Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review March 16, 2004 / 23 Adar, 5764

Bill Steigerwald

Bill Steigerwald
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Religion, spiritual freedom & Ronald Reagan … 10 minutes with author Paul Kengor


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | It's getting embarrassing how little we really knew about Ronald Reagan when he was president.

We've just learned, thanks to recent books such as "Reagan: A Life in Letters" (co-authored by CMU professor Kiron Skinner) that the "dumb actor" was a lot smarter, a lot craftier in his dealings with the Soviets and much more in charge than the media and his ideological foes made him out to be during the 1980s.

Now, thanks to Grove City College political science professor Paul Kengor's best-selling "G-d and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life," we have a full account of the serious, lifelong religious faith that had a profound impact on Reagan's character, his presidency and the West's bloodless victory in the Cold War. (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)

I talked toKengor by telephone on Wednesday:

Q: What were Ronald Reagan's core religious beliefs?

A: He was a devout believer. It was definitely a Christian faith, but it was a Christian faith that was certainly tolerant of other faiths. It was a Protestant Christian faith, yet Reagan was surrounded by Catholics, for example, on his staff, and worked very closely with Catholics.

He had an extraordinary relationship with Pope John Paul II. These two guys believed that G-d had spared their lives in the assassination attempts of 1981. They were both shot within a couple of months of each other, and they both believed that G-d had spared their lives for a special purpose, which they came to believe had to do with confronting Soviet communism.

Q: Were Reagan's religious beliefs from childhood through the presidency significantly different from mainstream Christianity's — love G-d , love they neighbor?

A: They weren't significantly different. Reagan had a theology where he believed heavily in G-d 's plan — that G-d has a plan for everybody, and that all the twists and forks in the road are part of G-d 's plan. He believed bad things happen for a reason that's normally a good reason that G-d is in control of. His mother, Nelle, gave him that belief.

Where Reagan might have been unusual was in the incredible optimism that he took from that. A lot of people think that G-d is involved in their lives, but Reagan was so certain of it, that even when he lost his presidential bid in 1976, it was OK, because it was for a good reason.

Where his beliefs were extraordinary was that for most people their religious faith affects their own life, their family and those closest around them. But for Reagan, it affected what he did in the grand contest, the supreme ideological war of the 20th century, which was the battle between, if you will, American-style democratic capitalism and Soviet-style communist totalitarianism.

Q: Besides his mother's influence, what else or who else was really influencing him in those early, formative spiritual years?

A: This is one part of the book I'm excited about. I got to go back and find out about these individuals who were so core to Reagan's' life that no one ever even talked about, that previous biographers just skipped.

There was a guy named Rev. Ben Cleaver who becomes one of the single most important people in Ronald Reagan's life. Reagan became almost a pastor's kid to this guy. This guy was like a father figure to him. I think that there's a good chance that Reagan probably even heard some lectures on the evils of Bolshevism and Soviet communism on the knee of Rev. Cleaver in the 1920s.

Q: These beliefs that Reagan picked up stuck with him his whole life and gave him strength he would not have had otherwise?

A: Absolutely. Reagan's confidence and self-security was so critical to what he did. Imagine. Just to call the Soviet Union "The Evil Empire." People went nuts when he said that. They criticized him and called him all kinds of names. Aside from that, they were blaming Reagan for homelessness, for AIDS, for wanting to start a nuclear war. They called him a dummy.

That stuff didn't bother him. And it didn't bother him because of that faith-based confidence, which gave him this self-security.

Q: You say in your book that Reagan used religion and spiritual freedom to undermine the Soviet Union, and that it was not just a casual thing.

A: Reagan believed that religion could be the Achilles' heel of the Soviet Empire. He used those exact words. He pointed to the example of Poland especially after the pope's visit in the late 1970s. Religious freedom in Poland was really helping to undermine communism's control on the Polish people.

Q: When he gave speeches directly over the heads of Soviet officials to the Soviet people, he sent them spiritual messages?

A: He sure did. He was trying to do that himself. He said when I go there in May and June of 1988 for the Moscow Summit, I'm going to make as many religious statements as I can to help try to spark some kind of religious revival.

This is where my book changed. I was doing a book on Reagan and the end of the Cold War, and I started reading all these Reagan statements from that summit and I was blown away. I said, "What on Earth is Reagan doing talking about the garden of Gethsemane in his toast to (Mikhail) Gorbachev?" He spoke at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Moscow twice in one day. In one, he talks about the garden of Gethsemane and in the next he gives a pitch for creationism.

Q: What did the Soviets make of Reagan's "G-d -talk"?

