In the course of reviewing several books on George W. Bush for The New York Observer, Robert Sam Anson read The Faith of George W. Bush by Stephen Mansfield, so you wouldn't have to. So how did Bush find God?

Mr. Mansfield reports that Mr. Bush’s journey from Jack Daniels to Jesus Christ commenced with his attendance of a 1984 revival meeting conducted by evangelist Arthur Blessit, holder of the Guinness "longest walk" crown, for having hauled a 12-foot cross 38,800 miles across 284 nations.

Yikes.

A quick Net search reveals that Blessitt (with two t's) is still around and, according to his home page, still schlepping that cross. (Here you can find a spec sheet for the cross, and the accompanying tire -- I think he wheels it, which seems like cheating.) Blessitt's site notes that he was a minister on Sunset Strip in the 1960s. (Cool shirt! Cool love beads!) On his site Blessitt also discusses the day he first joined hands and prayed with Dubya ('He had a firm strong but tender grip") -- though his story seems to suggest that Bush later gave Billy Graham most of the credit for actually converting him. (Blessitt's story about a subsequent attempt to make contact with Bush reminds me a bit of that awkward scene in Truth or Dare in which a schoolmate of Madonna's meets her backstage and it's obvious that Madonna can barely endure the old acquaintance's non-fabulousness.)

Anson, in his book review, discusses a more recent prayer session between Bush and a marquee name of televangelism:

[Bush's] crusade for "regime change" in Iraq was sealed by an Oval Office kneel-down with Reverend [James] Robison. (According to Mr. Mansfield, Mr. Bush’s decision-making in this case was divinely simple: "Saddam is evil …. Evil-doers have no legitimacy. Removing Saddam is a moral act. Case closed.")

Again, yikes.