Praying for a Christian Nation

[Patrick Mahoney being arrested in front of White House
while calling for Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies
of the Summer Olympics in Bejing. Photo from daylife.com]

The prayer and fasting is over. The final prayer, which was to take place this morning, should be finis. Maybe Patrick J. Mahoney will go home now and take his bible-toting sycophants with him. Or not.

We do have freedom of speech in this country, and Mahoney can stand anywhere he wishes (pretty much) and pray his little heart out. He can even bring his christianist reconstructionists to Washington and stand in front of the White House and call on his god to make this country a "christianist" nation.

It's just all so stupid and boring. But it is also dangerous.

Mahony, you see, is the director of the infamous christianist outfit known as the Christian Defense Coalition.

(Have you ever noticed how so many of these extremist christianist outfits use military-sounding names? They must perceive themselves warring for their god against a godless and pagan culture, overrun with liberals, Democrats, non-Christians, and other dangerous and scary people.)

Anyway, Mahoney and a group of delusional followers have been fasting and praying for President-elect Obama for the past 19 days out in clear view of the White House as well as in their respective homes and churches.

Now, you might think: What could be wrong with that? All people of faith should be praying for President-elect Obama.


Except, and here's the kicker: Mahoney doesn't care much about Barack Obama. He would have preferred just about anyone as president other than Barack Obama. What he wants is to induce his god to force Barack Obama's hand and turn the United States into a christianist country run by christianist rules. That's what he's really praying for.

He wants Obama to ban abortion, stem-cell research, and gay rights. He wants Obama to put prayer back in the public schools, post the Ten Commandments in courthouses all over the country, place born-againers in positions of the highest responsibility, and appoint judges who will ignore the Constitution if it conflicts with the christianist viewpoint.

Mahoney was one of the three wacko "anointers" who gathered in the Capitol a few days ago to pray and "bless" the doorway through which Obama will walk to his inauguration.

The Website of the Christian Defense Coalition talks about how christianists much be "radical" and must be about "Biblical obedience."

The goal of the Christian Defense Coalition is "to see all public policies and institutions based on the principles of God's Word and the historic teaching of the Church." (My emphasis)

In other words, the Christian Defense Coalition is a subversive organization. That is clearly stated in the goal above, for such a goal could only be accomplished by abolishing or at the least, rewriting our Constitution.

May their days be numbered upon the earth.


Read this article and be afraid, be very afraid. Here's another point of view by the extremist christianist Minutemen.

The Bishop's Prayer

HBO did not televise Bishop Robinson's prayer as part of their inauguration program yesterday. HBO claimed this was at the request of the Presidential Inauguration Committee.

Here's the video, thanks to La Figa. The text of the prayer is below, courtesy of Episcopal Cafe.





A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama

By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009

Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN.


Like many, if not most prayers, the Bishop's prayer is more of a sermon than anything else. But it's a good sermon, reminding his listeners that God is not a tribal god, but the "God of our many understandings." He urges us all to strive to end suffering, discrimination and the tendency to lord it over the rest of the world.

And then, poignantly, he asks the deity's blessing on her child, Barack.

It was an "inclusive" prayer, which at the end of the day, is a pretty damn good word. And notice, he ends his nod to God with a simple, "Amen."

Whether one is religious or not, Bishop Robinson's prayer deserves an "Amen" from all Americans.

Should parents who pray their children to death be exempt from the law?

The state of Wisconsin has a law that exempts parents who pray their children to death from prosecution for child neglect and abuse.

Christian Scientists in Wisconsin want to revise the law in order to exempt their faith-healing practices, too.


The parents of the late Madelina Kara Neumann are not members of any organized religion nor are they members of a church. But they "believe" the Bible, by God, and God says he's the source of healing.

So, "naturally," when their daughter, a diabetic, became sick last Spring, they did not take her to a doctor like normal parents, but rather they prayed. For weeks. Then little Madeline died - of treatable diabetes.

Dale and Leilani, though, weren't all that worried. They figured she would be resurrected.

Dale and Leilani Neumann were charged with second-degree manslaughter. I am not sure as to the disposition of their case at this time.


Wisconsin does have a law dealing with child neglect and abuse. Unfortunately, the Wisconsin wackos who put this law together ensured it contained a provision exempting those engaged in faith-healing practices.

