Bush's Religion: Another Book Recommendation

Since this is apparently turning into Books-On-Religion-And-Politics Day, don't miss this series of excerpts from The Bush Tragedy, a rather partisanly-titled book whose author, Jacob Weisberg, does to George W. Bush what the author of Founding Fathers does to the original George W.: goes back into the publicly-available record to see what his religious beliefs actually are. The answers are fascinating, as Weisberg makes a pretty strong case that George Bush, Jr.'s Christianity is deeply and personally held, and at the same time almost completely devoid of content. (Interestingly, he explains how evangelicalism has made Bush more humble, not more arrogant.) I found the third excerpt particularly fascinating, as Weisberg uncovers tapes of Bush practicing how to speak to religious groups, and making decisions about how to pitch himself. Weisberg has, I think, a tendency to overpsychoanalyze Bush--every decision seems to come back to resolving some deep father-son conflict, in Weisberg's eyes--but it's really interesting to see Bush's religious statements sort of pureed together and to see, in consequence, what form of Jesus titrates out. It's not so much a Jesus of the Bible study (Bush never actually goes to church) as it is the vaguer Jesus of AA. Intriguing to know!