Bush sees Third Awkening via war on Terror
Washington Post - September 13, 2006
Bush Tells Group He Sees a ‘Third Awakening’ By Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writer
President Bush said yesterday that he senses a “Third Awakening” of
religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the
nation’s struggle with international terrorists, a war that he
depicted as “a confrontation between good and evil.”
Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more
open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels,
and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other
religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham
Lincoln’s strongest supporters were religious people “who saw life in
terms of good and evil” and who believed that slavery was evil. Many
of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar
terms.
“A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good
and evil, including me,” Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office
conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he
sees lasting decades. “There was a stark change between the culture
of the ’50s and the ’60s — boom — and I think there’s change
happening here,” he added. “It seems to me that there’s a Third
Awakening.”
The First Great Awakening refers to a wave of Christian fervor in the
American colonies from about 1730 to 1760, while the Second Great
Awakening is generally believed to have occurred from 1800 to 1830.
Some scholars and writers have debated for years whether a Third
Awakening has been taking place, although some identify other
awakenings in U.S. history. Bush aides, including Karl Rove, have
read Robert William Fogel’s “The Fourth Great Awakening and the
Future of Egalitarianism.”
Bush has been careful discussing the battle with terrorists in
religious terms since he had to apologize for using the word
“crusade” in 2001. He often stresses that the war is not against
Islam but against those who corrupt it. In his comments yesterday,
aides said Bush was not casting the war as a religious struggle but
was describing American cultural changes in a time of war.
“He’s drawing a parallel in terms of a resurgence, in dangerous
times, of people going back to their religion,” said one aide, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was not open
to other journalists. “This is not ‘God is on our side’ or anything
like that.”
The White House did not release a transcript of Bush’s remarks, but
National Review posted highlights on its Web site. On another topic,
Bush rejected sending more troops to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border
areas to find Osama bin Laden. “One hundred thousand troops there in
Pakistan is not the answer. It’s someone saying ‘Guess what’ and then
the kinetic action begins,” he said, meaning an informer disclosing
bin Laden’s location.