A: They were disgusted by it. They were appalled by it. They thought it was disgusting. Reagan's translator even said that when Reagan ended every statement with "G-d bless you, and G-d bless the Soviet people" — which he did a couple dozen times — that the hardline atheists visibly blanched.


Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.




JWR contributor Bill Steigerwald is an associate editor and columnist at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Comment by clicking here.

03/10/04: America's materialism keeps world in tune
02/24/04: Our new epoch in history ... 10 minutes with philosopher/political thinker/novelist Lee Harris
02/20/04: Vanity Fair, SI sink lower than ever
02/13/04: A rare libertarian among Big Media liberals — up close and personal with John Stossel
02/10/04: Young innovators changing the rules
02/03/04: Now, the election fun begins … 10 minutes with Charlie Cook
01/30/04: Dem Dems
01/16/04: Caucuses bore you? You're not alone
01/14/04: Paradise lost? Ten minutes with … Victor Davis Hanson
01/09/04: Howard Dean week?
12/26/03: How is the magazine sector doing?
12/17/03: 10 minutes with Thomas Sowell
12/15/03: Journalism 'watchdog' displays bad reporting
12/09/03: Book lovers are losing a good read
12/05/03: 'South Park' has unlikely audience tuning in
12/03/03: An odd lot of 35 'heroes'
11/24/03: 'We'll learn the truth someday' … 10 minutes with JFK expert Cyril Wecht
11/18/03: Exposer of the idiocy of bureaucracy and the threat to individual freedom posed by government … Ten minutes with author James Bovard
11/14/03: Two stories examine Wal-Mart's domination
11/07/03: The real Rumsfeld … 10 minutes with author Midge Decter
11/05/03: Lights! Camera! Fudge!?
10/31/03: The straight dope on hate, drugs, Jon Stewart
10/24/03: See what federal $$$ does?
10/21/03: Esquire recalls its glory days
10/14/03: A 784-page biography hatchet job that only Clinton-haters will love — published by Random House? Ten minutes with Nigel Hamilton
10/10/03: Bush adviser girds for a tough fight ... 10 minutes with Mary Matalin
10/07/03: Forbes gives advice on making rich list
09/30/03: A 20th Century American tour
09/26/03: Reagan's life in letters
09/24/03: Bin Laden and Boy Bill
09/22/03: Dennis Miller makes funny business of politics
09/16/03: Famous 'bad girls' clear the air
09/12/03: Ben Stein gets serious: Davis is a 'thug in a gray flannel suit'
09/09/03: Smart(-Alecky) mag's very different 'swimsuit issue'; Murdoch might not be as bad as we thought
09/02/03: Ex-teacher lambastes our schools
08/25/03: Vanity Fair strives to be more than glamorous
07/22/03: Title IX's original intent … Ten minutes with Eric Pearson
07/11/03: Vanity Fair dishes it out on JFK Jr., N.Y. Times
07/09/03: Why Ben Franklin should be the "Father of Our Country" ... 10 minutes with Walter Isaacson
07/07/03: Honoring nation's first celebrity superstar
06/27/03: Reader's Digest can't help but act its age
06/24/03: Dick Morris, consultant for hire, reveals the inside story
06/20/03: Move over, Hillary. Here comes a better work of fiction
06/10/03: Publications take us away from Middle East
06/03/03: Dear graduates: Work for freedom … 10 minutes with Penn Jillette
05/30/03: National Geographic goes to the top of the world
05/23/03: Editors dabble in history, fiction
05/16/03: The Old Grim Lady gets covered
05/09/03: Political parties fighting over Iraq's wreckage
05/07/03: 10 minutes with a big-city Dem mayor who loathes budget deficits, the federal highway program, taxpayer-funded sports stadiums and the meddling (and aid money) of Washington
05/02/03: Are you sufficiently terrified?
04/29/03: Finally, a president defending American principles in the Middle East ... 10 minutes with Alexander Haig
04/25/03: Newsweeklies starting to lose interest in Iraq war
04/21/03: There's bias, and then there's bias
04/11/03: Planning future of Iraq, world
04/04/03: Newsweeklies come back with graphic look at war
03/28/03: Newsweeklies try to keep up with TV war coverage
03/26/03: Wen Ho Lee whistle-blower says beware of China
03/21/03: America's ready for war ... and peace
03/18/03: Baseball limping, not dead … 10 minutes with author Andrew Zimbalist
03/14/03: Vanity Fair gets us ready for month's big event
03/11/03: A road map for Iraq's liberation devised by James Madison? … 10 minutes with James S. Robbins
