Third Awakening and Views of God

Buried on page 4 in last night's edition of my local newspaper was a short article that for some reason caught my eye. It was a report on some comments that President Bush recently made to a group of conservative journalists. He said he thinks we're in our Third Awakening. By this he means he sees the country waking up to our spiritual foundations once again. It happened in the 1600s when we were just starting to form a new nation. It happened once again in the early 1800s (Restoration Movement???) And now, the President thinks it's happening again. Oh, I hope he's right. The reason? Maybe a view of what's happening in the world today. The clash between good and evil ideologies.
Another interesting article I read yesterday reported a survey from Gallup that asked questions about our country's views on God. The results were interesting. 31.4% of Americans see God as an Authoritarian God. He is angry at our sins and He's engaged in our lives. Another 23% see God as a Benevolent God who has absolute standards but loves us. Those who see God as the Critical God make up 16% of our population and 24.4% of American see God as the Distant God who created the universe but has stepped aside and let it go.
Do you want to guess which parts of the country fell where? The largest percentage of people who believed that God was authoritarian come from the South. More of the Midwesterners believe in a benevolent God while the East Coast sees God as critical. The West Coast see God as distant. Interesting, isn't it?
I hope your day is blessed. I also pray that you see God as He really is. Have a great day. JW