Inside Politics

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Fear of God

Gerhard Schroeder, the former German chancellor, has written in a new book that George W. Bush'sfrequent references to God in their meetings before the Iraq war had made him wary of Mr. Bush's political decisions. Mr. Schroeder also suggested that America's Christian conservatives are not much different than Islamists who impose their beliefs on entire nations.

Mr. Schroeder wrote in an advance excerpt of his memoirs that Germany had stood by its vow of "unlimited solidarity" after the September 11 attacks. But Germany stayed out of Iraq, causing a breach in U.S.-Germany ties.

He wrote in "Decisions: My Life in Politics," excerpted yesterday in Der Spiegel magazine, that he was alarmed by Mr. Bush's talk of God, which made him fear religion influenced decisions.

"What worried me, despite a relaxed atmosphere to our talks, and to a certain degree what made me skeptical was how much it came through that this president saw himself as 'God-fearing' and saw that as the highest authority," Mr. Schroeder wrote.

Mr. Schroeder, a Social Democrat who left politics after his party lost a 2005 election to end his seven years in power, said he had no qualms with Mr. Bush's Christian faith, but could not escape a fear that religion was a driving force behind his decisions.

The former chancellor also took aim at America's Christian conservatives, Reuters news agency reports.

"Quite rightly, we criticize that in most Islamic states the role of religion in society and the secular character of the legal system are not clearly separated," he said. "But we haven't taken note as readily of the U.S. Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible that show similar tendencies."

Unshackled