Joy Behar on Prayer: What's the 'Difference Between' Bush and Terrorists?

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When it comes to matters of prayer, Joy Behar doesn’t know the difference between terrorists and former President George W. Bush.

The National Day of Prayer is coming up on May 6, but on “The Joy Behar Show” April 29, she was discussing the diversity of religion in America with former talk show host Phil Donahue.

In a discussion about the separation of church and state, Behar absurdly compared Bush’s prayers to God with terrorists’ prayers to Allah.

“But remember, George Bush is the one who said that God told him to go into Iraq. The same as that terrorists say that Allah tells them. And what's the difference between them and Bush I'd like to know,” Behar said.

Donahue suggested that presidents shouldn’t pray: “The framers were right. They saw this coming. You know, what we don't want is a president who talks to God every day and God talks back.”

After Behar agreed with him, Donahue continued, “We never should permit any president or any leader of any kind to suggest that God is on their side in a war.”

Behar and Donahue went on to talk about how atheists cannot be elected president. Donahue also complained that because you can’t get elected without being a member of some faith, politicians engage in “false piety for short term political gain.”

Earlier in the segment Donahue had defined and advocated the separation of church and state. He warned, “Without the separation of church and state, you – and it's happened – they'll put a Jewish kid in a Christian, in a Catholic – in a Christian Christmas pageant. And you've got this little Jewish kid looking down at oh, baby Jesus, thank you for coming into the world and saving me from my sins. That is wrong. You don't do that. That's a family thing. Don't fool that. No child – the separation of church and state means that no teacher will ever fool with your child's mind. Hooray for that.”