MICHAEL GERSON, the chief White House speechwriter, was recently asked by a reporter if he understood how the windup to President Bush's State of the Union address in January might have offended some people. Gerson was stunned. What Bush had said was: "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." Clearly, the line was not a reference to any particular religion, but a humble admission that human rights are universal, as opposed to an invention of the United States. Gerson cited America's founding document, the Declaration of Independence, to the reporter, especially the part about mankind being "endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights."

The incident is noteworthy because it touches on the notion that Bush injects too much of his Christian faith into his public pronouncements. On top of that, there's the related idea that the president, as an evangelical Christian, believes he was chosen by God to lead America into a war to depose Saddam Hussein and liberate Iraq. This is widely believed in Europe and even among some of Bush's American critics. The first idea is arguable at best, the second absurd.

For sure, Bush is a serious believer. When Brit Hume of Fox News Channel asked him in a 2001 interview if he'd be willing to talk about faith, Bush eagerly agreed and said the subject was important. He told Hume he reads the Bible every morning and prays often during the day, sometimes at his desk in the Oval Office. In 1999, I had a similar experience when I interviewed Bush, then governor of Texas, about his faith. He started talking about it before I asked my first question.

Bush is hardly the first president to invoke God in his speeches. "In how he speaks of God," wrote Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, "Bush is much more typically presidential than he is painted, especially by our friends abroad." Dionne mentioned President Clinton's frequent citations of Scripture. More striking is President Roosevelt's State of the Union speech in 1942. Victory over Hitler's Germany "means victory for religion," he said. The Nazis "could not tolerate that. The world is too small to provide adequate 'living room' for both Hitler and God." That goes well beyond anything Bush has said about God and Saddam Hussein. At most, he's called Saddam "evil," which is not necessarily a religious word but still upsets relativists and many Europeans.

The story of Bush's born-again experience at age 40 is an oft-told tale. And it's told again in the March 10 Newsweek in a vivid and fair-minded article by Howard Fineman. There's a difference about Bush and his faith. In his case, it's clear that his references to God are not just talking points. He's an authentic believer.

But does the president think God is behind his foreign policy or any other policy? Yes, according to religion professor Martin E. Marty, writing in the same issue of Newsweek. "The problem isn't with Bush's sincerity, but with his evident conviction that he's doing God's will." Evident? Marty offers no evidence--no Bush quote or comment and no disclosure by a Bush confidant. And he's never met with Bush or talked to him, according to the president's aides. I've searched for a Bush declaration, explicit or implicit, that his policies come from God. I haven't found one.