For Easter, Bush Talks Faith, God Over Evil

CRAWFORD, Texas —  President Bush presented the war against terrorism in deeply religious terms Saturday, as he marked the Christian Easter and Jewish Passover as a period that tells the world “history is of a moral design.”

“Justice and cruelty have always been at war, and God is not neutral between them. His purposes are often defied but never defeated,” the president said in his weekly radio address, expressing the hope that the holidays will renew faith and bring comfort.

Bush, who is spending the holiday weekend at his ranch in Central Texas, has routinely presented the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington as the work of “evildoers.” On Saturday, he said that after this “terrible evil . . . America and the civilized world are now joined together in a great struggle against enemies who have no regard for innocent life.”

His remarks in the taped speech presented the holidays as a moment that offers hope that religion can help heal the pain that accompanied them.

The holy days, he said, offer “some of the most profound hopes of humanity,” in which “we feel our reliance on the creator who made us. We place our sorrows and cares before him, seeking God’s mercy. We ask forgiveness for our failures, seeking the renewal he can bring.”

Bush, who says he experienced a new appreciation for religion as an adult, used language rarely employed--and delved into ideas infrequently addressed--by a president. And he sought to broaden his reach to many religions and to those who do not believe in any religion.

“Americans practice different faiths in churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. And many good people practice no faith at all,” he said. “For those who observe Easter and Passover, faith brings confidence that failure is never final, and suffering is temporary, and the pains of the Earth will be overcome.”

“We can be confident too that evil may be present and it may be strong, but it will not prevail,” the president said.

Bush plans to attend an Easter sunrise church service today in Crawford. He plans to return to Washington later today and attend the traditional Easter Egg Roll on the White House South Lawn on Monday.