One of my favorite bloggers, Objectivist Don Watkins (who can hardly be described as an advocate of religion, much less theocracy), links to this WaPo article which sheds some important (often surprising) light on President Bush's religious views:

George W. Bush is among the most openly religious presidents in U.S. history. A daily Bible reader, he often talks about how Jesus changed his heart. He has spoken, publicly and privately, of hearing God's call to run for the presidency and of praying for God's help since he came into office.

But despite the centrality of Bush's faith to his presidency, he has revealed only the barest outline of his beliefs, leaving others to sift through the clues and make assumptions about where he stands.

Bush has said many times that he is a Christian, believes in the power of prayer and considers himself a "lowly sinner." But White House aides said they do not know whether the president believes that: the Bible is without error; the theory of evolution is true; homosexuality is a sinful choice; only Christians will go to heaven; support for Israel is a biblical imperative; or the war in Iraq is part of God's plan.

Despite shrill allegations to the contrary, the president doesn't claim to be "born again" or evangelical:

Because he does not claim to have embraced Jesus in a single moment, aides said, Bush does not call himself "born again." Nor does he refer to himself as an evangelical, though evangelical leaders do not hesitate to claim him as one of their own.

Bush's record on evangelization is more clear. Some of his religious supporters believe that he fulfills his obligation to evangelize through his example. But there is no evidence that Bush has engaged in direct proselytizing. On the contrary, aides said Bush has joined in common prayer with Sikhs and Hindus, something many conservative Christians would not do.

According to Jay P. Lefkowitz, an observant Jew who served as Bush's chief domestic policy adviser in 2002-03, the president went out of his way to make White House visitors and staff members of other faiths feel comfortable. Religion, Lefkowitz said, is "part of who he is. But he doesn't try to push it on anyone."

Private Faith

Aides said that Bush does not discuss the content of his own faith, either publicly or with his staff. Though religion is far from a taboo subject in the Bush White House, where many workers gather for Bible study during their Thursday lunch hour, Bush rarely if ever participates in such discussions.

Bush himself said in a 2000 interview with Beliefnet.com, a religion Web site: "To be frank with you, I am not all that comfortable describing my faith, because in the political world, there are a lot of people who say, 'Vote for me, I'm more religious than my opponent,' " he said. "And those kind of folks make me a little nervous."

Regarding the oft-touted claim that Bush leads a coalition of religious nuts who are deliberately provoking an apocalypse in the Mideast, not only is there no evidence that Bush believes in the premillenial Dispensationist "Rapture" stuff, but there's evidence to the contrary:

Bush has not publicly voiced any apocalyptic scenario, and aides scoffed at the notion that he holds one. Neuhaus, who has met several times with the president to discuss abortion and other issues, said that "the whole realm of biblical prophecy . . . with respect to the Middle East" is "quite alien to George W. Bush."

So was I, and while I'm not religious in the sense of attending church, I can state from my own personal experience that Episcopalianism epitomizes mainstream, liberal Christianity. (Much to the consternation of innumerable evangelicals and fundamentalists.)

The president later switched to the Methodist Church because his wife is a Methodist.

Not only is Methodism not noted for premillenial Dispensationalist views, but such thinking seems out of line with that of Methodism's founder, John Wesley.

None of this is to say that there aren't large numbers of Bush's supporters do believe in these things, but there are also a lot who don't. From what I can see, Bush's religious views are solidly within the mainstream.

(Which is more than can be said for the attempt to portray him as a religious extremist.)

UPDATE: Speaking of religious extremism, here's a sleeve-wearing Methodist discussing (before a religious audience) the need for religion in public life:

Letting people hear the message of the gospel as well as the example of our works. We'll do more to change lives than any program that could passed by any legislative body. (applause)

As I look at this great gathering, I see reflected here John Wesley's words that the world is my parish, and if that be the case, then I am optimistic. Despite the headlines of the moment, and all of the difficulties we know lurk outside in this city we are in today, and every other one. I am optimistic because I see spiritual growth and action based on that. Beginning to manifest itself in so many different ways. In my book, I wrote a little chapter called "Children Are Born Believers" because I feel so strongly that we owe our children a chance for them to have a spiritual life. For them to be part of a church, and it is not only something we do for them. We do it for ourselves, and we know that in ways we might not even predict consequences can be positive.