While in London, President George Bush was asked if Muslims worship the same God as Christians. He responded:

"I do say that freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every person. I also condition it by saying freedom is not America’s gift to the world. It’s much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same god."

Is the President correct? According to the Washington Post, Richard D. Land, an official in the Southern Baptist Church, released this statement:

"We should always remember that he [President Bush] is commander in chief, not theologian in chief," Land said in a telephone interview yesterday. "The Bible is clear on this: The one and true god is Jehovah, and his only begotten son is Jesus Christ."

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal disagrees. He says that since Jews, Muslims, and Christians are all monotheists, they all believe that there is only one God. They disagree on the specifics when describing the one God, but "it makes no logical sense to describe a fellow monotheist as worshipping a ‘different’ God."

Wesley Pruden of the Washington Times agrees with Taranto. "Since Christianity, Judaism and Islam are all monotheistic religions, worshipping a single God, Mr. Bush was both theologically (and politically) correct."

Taranto and Pruden have a point. Technically, Jews, Muslims, and Christians agree that there is one God. But Taranto and Pruden miss how big the disagreement is between these religions. They all describe God in different and sometimes contradictory ways. Salvation is provided for us in different ways. They can not all be correct. They could all be wrong. But no more than one of them can be right.

The differences between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are not reconcilable. They are so divergent that I would argue they do not worship the same God. As a Christian, I firmly believe the Christian understanding of God, as gleaned from Scripture, is the correct understanding of who God is. And the teachings of Islam and Judaism are so far removed from God’s self revelation in Scripture as to be descriptions of a deity of man’s invention. As Calvin says in the Instututes of Christian Religion, we are idol factories, inventing our own gods to worship. Jews and Muslims are not worshiping the true God, but rather some other god. They have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. We do not worship the same God.

Romans 1:18-32

18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

It is very clear what President Bush was doing. As Pruden pointed out, he was giving the correct political answer. I understand the logic behind saying his answer was correct theologically. No one wants to offend Muslims or Jews. But whether or not he realizes it, President Bush denied the truth to be politically correct.