A group of leaders from President George W. Bush's denomination, the United Methodist Church, have signed a magazine ad asking the chief executive to "repent" of what they consider policies "incompatible" with Christian teaching, reports the Christian Times.
The group of 120 signatories to the document, entitled "A Prophetic Epistle from United Methodists Calling Our Brother George W. Bush to Repent," includes seven United Methodist Church bishops.
"It is our judgment that some policies advanced by your administration give evidence of the spiritual forces of wickedness that exist in our society today," the ad read, according to the report.
The signers also include two UMC leaders who were arrested during an anti-war protest in Washington, D.C., this year. They claim Bush is "threatening the very earth and all its inhabitants with open discussion of the usage of nuclear weapons."
The Methodist leaders don't think much of Bush's domestic policies, either, saying they are "incongruent with Jesus' teaching" because they allegedly lack the kind of compassion Jesus taught, said the Christian Times report.
Mark Tooley, director of the United Methodist committee of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, tells the paper it is the 120 who signed the document who are veering from the church's teachings not Bush.
"Bush is supposedly a bad Christian and a bad Methodist because, like most Methodists, he does not agree with these church officials in their equation of compassion with a large federal welfare state and in their opposition to a strong military defense for America," Tooley said. "These United Methodist officials are effectively telling the president he is not a good Christian because his policies do not match their own left-wing beliefs."
The leaders include men who have denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and endorse same-sex marriage, Tooley told the paper.
According to the report, the White House says the president respects the views of those placing the ad but does not agree with them.