Karl Rove, Atheist?

Karl Rove has helped George Bush rule by pandering to the religious right for support. Their use of wedge issues, such as placing votes on Constitutional amendments on the ballots in several states in 2004, might have made the difference in getting out enough of the fundamentalist vote to give Bush his victory.

We know that Rove believes in hardball politics and doing whatever it takes to win. Whether Rove, and even Bush, believe in the policies they pursue is a different question. We get one clue as to Rove’s views on religion in this interview with Christopher Hutchins in New York Magazine:

Has anyone in the Bush administration confided in you about being an atheist?
Well, I don’t talk that much to them—maybe people think I do. I know something which is known to few but is not a secret. Karl Rove is not a believer, and he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, but when asked, he answers quite honestly. I think the way he puts it is, “I’m not fortunate enough to be a person of faith.”

What must Bush make of that?
I think it’s false to say that the president acts as if he believes he has God’s instructions. Compared to Jimmy Carter, he’s nowhere. He’s a Methodist, having joined his wife’s church in the end. He also claims that Jesus got him off the demon drink. He doesn’t believe it. His wife said, “If you don’t stop, I’m leaving and I’m taking the kids.” You can say that you got help from Jesus if you want, but that’s just a polite way of putting it in Texas.

For Karl Rove, power is the ultimate religion.

1 Comment

  1. 1
    vjack says:

    More information on the Rove as an atheist story here: http://tinyurl.com/3c3hfq

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