Saw "The Jesus Factor" the other night, and, like many others, thought it was a fairly straightforward portrayal. Only a couple negative things have come to light about it.

One is that they presented the quote about "I think God wants me to be president" out of context... where Bush ended it with a disclaimer about not being so certain about that, and it being fine either way. Since it changes the meaning by quite a few shades, it's a bit like putting an elipses over the word "not" when you quote someone.

The other was something which caught my attention: They alleged a discussion between George W. and his mother Barbara, in which George said (as I recall it) that you needed to believe in Jesus to go to heaven. And Barbra said something along the lines of no you don't, and one shouldn't really worry about such things.

According to Frontline, they then called up Billy Graham who -- and this suprised me -- allegedly sided with Barbara. (After all, if Mr. Graham feels people don't need Jesus to go to heaven, then why on earth is he so deeply involved in evangelism?)

The issue came up in comments responding to an Olasky blog entry on the same subject, where "Bill" raises the issue, portraying the conservation a bit differently than I heard it:

I read in the Orlando Sentinel, on April 28, that when Pres. Bush and his mom were talking about salvation, that Mrs. Bush said it was by works, and Pres. Bush said it was by Jesus. From what the article said, they called Billy Graham, and he sided with Barbara Bush re:works! My mom watched the show (I was unable to), and she had read the paper also, and she the show repeated again what Graham said. This really shocks me. No one has brought this up, to my knowlege. And there has been no response, as of May 2, on Graham's website. This really concerns me. Does anyone have comments?

"Chas" responds:

Bill, I just happened to be reading "A Man of Faith" by David Aikman. It's about W's faith experience. I also just happened to be reading p.76 where it tells that Barbara B. was "unimpressed" by the term "born again". W. said, "It's in the Word." Barbara suggested calling B. Graham. Who said indeed it is. I don't know where the Sentinel got it's story. But it doesn't seem right, and the story in the book is more believable.

Based on internal evidence (i.e. that it doesn't make sense for an evangelist to contradict his own actions), and what Chas alleges, it sounds like Frontline got this point wrong as well.

But having only two such mistakes is remarkable, given the topic matter. When Frontline wants to, it can make a very good documentary.