Dear FRONTLINE,

I'm struck by the number of posts praising the president because he "acts from real conviction" or "stands up for values" - are we Americans so starved for honesty (or the appearance of it) that we will follow anyone who seems to "say what he really believes," no matter the results?

Bill Bush
Austin, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for producing this fairly unbiased view of President Bush' faith. I too am an evangelical. My disappointment came when the program left off much of the rest of President Bush's address in a church while still the Governor of Texas that he beleived it was God's will for him to be the President of the USA but if he wasn't that was ok too.

I was glad to read Michael Whteheads email that it is because of the first amendment that we can have these lively discussions.

To my fellow citizens of other religious and non-religious convictions please know that just because the President believes in a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ I am certain that he does not begruge your personal convictions. I know I do not. We have the freedom to disagree. I just want to have the privilege of equal respect for our convicitons as granted under the constitution. And I aim to give that same respect to others no matter athiest or some other expression of faith.

I also encourage those who are angry and upset with President Bush's verbal affirmations of his faith go back and review history with is full of many references to God. We,who believe as President Bush, really aren't that scary unless you think Abraham Lincoln was a dangerous president because he too was very verbal about his faith as well as John Adams who once wrote in a letter to Abigail Adams that "he would repent in heaven" that he ever had anything to do with the formation of our nation if we did not deal with the corruption in the congress.

Oh yes, my husband and I were dumbfounded by the idea that Billy Graham did not think being Born Again was fundamental to acceptance into heaven. I wonder what his entire comments where perhaps that was left out too. I hope we just didn't hear Mr. Deaver's comments correctly.

I enjoyed Frontline and watched it thanks to FreshAir. May "You know Who" bless America.

Elayne Peterson

Elayne Peterson
Sacramento, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Bravo PBS! Thank you for this intelligent and rich documentary which left me refreshed and encouraged.

Forces at work in this nation will decry you for your courageous airing of this program, which made the point that statistically the American silent majority wants to see this. I emailed many not to miss tonight's event tonight or catch up with it later online, and encourage you to more!

Aleen OSullivan
Costa Mesa, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I'm glad George W has something to believe in. Talk about a high pressure job, he needs it and it helps him, so good. Would critics prefer hit he hit the bottle again? His job is pure stress, just to be put on the offensive by the "unbiased" media.

Too bad so many flag burners have media jobs/attention, they do all they can to deflect that fact and have the gaul to make America the bad guy. I'm also gay and pro-choice but will punch that hole through the board to make sure my vote for George W goes through in November.

Michelle Chandler
Sacramento, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thanks for the great program. It filled in some missing facts in my awareness of George Bushís religious experience and views. And it confirmed my gut feelings about his style of ìmoral leadership.î

My views are these: It is reasonable to have faith in God to guide oneís personal life. However, it is neither reasonable nor sufficient, especially when one is elected to the secular Office of President of the United States of America, to simply transfer or extrapolate this personal faith to the complex task of shaping Americaís role and projecting its enormous power in the world.

I find nothing to dislike about George Bush, the ìborn againî person. In fact, I like persons with strong convictions who donít over-intellectualize and who go with their gut feelings -- as long as they donít mock common sense and divide the community. I would welcome him as a neighbor but, given his gusto in pursuing his personal convictions as a roadmap for the nation and his questionable ability to discern divine guidance from his own gut feelings and biases, I strongly prefer not to have him serve as President for another term.

Edward Bickford
Charlottesville, VA

Dear FRONTLINE,

While our country was founded on the morals and beliefs the president talks of, we are in different times, the population of the world has grown and there is no room for such black and white perscriptions to complex global problems.

I can tolerate the Evagelical values within our borders, but when it extends outside our borders we alienate and freighten those countries that are smaller in strength and do not necessarily share similiar faiths. I am afraid because I do not want to be in a world that is just black and white.

Raymond Keenan
Phoenix, Arizona

Dear FRONTLINE,

He may be sincere when he speaks of his personal faith but his policies are far from the Gospel: pre-emptive war, degradation of the evironment, not funding aid to relief organizations that advocate reproductive rights, the death penalty, and a general callous disregard for the rights and concerns of anyone who is not born-again and/or a major campaign contributor.

No compassion, no Godliness here. Those who supported him in 2000 did so because of his message of compassionate conservatism. Hopefully, they will recognize the lie this time around.

Ellen Lewis
Spokane, WA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I appreciated your special about President Bush's personal faith. I had read some articles concerning the issue during the elections but had never seen or read such an indepth report.