State legislators are looking at revising that law, and members of the Christian Science Church are just too eager to help. That's not a good thing. Christian Science believes that everything is Spirit and matter is an illusion; thus it denies the reality of sickness and death.

The state judiciary committee has been working with one Joe Farkas, a lobbyist for the Christian Science Church, to develop a bill that would cover Christian Scientist concerns. A legislative staff member said, "We're working on legislation that would clarify the statute to protect the civil right to prayer and healing and protect children."

This legislation would, said Eric Peterson, get rid of the current exemption for faith healing. In it's place, the new law would "create a legal mechanism known as an 'affirmative defense' that would require anyone attempting to use spiritual or faith healing as a legal defense to follow a "standard of medical care' that Peterson claimed had been established by the courts. The bill itself would provide no guidelines for what this standard of medical care would mean."

Sheesh!

No "standard of medical care" has been determined by the courts. All this new bill does is confuse the issue, which seems to be what the Christian Scientists want to do. The Christian Science Church, which, as a matter of policy practices "spiritual" healing, has lobbied, often with considerable success, to be exempted from the various state laws concerning neglect and abuse.

If the Neumann's spend a few years in jail, that would jeopardize the Christian Science position. No wonder they want to change the law.

The problem is that the change they are pushing for will not protect children, it will only protect the Christian Science Church.

Of course. Let us pray.


There's more here.

In Detroit, when all else fails, they try prayer

Some people in Detroit, finding themselves at the end of their collective ropes, are giving prayer a go.

I wonder how many of these folks have tried prayer before only to discover that the line between earth and heaven somehow got disconnected.

But now they're desperate.

Nick Bunkley, writing for The New York Times, describes last Sunday's service at the Pentecostal Greater Grace Temple in Detroit where Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, surrounded by three shiny new SUVs in the chancel area, led his congregation, many of which had some connection to the auto industry, in prayer.

"I don't know what's going to happen," said the bishop, "but we need prayer."

A couple of U.A.W. vice presidents repeated that theme. "We have done all that we can do in this union, so I turn it over to the Lord," said General Holiefield. James Settles Jr., told the worshipers "to continue your prayers, so we can see a miracle next week."

Bishop Ellis, in a moment of theological lucidity, suggested the congregation not pray that Congress give the car companies a bail-out, but rather that the car companies survive the economic meltdown.


Desperate times call for desperate measures as someone once said somewhere I think. The people in Michigan are desperate. Hope is fleeting. Thus, Bishop Ellis provides this quotation from Romans: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

Whatever that means.

Cardinal Adam Maida, Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Detroit area, sent out a letter to the faithful encouraging them to keep the faith. "At this darkest time of the year, we proclaim that Christ is our light and Christ is our hope," saith the AB.


All of these spiritual exhortations are mere placebos, and prayer is going to get the people nowhere. They might sound good and make folks feel better, but they're not going to get the job done.

Archbishop Maida knows that. So he got together with a bunch of other religious poohbahs from Detroit "to call on Congress to approve the $34 billion in government-backed loans that they automakers have requested."

It would appear that, at this point, it is more effective to "call on Congress" rather than to call on God.

It was prayer that beat California's Proposition 8?

[Photo from the Telegraph.co.uk]


Yup. Prayer did it.

The fact that Focus on the Family poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into defeating Prop 8, and that Utah Mormons pumped in hundreds of thousands more, and that over 70% of California's black voters (how ironic is that?) voted for the amendment -- all of that is irrelevant.

The most important factor was prayer.

Or so says San Diego pastor, Jim Garlow. He and a group of "prayer warriors" went into prayer-attack mode and even fasted for 40 days. And god heard their prayers. And Prop 8 went down. Yup.

Garlow, verified by God, got a bit feisty: "We're sending a strong message from California: don't mess with marriage. Don't mess with marriage."


Garlow's got a bit of a problem, though, as do all the Focus on the Family freaks and the Mormon morons.

All these people, and all the prayer warriors, and all the fasting did not convince god to stop the election of Senator Obama.

What does that mean? God hates homosexuals but Obama as president is OK? But Obama doesn't seem to have a problem with gay marriage.


Ain't these christianists funny?

Christians are full of bull - on Wall Street

The Lord [Jesus] spoke to Cindy Jacobs during a church service. The Lord [Jesus] said: "Cindy, the strongman over America doesn't live in Washington, DC - the strongman lives in New York City! Call My people to pray for the economy."

