Bush Tells Religious Group World ‘Is on Side of God’

President Bush, hailing moves toward democracy throughout Eastern Europe, said Monday that “the world, increasingly, is on the side of God.”

Bush, in a speech to the annual convention of the National Religious Broadcasters, also said: “I believe with all my heart that one cannot be America’s President without a belief in God, without the strength that your faith gives to you.”

He got a rousing response from the crowd of about 2,000, particularly when he expressed opposition to abortion and when he reiterated his support for a constitutional amendment permitting voluntary prayer in public schools.

“We believe that political values without moral values, a moral underpinning, cannot sustain a people,” Bush said.

He recalled his comment in his inaugural address that “the day of the dictator is over,” and said, “Indeed, the last year has been a victory for the freedoms with which God has blessed the United States of America. We have seen the rights of man move mountains or--as in East Berlin--even move a wall.

Bush said the changes in Eastern Europe “were propelled by many things, faith not the least of them.” He said that as pro-democracy demonstrations spread across Europe, “the day of the dictator did end.”