It was the first time that my wife had seen any such report and it encouraged her that we could identify with his relationship with Jesus Christ.
There will be many who will find reasons to criticize the President for his convictions but I believe that any sincere individual will admire him for taking such a stand in a public position.

I may not agree with the religious convictions of other religions but the majority of Evangelical Christians are doing more to assist them both here in the U.S. and overseas than many who criticize the evangelical community.
Why don't you do a report on what the faith based evangelical community is actually doing around the world and in the U.S. to help people of others religions who are suffering physically and emotionally?

Al Mount
Encinitas, California

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for running all the excerpts of President Bush's speeches which reflect his faith as I had not heard many of them.

It gives me great encouragement that we have the right man in the White House and galvanizes my resolve to work for his re-election. Proverbs 29:2 "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked are in power the people mourn." At last we have someone who does not resort to debating the meaning of the word "is".

I have to say, however, that I feel that this was a veiled attempt to discredit our President by people who have chosen to forget the part of the first amendment having to do with "not prohibiting the free exercise[of religion]. Contrary to the Editor of Sojourner Magazine we have NOT mistaken Bush for the Messiah because when HE comes there will be no more elections.

Carole Schiessel
Riverside, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I would like to commend you on another excellent program. I grew up in a predominately Catholic country, in Europe, and have seen many who express strong Christian belief, yet in practice disrespect this belief in everything they do.

I admire a true belief, in a principle, a God, or a way on life that professes to value humanity; our environment and advocates love of ones neighbors. I respect truth, and genuine faith, so it is with great interest that I watched this report on the faith of our President.

I think your program presented an unbiased and balanced report, of a person who clearly believes in the God he has found. This being said, I am deeply concerned that the course of action our President takes, does not seem to profess the fundamental principle of love your neighbor.

While it is clearly advantageous for him to walk the walk of the Evangelical, Born-again Christian, I can not help feeling I am just seeing a born-again Politician.

Richard Keyes McDonnell
Newark, California

Dear FRONTLINE,

"The Jesus Factor" was an excellent presentation. You presented many factors, though some were not in accordance with my Evangelical Faith.

However, that is what Faith in Christ is all about. It is a personal relationship and a personal interpretation of that faith in Christ for life and its purpose for me personally.

I trust President Bush and respect the Faith He relates in Christ. Personal Faith also means putting it into practice, especially when God places you in a leadership position as President Bush is in. I support his re-election because He practices what he believes!

Milton W. Zeeb
Mesa,, AZ

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for your objective reporting. I liked the interviews from various perspectives and walks of life.

I was especially thrilled that you picked interviews with religious leaders (to represent Christianity) that actually were in sink with what most Christians believe. Many times these so called representatives of the Christian p.o.v. are brain dead and so far from the truth it hurts.

I felt there was enough there to allow any person to make up their own minds on where they stand about President Bush and how he governs his presidency, without feeling they've been hog tied.

Jo Ann Weistling
Santa Clarita, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I think the difficulty that comes with using religious faith as a foundation for policy is the danger of not seeing the "gray area" of any issue. Even as bush has described so many times, everyhting is black or white, right or wrong, good or evil. This is a disortion of any issue and automatically is divisive in nature. It is also shows a lack of maturity because mature thought requires that ability to see varoius sides of any issue and weigh out the consequences of the actions that follow. It makes me uncomfortable when people use religious standards to justify their behavior because it leaves absolutely no room for dialogue or contradiction, because if you contradict the "good" then you must be "evil" to me thats just "fuzzy theology"

Kirk H.
Pasadena, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

The only thing scary to me is how pathetic the left wingers are. They see a man of faith and cannot handle it. They feel that the removal of God is the implementation of some kind of higher learning.

Well tell that to George Washington. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, John F Kennedy, Not to mention nearly everyone of our founding Fathers. All of these men were men who put God first. Men who Prayed. men who Publicly spoke of consultations on their Knees with God in leading them into making their decisions.

It is the far left who are t eh closed minded bigots. They have become what they feared all along

tony andolino
elizabeth, nj

Dear FRONTLINE,

What group of religious fundamentalists believe the following statement?
"God is on our side"

a) Christian evangelicals
b) radical Islamists
c) jihadists
d) all the above

Is anyone else concerned that competing religious fanatics cloaked as "fundamentalists" are the predominant problem in our world today, not the "loss of values?"

Keep up the fine work, Frontline.

David Alexander
San, CA