President Bush has positioned himself unambiguously as an evangelical Christian who promotes evangelical Christian values - he has done this as a political candidate and he does this in the social policies he advocates. This does not, however, mean that his Christian views are mainstream or even orthodox - indeed, just the opposite can be argued.

At least, that's what Juan Stam does in The Nation:

Manicheism This ancient heresy divides all of reality in two: Absolute Good and Absolute Evil. The Christian church rejected Manicheism as heretical many centuries ago. But on the day after 9/11, the President first stated the position he would continue to maintain: "This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil, but good will prevail."

Messianism When Bush, then Governor of Texas, decided to seek the presidency, he described his decision in terms evangelicals would understand as a divine mandate: He had been "called," a phrase that evoked the prophetic commissions of the Hebrew scriptures. He summoned to the governor's mansion all the leading pastors of the region to carry out a ritual of "laying on of hands," a practice that corresponds above all to ministerial ordination. He told the pastors that he had been called (obviously, by God) to be the presidential candidate. This language of divine calling has been frequent in his declarations and at a much accelerated rhythm since September 11, 2001. ... Bush does not seem to have much hesitation in identifying God with his own project.

Manipulation of Prayer True prayer does not pretend to tell God what we want Him to do but rather asks that God tell us what He wishes us to do. We do not pray in order to enlist God in our ranks but to examine ourselves, to change and to do God's will. Therefore, the confession of sin and repentance are crucial moments in prayer and worship.

Stam may be quite correct that these views are not a part of orthodox, traditional Christianity - but they are very much a part of conservative evangelical Christianity in America. This is an important point to make because it goes far beyond the theology of George W. Bush. Conservative evangelicals in America like to try and claim that they represent "True Christianity" as it was taught by Jesus Christ, but it is a Christianity that would be unrecognizable to most Christians through history.

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