03/06/03: Iraq war will come and go before we know it
02/28/03: America takes time out for swimsuits
02/26/03: 'We shall be seen as liberators' .... 10 minutes with noted Brit commentator David Pryce-Jones
02/21/03: Terrorism one of many losing battles
02/14/03: Editors planning for the day after Gulf War II
02/12/03: The 'religiosity' of Ronald Reagan … 10 minutes with author Paul Kengor
02/10/03: Should the shuttle crash be the end of NASA?
02/06/03: Dear Joan ...
01/31/03: Newsweek, Nation ponder pros, cons of Gulf War II
01/24/03: 'Original' ideas follow New Deal philosophy
01/22/03: When handicapping 2004, watch the economy: Ten minutes with … Charlie Cook
01/17/03: New Republic fans hatred for SUVs
01/14/03: 10 minutes with Santorum on ... taxes, steel and Lott
01/10/03: Newsweeklies move on to latest menace
01/07/03: The best of the Q&As
12/30/02: Rosie's demise tops list of 2002 highlights
12/23/02: GOP must stick to its principles: 10 questions for ... Bill Kristol
12/20/02: Lott fiasco uncovers bigger problem
12/18/02: Free markets king in Sweden, at least for a day: Ten minutes with …. Donald Boudreaux
12/13/02: Corruption of Indian casinos no surprise
12/06/02: Giving credit to young philanthropists
12/02/02: Ten minutes with …. Chris Matthews
11/26/02: It's critical to memorialize communism's victims: 10 minutes with … Lee Edwards
11/22/02: JFK's secret health woes are revealed
11/19/02: “It's best to contain Saddam”: Ten minutes with … Col. David Hackworth
11/15/02: Brushing up on the affairs of a wild world
11/12/02: Make Dems filibuster … 10 minutes with … Robert L. Bartley
11/08/02: National Geographic: Urban overpopulation is good
11/05/02: The bloody consequences of a broken INS: Ten minutes with … Michelle Malkin
11/01/02: Going to pot; thank heaven for media overkill
10/29/02: It's all about federalism: Ten minutes with … Jonah Goldberg
10/25/02: Frank Sinatra, Kurt Cobain, Mad Magazine will never die
10/22/02: Here's why Orwell matters: Ten minutes with … Christopher Hitchens
10/18/02: The sniper knocks Iraq off the covers
10/15/02: Iraq, oil and war: 10 minutes with ... economist/historian Daniel Yergin
10/11/02: England's gun-control experiment has backfired
10/04/02: Buchanan the media baron?
09/27/02: Analyzing Esquire, GQ is not for the squeamish
09/20/02: CEOs: The rise and fall of American heroes
09/13/02: Skeptics remind U.S. to calm down
09/10/02: 'A failure to recognize a failure': 15 minutes with ... Bill Gertz
09/06/02: Rating the 9-11 mags
08/30/02: Bad trains, bad planes, and bad automobiles
08/28/02: Baseball, broken, can be fixed: 15 minutes with George Will
08/16/02: 9-11 overload has already begun
08/13/02: Tell us what you really think, Ann Coulter
08/09/02: A funny take on a new kind of suburb
08/02/02: It's not the humidity, it's the (media) heat wave; the death of American cities
07/12/02: Colombia's drug lords are all business
07/09/02: If capitalism is 'soulless' then show me something better: 10 minutes with … Alan Reynolds
06/25/02: Origins of a scandal: 10 minutes with … Michael Rose
06/21/02: 9/11 report unearths good, bad and ugly
06/18/02: The FBI is rebounding … 10 Minutes with Ronald Kessler
06/14/02: U.S. News opens closet of Secret Service
06/11/02: 10 minutes with … William Lind: Can America survive in this 'fourth-generation' world?
06/07/02: America, warts and all
05/30/02: FBI saga gets more depressing
05/13/02: The magazine industry's annual exercise in self-puffery
04/30/02: 10 Minutes with ... The New York Sun's Seth Lipsky
04/26/02: Will the American Taliban go free?
04/23/02: 10 minutes with ... Dinesh D'Souza
04/19/02: Saddam starting to show his age
04/12/02: Newsweek puts suicide bombing in perspective
04/09/02: How polls distort the news, change the outcome of elections and encourage legislation that undermines the foundations of the republic
04/05/02: Looking into the state of American greatness
03/25/02: The American President and the Peruvian Shoeshine Boys
03/22/02: Troublemaking intellectual puts Churchill in spotlight
03/20/02: 10 minutes with ... Bill Bennett
03/18/02: Suddenly, it's cool again to be a man
03/12/02: 10 minutes with … Ken Adelman
03/08/02: TIME asks the nation a scary question
03/05/02: 10 minutes with ... Rich Lowry
02/26/02: 10 minutes with ... Tony Snow
02/12/02: Has Soldier of Fortune gone soft?

© 2002, Bill Steigerwald