Now when "the Lord" talks to you and tells you to do something, you sure as hell better do it! So, Cindy called "His" people "to converge on New York City the week of October 29 for an emergency prayer rally to cry out against economic collapse ... "

Oh, the Lord also told her that "October 29 was Black Tuesday, the day the stock market crashed and Satan wants to do it again."

Cindy, no slacker, cried out, "we need to P.U.S.H. (pray until something happens to avert financial judgment."

Why would god send financial judgment on his favorite people, the United States Americans? "[B]ecause" said Cindy, " ... not only for our stance towards Israel, but our blatant sin against Him in passing laws such as the one allowing homosexual marriage."

But it's not just Amurricans who have to worry. The Lord is sending his judgment on "the ideologies of nations. He is moving to put the fear of the Lord not only on His church, but upon the nations of the world."

Whew! That IS scary!


Not to worry. Cindy had an answer, a way out of the mess: "We are going to intercede at the site of the statute of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the 'Lion's Market,' or God's control over the economic systems."

She gets crazier: "While we do not have the full revelation of all this will entail, we do know that without intercession, economies will crumble."

So, these freaks went to the site of the bull and prayed for money.


Evidently, they don't bother actually reading the Bible they claim to revere. I'd suggest they gather at the site of a ass and have do a study on Mark 10:17-22. Methinks they might think twice about praying for money in front of a bull; actually, they might think twice about praying for money at all!

Now I know "good" Christians don't believe that the Law, which Jesus, the Jewish peasant, said he had come to fulfill and must be obeyed, applies to them; but they still go the Hebrew Bible to pull out select verses when they want to castigate some poor sinner, like a gay person.

Perhaps they should read more than one verse calling homosexuality an abomination. They would find that praying to a bull for money is right up at the top of the list of No-No's that God gave Moses - something about graven images, as I recall. Plus, there's a story in Exodus 32 which tells what happened to the Israelites when they collected all their gold and fashioned a "molten" calf. It wasn't pretty:

God told Moses his people were "a stiffnecked people." But more than that, in the scathing words of the KJV, God said, "Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them..."

Yikes!

Cindy Jacobs and her idolatrous cretins that followed her to pray before the bull better make tracks for some safe place, 'cause god is gonna get 'em! The bible says so!


Jesus Cristos! What a bunch of morons!

Did I hear a heavenly "bullshit!"?

h/t to Wonkette and Pharyngula

Christian Right prayers will give win to Obama

The prayer warriors are busy tonight. They've been busy for months and they'll be even busier tomorrow, pleading with their god that he/she do the "right" thing in this election, i.e., intervene so that Obama goes down to defeat and those two god-fearing paragons of righteousness, McCain and Palin, ascend to the house of White in the land of the lobbyists.

Most of these deluded religionists will try to avoid asking god directly to elect McCain and Palin - not all, of course, but most - for that would be presumptuous. God might get pissed. But, they "know," down deep in their wee little hearts, that god prefers the GOP ticket.


So, they'll pray something like this:

"Dear god, we stand at a crossroads for our nation, which you have so richly blessed because you like Americans better than any other people in the world, and we are afraid of the direction our nation will take under a bad, bad leader like the man whose last name starts with "O." We are afraid, O Lord, that he will lead the nation down the path of wickedness where unwanted babies are tossed from windows, and men will marry goats and women will marry horses. We're afraid for our families and for your vision of true marriage, O Lord.

"We've done all we can and it looks like it wasn't enough, so we are praying mightily, and we need you to hear our prayers, O Lord, so that our nation can continue in righteousness and we can invade other countries that our godly leaders tells us are part of the Axis of Evil. We can even invade countries outside of that Axis, O Lord, if it is your will and if you so instruct our godly leaders.

"We're also afraid, O Lord, that the bad, bad man whose last name starts with "O" will raise our taxes and then how will we tithe to our thousands of churches that carry out your work in the world? This bad, bad man will also want to provide health care to the poor, the elderly, the young, O Lord. You know how something like that can wreck a budget. And he'll no doubt want to regulate our free markets, O Lord. You know this last financial crisis was just a glitch and regulation is communistic and therefore a sin.

"O Lord, this bad, bad man will no doubt make our corporations pay more in taxes and cut emissions at a terrible cost and the trickle down effect will stutter to a halt and the poor will no longer get those measly drops of welfare they have become used to. He'll tax the small businessman, O Lord; your own Ms. Palin said so. The worst, of course, is that the billions we give in corporate welfare will be cut back. What will the rich, do, O Lord?

