The American Spectator

p>Iranian president Mahmood Ahmadinejad, in his 18-page letter to the American president, is suggesting George W. Bush is a bad Christian. He wrote: br> /p>

Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ (PBUH), the great Messenger of God, feel obliged to respect human rights, present liberalism as a civilization model, announce one’s opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMD’s, make “War on Terror” his slogan, and finally, work towards the establishment of a unified international community — a community which Christ and the virtuous of the Earth will one day govern, but at the same time, have countries attacked, the lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the presence of a few criminals in a village, city or convoy for example, the entire village city or convoy set ablaze?

The implied answer from Ahmadinejad to his own question is a clear, “No.”

p>Ahmadinejad goes on to list abuses at Guantanamo, support for Israel, perpetuating poverty, and invading Afghanistan, asking several times if these actions are congruent with the “teachings of Jesus Christ.” br> /p>

“I have been told that Your Excellency follows the teachings of Jesus (PBUH) and believes in the divine promise of the rule of the righteous on Earth,” the Iranian president wrote. “We also believe that Jesus Christ (PBUH) was one of the great prophets of the Almighty.”

The head of the Islamic police state seems to ask Bush What Would Jesus Do, while answering emphatically that it is not what Bush is doing. No doubt the Iranian president would be delighted to know, or perhaps already knows, that many left-wing clerics in the U.S. have already been asking the identical question and drawing the identical conclusion. In fact, Ahmadinejad is late to the game. These U.S. prelates started asking even before the Iraq war.

In December 2002, the National Council of Churches helped to organize a full-page ad in the New York Times. “Jesus Changed Your Heart,” its headline blazed. “Now Let Him Change Your Mind.” A large picture of Bush in prayer was featured in the center. “President Bush, we beseech you to turn back from the brink of war on Iraq,” the ad opened. “Your war would violate the teachings of Jesus Christ.” The ad was signed by United Methodist and other mainline Protestant officials, officers of liberal Catholic orders, some Jewish clergy, and Sojourners leader Jim Wallis. The ad called the upcoming U.S. military action “unprovoked” and alleged that its cost would be “gouged out of the already unmet needs of the poor.”

“It is inconceivable that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior and the Prince of Peace, would support this proposed attack,” was one featured quote from an ad signer.

Bush having not followed the December 2002 advice of these prelates, many of them signed another ad that appeared in Christian Century magazine in April 2003. Entitled “A Prophetic Epistle from United Methodists Calling Our Brother George W. Bush to Repent,” the full-page manifesto demanded that Bush “repent” for the Iraq War and other sins.