Diocese of Liverpool

Thought for the Day, 10 November 2004

The Rt Rev. James Jones

The Prime Minister scores a double first as he visits Washington this week. It's his first visit to President Bush since the election and he's the first international leader to visit the White House in the President's second term.

It's an historic meeting. I should imagine that the Battle plans for the assault on Fallujah will be laid out in the Oval Office. And the Prime Minister will be aware of mounting British casualties. Mr. Blair will I'm sure turn the conversation to next year when Britain simultaneously holds the Presidency of the European Union and the Chair of the G8. He'll no doubt press upon the President Europe's aspirations to see progress in the Middle East and international action on climate change.

Whatever view Europeans take of the USA everybody recognises that there can be no global solutions without American involvement. And whatever view you take of the Prime Minister his friendship with the President is crucial in the relationship between Europe and America.

One of the President's predecessors once said, "What we demand .... is that the world be made fit and safe to live in" That was Woodrow Wilson in 1918, after weapons of limited destruction had eliminated 20 million people on the killing fields of Europe, including over 100,000 Americans.

The carnage of the First World War shook both Europeans and Americans and made them think in new ways about the future of the world, just as haunting images of September 11th have done repeatedly in the American election.

Wilson dreamt of a new world order with international peace secured by a League of Nations.

Of course so much has changed since then! But as President Bush looks to four more years in the White House the world will be looking to him to see just how America will engage with other nations.

I was in Washington on the day that America declared war on Iraq. There was such a stark contrast between the gung-ho TV reporting of the first air strikes and the head-shaking bewilderment of many I met as to how America had became so isolated in the world.

The American dollar carries the words "In God we trust", and during the election God featured prominently in the hustings giving the impression that America was his favoured nation, which is what some of its founding fathers certainly believed. When a President says "God bless America" he's appealing to something deep in the national psyche that sees America's well-being as central to God's plans for the world.

But the God of Jesus Christ is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Ishmael, the God of Asia and Africa as well as America. As St. Paul said "We are all his offspring" and "God has no favourites".

As the future of the world hangs in the balance I don't believe it's an exaggeration to say that much depends on the Blair Bush summit. It deserves a prayer - just a simple one - like - "God bless ...... the world".

Thought for the Day, 10 November 2004

ct, to him.