"Oh my god, he'll want to stop the righteous war in Iraq and bring our soldiers back which will mean that the entire Middle East - your land, O Lord - will be taken over by the Islamists who defy your name. Worse, O Lord, they might want to keep their own oil, and you know how that would hurt your favorite country. And the bad, bad man who would be president won't let us drill in the pristine Arctic, O Lord, like Ms. Palin says we should; he talks about alternative energy sources, O Lord, but you know that's because he hates powerful companies who invest their wealth to make more wealth for themselves.

"Dear Lord, hear our prayer. We are mightily afraid. It is even possible, O Lord, that our brother James, last name Dobson, O Lord - in case you forgot - won't be able to call up the White House and give instructions to our leaders if that bad, bad man is elected.

"So we pray that you hear our prayers for we know that you are the righteous one and you hear the prayers of your righteous followers. We pray that your will be done, O Lord. So, intervene, O Lord. Make the election process null and void. Flip those ballots, O Lord, that vote for the bad, bad man. Your will be done, O Lord."


The people who are doing all this praying contend that they are following the will of god as laid out in the Bible, the infallible, inerrant word of god. The problem is that it isn't that difficult to make, even an "infallible" and "inerrant" Bible say pretty much whatever one wants it to say. So, the anti-gay folks on the Christian right, take one verse out of the "Old Testament" in which they believe god condemns homosexuality. But they ignore hundreds of other "laws" or "commandments" of god.

Here are a few verses they always" seem to miss.

From Micah, the prophet:

"He [God] has told you, O man, what is good,
And what the Lord requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love goodness,
And to walk modestly with your God;
Then you will achieve wisdom." [Micah 6:8 - The Jewish Study Bible]


From Jesus, the rabbi:

"How blest are those who show mercy;
mercy shall be shown to them. ...

How blest are the peacemakers;
God shall call them his sons." [Matthew 5:7, 9]

"Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to complete. I tell you this: so long as heaven and earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke, will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has happened." [Matthew 5:17 - 18]

"Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors; only so can you be children of your heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on good and bad alike, and sends the rain on the honest and the dishonest. ... There must be no limit to your goodness ...

"Be careful not to make a show of your religion before men; if you do, no reward awaits you in your Father's house in heaven ...

"Again, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogue [church] and at the street corners, for everyone to see them. I tell you this: they have their reward already. But when you pray, go into a room by yourself, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is there in the secret place ..." [Matthew 5:43-48; 6:1-6]

Then, this - especially appropriate for those who preach a "prosperity" gospel and the rich:

A young man asks: "...Good Master, what must I do to win eternal life? Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: "Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not give false evidence; do not defraud; honour your mother an father."' 'But, Master,' he replied, 'I have kept all these things since I was a boy.' Jesus looked straight at him; his heart warmed to him, and he said, 'One thing you lack: go, sell everything you have, and give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; and come, follow me.' At these words his face fell and he went away with a heavy heart; for he was a man of great wealth.'"


But what do we do with Paul's command in Romans 13?

"Every person must submit to the supreme authorities. There is no authority but by act of God, and the existing authorities are instituted by him; consequently anyone who rebels against authority is resisting a divine institution ... For government, a terror to crime, has no terrors for good behaviour. You wish to have no fear of the authorities? Then continue to do right and you will have their approval, for they are God's agents working for your good. ... That is why you are obliged to submit. It is an obligation imposed not merely by fear of retribution but by conscience. That is also why you pay taxes. The authorities are in God's service and to these duties they devote their energies. ...

"Discharge your obligations to all men; pay tax and toll, reverence and respect, to those to whom they are due. Leave no claim outstanding against you, except that of mutual love. He who loves his neighbour has satisfied every claim of the law. ..."


Very few, if any of us, believe that Paul was right about blind obedience to the authorities. In fact, if our beloved Founding Fathers followed Paul, we would still be bowing and scraping before an English king or queen! And Paul would have considered our Constitution an abomination! Was he wrong about paying taxes, too? And if not, why all the carping about paying taxes amongst the McCain/Palin followers?


The point, my friends, [to quote Mr. McCain] is that when push comes to shove [to cite a well-worn cliche], those on the Christian Right pick and choose (just like everyone else) those verses in the Bible that best confirm their theological prejudices.

