Tim Chester has just posted a terrific piece of advice for Americans working in the UK. It is all good stuff, but this section on attitudes to the US president is particularly insightful.
It is important for both sides to realise that UK Christians judge American Presidents and prospective Presidents on foreign policy because that is how we encounter America. Meanwhile American Christians judge Presidents on their domestic policy, especially in relation to abortion. For American Christians foreign policy is secondary. I once met a Christian who was chair of the Bush election campaign in his college. When I told him we judge Presidents on foreign policy, he said, ‘I don’t know anything about his foreign policy.’ This, I think, goes much of the way to explaining why UK Christians cannot understand the support of US Christians for President Bush and US Christians cannot understand our lack of comprehension. (Read more)