Leigh Covey's assertion [Letters, Dec. 15] that we should not criticize Bush because God is actually "in charge" of world events is some of the most psychotic, delusional crap I have ever read!

If God is truly "in charge" of everything people do here on earth, we must logically also hold Him responsible for: rape, murder, child pornography, drugs, environmental destruction - and the Sept. 11 attacks themselves!

No, God does NOT cause these things to happen. We do, because we are often ignorant of His will and have, as a gift, a Free Will of our own. Although God may intervene (if He sees fit), generally speaking we can do whatever we want to here. But we will pay the consequences, be they pleasant or most painful! Of that you can be sure!

Whether there is a literal Hell, a sense of separation from God (Hell in itself), increased suffering here on earth and/ or exemption from God's kingdom after death, God has plenty of ways to see that we experience the same amount of suffering that we cause, so that we may (hopefully) eventually learn compassion.

Why, by the way, did God (obviously) not see fit to protect us from the Sept. 11 attacks? Asking this of ourselves would be far more beneficial than barkingly commanding God to "Bless America."

Repentance is recommended in the Bible. Telling God what to do is most certainly not!

Bush may indeed think that he is doing God's will. Our prisons and mental hospitals are FULL of people who felt the same way about their actions, but hurt no one: as opposed to the tens of thousands - many of them women and children - who have been maimed or murdered by Bush and his associates!

There are plenty of people who also feel that it is by God's mandate that they question Bush - people who, unlike Bush, have no history of lying, creating deceitful names for government programs, alcohol or cocaine addiction and show no signs (like Bush's speech problems) of the corrosive action on the brain such addictions cause.

I applaud Bush's decision to turn his life over to Christ. However, considering Jesus' teachings on humility, repentance, general conduct, honesty, greed, compassion, respect for God's creation and kindness towards people (especially children), I believe that it is every thoughtful Christian's duty to remind Bush that claiming that Jesus is your savior does not necessarily make it so (as Jesus himself repeatedly noted), and to point out, wherever observed, discrepancies between Bush's actions, and those of someone who actually resembles Jesus.

Gordon Lee Stelter
Athens