George W. Bush has takenpains to emphasize that his plans for faith-based initiatives are broad enough toencompass all religious sentiment. But if the experience of one college newspapereditor is an indicator, tolerance has its limits. The point was made clearrecently when the U.S. Secret Service paid a visit to the editorial offices ofthe Stony Brook Press, a student newspaper at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, Long Island.
The reason for the visit? The paperhad run a piece titled "Editorial: Dear Jesus Christ, King of Kings, all I ask isthat you smite George W. Bush." The author, Glenn Given, a 22-year-old senior,had jokingly asked that Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, "and if it's not too muchtrouble, the rest of George W.'s cabinet" also be struck down.
That hasn'thappened. But Given's prayer was certainly heard by the feds. Seems that"smiting" is not the sort of faith-based initiative the president had in mind.The Secret Service interrogated Given but made no arrest. The resident agent incharge of Long Island's Secret Service office said the visit was in accordancewith "national policy." Nevertheless, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of thePress saw the incident as an infringement on First Amendment rights. In a lettercalling on the Secret Service to issue a formal apology, the group noted thatGiven hadn't limited his holy wrath to Republican officeholders: He had alsoincluded Carson Daly, the preening host of MTV's Total Request Live (TRL). "The fact that Carson Daly was included in the panoply of petitioned smitees should have made it obvious that the editorial was satire," the committee intoned.
For his part, Given is unrepentant. "In writing it, my intent wasabsurdity and satire," he said. Given also points out that he framed hiseditorial as a prayer in a nod to Bush's own habit of constantly invoking hisreligious faith. Indeed, in the editorial Given explained that he had recently"found" Jesus in light of the November presidential election--an entirelyreasonable proposition, maybe. But we'll have to take him on faith.
