based program to have to change its mission in order to receive any money."
Sounding at times like a preacher, Bush called for soldiers to join "the armies of compassion" because "as Martin Luther King said, God isn't gonna do it all by himself."
With key state governorships and control of Congress at stake in November, Bush resumed his heavy fund-raising schedule, bringing to more than 20 the number of appearances he has made on behalf of Republican candidates since ending a four-month, post-Sept. 11 hiatus on politicking.
... Bush broke with Republican leaders in the House and urged Congress to confront the stigma of mental illness by forcing health insurers to treat psychiatric and physical disease equally.
"Mental disability is not a scandal," Bush said at the University of New Mexico. "They deserve a health-care system that treats their illness with the same urgency as a physical illness."
Bush promised to work with Republican Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, who was at his side. Domenici, whose daughter suffers from mental illness, has long championed federally enforced parity guaranteeing insurance for mental disorders as comprehensive as that offered for other illnesses.
The legislation faces key opposition from Republican leaders in the House, as well as business groups, who fear it would significantly increase the cost of health insurance. Some studies have estimated, however, that premiums would rise as little as 0.9 percent if it was enacted.