And the Christian rightists of our time ignore, for the most part, the teachings of Jesus.

Nowhere has that been clearer than during this election. There's a reason why they ignore the Jesus we read of in the Gospels. That Jesus sits in judgment upon, not only their distorted and hateful theology, but on their politics, which is driven, of course, by their distorted and hate-filled theology.

Which means that if god picks up on their prayers and if "his will be done," Obama's a lock for the presidency.

Praise God!

[All New Testament quotations are from The New English Bible]

Watch out for African witchcraft against McCain and Palin!

Jim Bramlett is a believer in Jesus. Being a believer in Jesus, of course, allows him to engage in lies, distortions and character-assassination because he has been saved, has the spirit of God within him, and knows what is true from what is false.

Actually, none of that is true except that Bramlett claims to believe in the legendary Jewish person, Jesus, who supposedly lived a couple of thousand years ago and told his followers to love their neighbors.

I think Bramlett missed that "love your neighbor" stuff.


Bramlett has a website called injesus.com. Back in September he wrote an e-mail to his "friends" which began "THIS IS EXTREMELY SERIOUS." He tells of one Dr. Norman G. Marvin, M.D., who had become so upset he had called a prayer meeting in his home to try to contact god about those African pagans who were using witchcraft against John McCain and Sarah Palin.

[Hey, I'd say whatever works!]

Nah...but this does get more humorous, and sad. Dr. Marvin sent Bramlett an e-mail from Flo Ellers. Now Flo, just in case you don't know, is "credentialed with the International Fellowship of Ministries which is based in Washington State. She is also a member of EndTime Handmaidens and Servants of Jasper, Arkansas."

Wow!

Jim concludes his e-mail this away (all in caps): "If you know how to do spiritual warfare, please pray today and continually that all such curses be broken and Satan's plan for America be defeated, in Jesus' name. Pray and cover McCain and Palin with the blood of Christ. If you do not know how to do spiritual warfare, it is time you learn."

[This is fairly scary stuff. Bramlett is freaking crazy.]

Then Flo's e-mail follows. In summary, she claims that a young woman evangelist, Bree Keyton, has visited Obama's home village in Kenya ... it was "chilling" ... "witches, warlocks and those involved in satanism and the occult get up daily at 3 a.m. to release curses against McCain and Palin so B. Hussein Obama is elected."

Keyton discovered that Obama is 75% Arab and his family are Muslims. When Obama visited in tribe in "06 and as late as Jan. '08 he went to every elder's home which has a 'shrine' inside to worship the genie and asked for their blessing. ... All Islam loves and worships Obama. ..."


Well, there's much more of this insane and sick bullshit. Unfortunately, there are a lot of dumb-asses in this country who will believe it. May whatever god they believe in have mercy on their souls!

And if Obama wins, one can only conclude their god has no power! Yeah!

You can read the entire mess here.

h/t to Andrew Sullivan

God is on Palin's side and Obama's the bad guy

Prior to her ascension to the Alaska state house, Sarah Palin was blessed by a kooky witch doctor bishop from Kenya who prayed that god would protect her from all forms of witchcraft. Palin believes that it was the prayers of this bishop witch doctor that lit a fire under god to make her the governor of Alaska. Her governorship was no accident, nor was it merely the result of people voting. Palin believes it was god's will that she became governor of Alaska.

Palin also believes in her heart of hearts that god wants her to become president of the United States. [So do all her spiritual mentors, for they think she will be god's messenger during the end times which are soon to be upon us!]

While campaigning in North Carolina, Palin played to the hoi polloi, most of which, it is safe to say, are conservative Christians. After bashing the media for treating her so badly, she said she's been upheld by the prayers of her supporters.

"...it's at events like these and our rallies that we are so energized and inspired and we know that we are not alone. We feel your strength and we feel the power of prayer, so many of you tell us that you are praying for us and praying for our country and that's why we so appreciate your being here."

Palin referenced a slight uptick in the polls for McCain and she told the audience that change was in the air. "We even saw today, thank the Lord [she said, looking toward the sky and raising her fist - Pentecostal style]. We saw some movement."


Obviously, if god wants Palin to be prez, he/she doesn't want Obama to be prez. And that can only mean: Obama is frustrating god's plan! Obama is anti-god! Obama is doing the work of the devil! Maybe Obama is the anti-Christ!


Palin is one sick puppy!