“1) I’m pretty sure President Bush knows his Bible better than this.”
I doubt it. The man repeatedly said stupid, even blasphemous things like “Christians and Jews and Muslims all worship the same god”, and that there are many different ways to salvation, etc.
My son, Mr. Seminary trained theologian, said the same thing....we all worship the same god...until I slapped the stupid out of him and actually made him read the koran. There are a lot of Christians with good intentions that believe that because they are simply ignorant of the facts, and sometimes of their own religion. I have a muslim co-worker who argued with me over something I said was in the koran and he swore it was not - until I showed him. He was actually pretty upset by it.
Er, one can come to different conclusions about what the Bible means, or even its relationship with ones religious beliefs, while knowing it thoroughly.
I suspect that my Catholic high school religious seminar instructors (among millions of others, our present Pope among them) would have had a very different take on the points you raise.
I'm confused, aren't these pretty standard fare things to say for the past half century or so? Seems to be the common thread from Freemasons to Ivy League schools, i.e. the brotherhood of man, etc... Been hearing various groups and individuals say some version of this since as far back as I recall.
Of course it's rediculous and provably false, but it's the popular notion for how we "can all just get along"
Wow. I was not aware of that.