In Bush memoir, faith a small but constant factor

WASHINGTON (RNS) Former President George W. Bush made no secret that his
politics were tinged by his religious faith, but now says he never would
have made it to the White House without a fateful -- and faith-filled --
decision to quit drinking in 1986.

"I could not have quit drinking without faith," Bush writes in his
memoir, "Decision Points," released Tuesday (Nov. 9). "I also don't
think my faith would be as strong if I hadn't quit drinking."

Across 497 pages, Bush recounts the ways religious faith shaped his
life and his politics. While religion is not a central thrust of the
book, it's nonetheless a constant theme.

Attending Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Midland, Texas,
Bush writes that "religion had always been a part of my life, but I
really wasn't a believer."

That changed with his decision to quit drinking a year after
evangelist Billy Graham visited the Bush vacation home in Maine in 1985.
At that time, Bush said, he was an occasional reader of the Bible,
which he viewed as "a kind of self-improvement course." During that
well-known walk with Graham, the evangelist said the point of the
Scriptures was to follow Christ, not just to improve himself.

"Billy had planted a seed," Bush wrote.

Months after returning to Texas, Bush joined a weekly Bible study.
He soon started reading the Bible every morning, a practice he continued
throughout his time at the White House.

While Graham helped Bush overcome alcohol, it was a Texas pastor who
inspired him to pursue the presidency. At a service to mark his second
inauguration as Texas governor, Bush heard the Rev. Mark Craig, pastor
of First United Methodist Church in Austin, recount the biblical story
of a once-hesitant Moses leading the Israelites into the Promised Land.

"We have the opportunity, each and every one of us, to do the right
thing, and for the right reason," Bush recalled Craig preaching. At the
other end of the pew, Barbara Bush mouthed to her son, "He is talking to
you."

Once in the White House, Bush's faith played a role in both
presidential and personal decisions. His push for global AIDS relief was
fueled by his visit to a Ugandan clinic, where he left feeling
challenged by the biblical admonition: "To whom much is given, much is
required." When he knelt at the casket of Pope John Paul II in 2005, he
prayed for ailing ABC anchorman Peter Jennings.

His moral views also contributed to his decision to ban federal
funding of embryonic stem cell research. Bush revealed that as a
teenager, he drove his mother to the hospital after a miscarriage as she
held the fetus in a jar.

"I remember thinking: `There was a human life, a little brother or
sister,"' he writes.

In a meeting with John Paul, he told the pontiff that his church's
"steadfast support of life provided a firm moral foundation on which
pro-life politicians like me could take a stand."

When he decided in 2001 to ban the use of federal funds "to support
the destruction of life for medical gain," Bush said he was struck by
the personal nature of the criticism.

"They mocked my appearance, my accent and my religious beliefs," he
wrote. "I was labeled a Nazi, a war criminal, and Satan himself," but
Bush says the "shrill debate" never prompted him to second-guess his
decision.

Bush also defends his Office of Faith-based and Community
Initiatives, which he said helped more than 5,000 charities receive
federal grants.

As president, his reliance on faith continued through his last day
in the White House.

"I began Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the same way I had started every
day for the past eight years: I read the Bible," he wrote in his
epilogue.