What Would Jesus Do? Does Jesus love one political party over another? James Dobson’s Focus on the Family was betting on it. The group sponsored a video telling members to pray for “abundant rain, torrential rain … flood-advisory rain…..I’m talking about umbrella-ain’t-gonna-help-you rain … swamp-the-intersections rain.” The target date was the day Barack Obama was to speak at the DNC convention. The plan was to summon God-sized, vengeful payback for positions accomodating gays and women’s choice. Is it just me, or does this kind of “prayer” sentiment appear to be a bit, um, UN-Christian? See for yourself by clicking on the video.
Is it just serendipity that Hurricane Gustav is barreling down just in time for the RNC convention, or is God sending a message back to Dobson?
The video remained on the Focus on the Family website for about 4 weeks and was recently removed just as Gustav started shaping up and threatens to slam land and possibly overshadow news coverage of the start of tomorrow’s Republican National Convention. That’s bound to be a grim reminder of Bush’s failures during Hurricane Katrina.
Just in…..
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bush1-2008sep01,0,4266876.story
President Bush and Vice President Cheney will skip the Republican National Convention to focus on Hurricane Gustav, which is approaching the Gulf Coast, it was announced this morning.
This may be a gret example one extremest view and the way the rest of us believe.
I share this not to pick on the Christian extremests, I believe that there are many factions (caucuses?) in both parties and that some hold positions such as this that are extreme.
Christians have taken their place in the political process to advocate for their constituents and I support that. Unfortunately politics is by its very nature, unchristian. When you try to mix the two passionate actions like calling down the wrath of God are a logical progression.
I think the separation of church and state is a wise idea for a lot of reasons. I think though if you’re closely involved in one you shouldn’t try to lead in the other. It could all too easily lead to the unintended consequence of one of your personal-initiative, gun-possessing followers (who view themselves as ‘soldiers’) taking some personal intitiative, on some otherwise good person who has a differing position on a legal interpretation. Perhaps akin to yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater?
Avoiding this simple conflict would provide for the right to advocate for the christian positions in the political arena while not infringing on others right to be free from people praying that God should visit death and destruction on you.
It would save the poor christians from having to listen to political sermons twice a year or more, can I hear an Amen to that!
Because most of us think that God is a personal thing, and some of us believe we have witnessed miracles while all of us accept them as a part of our faith. Most dont believe that if there is a storm that God caused it other than in a sort of a ‘you made it you caused it’ kind of way. We certainly don’t think that victims bear any responsibility by virtue of how they chose to live or what race they were or what religion they believed in.
So stick to religion, or stick to politics. Mixing the two only makes both look bad.
Red, I’m glad they are on duty, it sounds like our people are prepared this time, thank God.
#1-
What a blessing for McCain and Palin, NO Bush or Cheney at the convention! That’s the last thing the Rep’s needed anyway.
Here’s a little humor for the upcoming RNC convention from John Stewart and the Daily Show. According to one website, “My friend Eric snapped this picture of The Daily Show billboard that is up near 494 and 77 to welcome those in for the RNC.”
Not serendipity, Vixen, a much shorter, more popular word: Karma.
I’m as liberal as the next…um…liberal, and I don’t like a lot of the political junk that appears in the name of ‘Dobson,’ but this was just a joke. The tone of pretty obviously sarcastic.
a.v. guy,
It may have been presented with a lighthearted tone (that’s the veneer), but make no mistake about it….Christians do not joke about prayer.
I have to agree with #7. Prayer is serious business to Dobson & Co.
Here is a Michael Moore prayer to God to try and sway God from further hurricane damage, done in MM style. It would be interesting to see if God heeded MM’s prayer and pushed the Hurricane back out to sea and spared NOLA, Texas, etc… from disaster. Who would Jesus listen to? 😉
An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Dear God,
The other night, the Rev. James Dobson’s ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled.
I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson’s prayers — except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.
Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don’t blame You, I know You’re angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an “Act of God” — when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You.
Some of us tried to help after Katrina hit, while Bush ate cake with McCain and twiddled his thumbs. I closed my office in New York and sent my entire staff down to New Orleans to help. I asked people on my website to contribute to the relief effort I organized — and I ended up sending over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies (collected from thousands of fans) to New Orleans while Bush’s FEMA ice trucks were still driving around Maine three weeks later.
But this past Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that the Republicans had begun making plans to possibly postpone the convention. The AP had reported that there were no shelters set up in New Orleans for this storm, and that the levee repairs have not been adequate. In other words, as the great Ronald Reagan would say, “There you go again!”
So the last thing John McCain and the Republicans needed was to have a split-screen on TVs across America: one side with Bush and McCain partying in St. Paul, and on the other side of the screen, live footage of their Republican administration screwing up once again while New Orleans drowns.
So, yes, You have scared the Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of them, and more than a few million of your followers tip their hats to You.
But now it appears that You haven’t been having just a little fun with Bush & Co. It appears that Hurricane Gustav is truly heading to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. We hear You, O Lord, loud and clear, just as we did when Rev. Falwell said You made 9/11 happen because of all those gays and abortions. We beseech You, O Merciful One, not to punish us again as Pat Robertson said You did by giving us Katrina because of America’s “wholesale slaughter of unborn children.” His sentiments were echoed by other Republicans in 2005.
So this is my plea to you: Don’t do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven’t sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time — they are already patrolling the city streets. And, in a nod to I don’t know what, Bush’s head of FEMA has named a man to help manage the federal government’s response. His name is W. Michael Moore. I kid you not, heavenly Father. They have sent a man with both my name AND W’s to help save the Gulf Coast.
So please God, let the storm die out at sea. It’s done enough damage already. If you do this one favor for me, I promise not to invoke your name again. I’ll leave that to the followers of Rev. Dobson and to those gathering this week in St. Paul.
Your faithful servant and former seminarian,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. To all of God’s fellow children who are reading this, the city New Orleans has not yet recovered from Katrina. Please click here http://troublethewaterfilm.com/content/pages/learn_what_you_… for a list of things you can do to help our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast. And, if you do live along the Gulf Coast, please take all necessary safety precautions immediately.
Nice posts Red!
yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m sure all the boy’s say that
Just one more example of \America’s Taliban\…….the religious right, and nobody has the guts to tell them how wrong such prayer is!!
Yay! Michael Moore’s prayer worked best. God spared NOLA AND the Republican convention!
Who would Jesus love most? Moore or Dobson?