Sunday, May 16, 2004
Here, by way of Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, is a nice entry from a web logger in Iraq:
I asked them about their opinion about the government and the president they would like to have in the future, here, a man said “ I’d prefer a Christian president” as a matter of fact I was shocked as I wasn’t expecting to hear such a perspective in an almost exclusively Shei’at village. Here the others agreed and clarified their friends point “we mean that we don’t want an Islamic or Shei’at government” “see, the SCIRI party established a library and a school to give religion classes that no one attends despite it cost the party thousands of dollars and occupied one of the towns’ buildings. Take a look at the water treatment plant that the coalition established, people gather around it every morning”. “We want those who know what we need, not those who tell us to do what they want” another man added”.
I don't think the man in the quote above understood his use of the word 'Christian.' I think he views, perhaps through the Arab news, 'American' and 'Christian' as the same thing. They want their government to serve them and not the other way around. This is how the American government is setup, "By the people, for the people." But, thinking back to what I wrote before about how Jesus could have ruled, but instead served, perhaps the Iraqi is a little big right. The American government, given the right circumstances (as has been played out in many books and movies over the years) could tell us to do what they want instead of knowing what we need. Of course countless people can argue against the American government "knowing what American's need" and not "telling us to do what they want." But, in comparison to the rest of the governments in the world, I think ours is on the better side of that equation. I wonder how many Americans, this fall, will consider answering the question, "what type of President do you want?" would consider answering, "I'd prefer a Christian president."
I asked them about their opinion about the government and the president they would like to have in the future, here, a man said “ I’d prefer a Christian president” as a matter of fact I was shocked as I wasn’t expecting to hear such a perspective in an almost exclusively Shei’at village. Here the others agreed and clarified their friends point “we mean that we don’t want an Islamic or Shei’at government” “see, the SCIRI party established a library and a school to give religion classes that no one attends despite it cost the party thousands of dollars and occupied one of the towns’ buildings. Take a look at the water treatment plant that the coalition established, people gather around it every morning”. “We want those who know what we need, not those who tell us to do what they want” another man added”.
I don't think the man in the quote above understood his use of the word 'Christian.' I think he views, perhaps through the Arab news, 'American' and 'Christian' as the same thing. They want their government to serve them and not the other way around. This is how the American government is setup, "By the people, for the people." But, thinking back to what I wrote before about how Jesus could have ruled, but instead served, perhaps the Iraqi is a little big right. The American government, given the right circumstances (as has been played out in many books and movies over the years) could tell us to do what they want instead of knowing what we need. Of course countless people can argue against the American government "knowing what American's need" and not "telling us to do what they want." But, in comparison to the rest of the governments in the world, I think ours is on the better side of that equation. I wonder how many Americans, this fall, will consider answering the question, "what type of President do you want?" would consider answering, "I'd prefer a Christian president."
