pynchon-l-digest V2 #4623

[Michael Bailey]

On 12/26/05, Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> I had assumed (wrongly I guess) that he had gotten himself born-again
> as part of a program to recover from alcohol abuse. Prompted by the
> need for a higher power.
>

It was Bush 41 who gave the humorous remark

Bush 43 does claim to be born again (groping for cites)
in an Amazon search of Stephen Mansfield's "The faith of George W
Bush" for the phrase "born again" there's a reference to an Austin
dinner, a questioning minister, and an affirmative answer (quoting
Romans 10:9)

it's the most clear of a bunch of references; in others he hedges a
little, other people say it about him, or the context is other than
GWB

OTOH, I didn't find it in a search of his book "A Charge to Keep"

Born again: what is that supposed to mean anyway? Perhaps it means
more as a shibboleth to certain combative sects than as a genuine
description of experience.

Is there really an experience that could be apprehended (by a
reasonable person without forfeiting reason) and ONLY be described as
being born again?

There are all kinds of pleasant and unpleasant variations on the idea
(and not a few which arouse no animadversions in me at all) - without
being a Bush-hater, I must say that he's not a good advertisement for
born-again-ness, so I'm glad he doesn't stress it publicly all the
time.

It'd be cool though if some of that Golden Rule stuff would
automatically come along with the 2nd birth



--
"Acceptance, forgiveness, love - now that's a philosophy of life!"
-Woody Allen, as Broadway Danny Rose