Good article from Brian McLaren. He points to some George Bush quotes that I had not yet heard. I am obviously aware that he likes to tie Christianity and the American state together, but I didn't really realize to what extent:

In September of 2002, he said, "This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it." For of all of us who know our Bibles, our President is associating America pretty closely with Jesus. This seems to be what he believes. And perhaps many of us do too?

...In his State of the Union address in 2002, for example, he said, "The need is great. But there's power, wonder-working power... in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people." He was borrowing from a popular hymn well known to nearly all Evangelical Christians, but he substituted "the goodness... of the American people" for "the blood of the Lamb." Does that turn of phrase bother you?