Now that's what I call heresy

From Michael Novak, via Amy Welborn:

"Finally, there is the matter of faith, even of the sort Tom Paine showed in 1776. Paine was no Christian, but he did believe that God had created this vast and splendid universe in order to share His friendship with free women and free men, and for this reason the Creator put freedom at the core of things. Tom Paine had no tolerance for the Bible, and less for Biblical fundamentalists, but he was not so much an atheist, he wrote, as to believe that the Almighty Who made the universe for liberty would allow the cause of people willing to die for it to come to naught. Paine couldn't bring himself to believe that God would favor George III.

In that same spirit, I find it hard to believe that the Creator who gave us liberty will ignore President Bush's willingness to sacrifice his own presidency for the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq — their 50 million citizens, and perhaps their progeny for ages to come. A kind of cosmic justice (which does not always materialize, I recognize) calls for vindication. Especially when the president has been so unfairly calumniated by his foes, domestic and foreign."

I love Mark Shea's parody:

We believe in a Kind of Cosmic Justice, Watchmaker of Heaven and Earth, and in George Bush, Servant of Liberty. He was conceived by the Spirit of Liberty, elected by the American people, and became President. For the elimination of the threat of WMDs the freedom-loving peoples of the world, he put his career on the line, was calumniated, died in the polls, and was buried under bad press. In the 11th month he shall rise again, because a Kind of Cosmic Justice won't stand for his servant to suffer harm. He shall be re-inaugurated in glory to judge the terrorists and the threats to our economic supremacy.

We believe in the American Spirit, the Holy American Way of Life, the communion of consumers, the therapy of shame, and comfort till we die. Amen.