Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has published his memoirs and has some interesting comments about US president Bush. Mister Schroeder writes : “What worried me, despite a relaxed atmosphere to our talks, and to a certain degree what made me sceptical was how much it came through that this president saw himself as ‘God-fearing’ and saw that as the highest authority”. He continues that he has nothing against religious people, he does feel that political decisions should not be mixed with religion. And he is right. Bush has many times mentioned how he speaks to God about political issues, surely these “chats” influence his decisions in some way? Schroeder correctly mentions the hypocrisy of the US in pressuring Islamic nations to become more secular but at the same time allow extremely religious groups and individuals influence US policy in their own country. Leave religion out of politics, politics are complex enough as they are.
“I can well understand if someone is devout and strives for a dialogue with God, in this case prayer. The problem that I have with that starts when the impression arises that political decisions are the result of a dialogue with God,” says the book according to Reuters.
Relations between Berlin and Washington were very cordial when Mr Schroeder, a social democrat, first came to office in 1998 but went downhill when it became apparent Germany would not support US military action in Iraq.
The low point came when Mr Schroeder, while campaigning to get into office for a second time, called American plans to invade Iraq an “adventure”, prompting fury in the White House.
From : Ex-chancellor Schroeder criticises Bush’s religious ‘absolutism’.
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