Friday, September 5, 2008

"Pray for McCain's Death"?

You know, when I started this blog I specifically told myself I didn't want to get into talking about politics except when necessary. I wanted to talk about pharmacotherapy and pharmacoeconomics and maybe the politics of medicine, but I really can't resist passing this along. Hat tip to Ed Brayton (and also compliments to PZ Myers, who also mentioned this story):

Palin is a Christian, so she ought to get elected president. Here's the "plan":


1. Vote Constitution Party. (I vote my conscience and cannot support McCain even with Palin.)

2. Hope and pray for McCain/Palin to win. (I am an idealist, but also a realist!)

3. Pray for John McCain's salvation and pray specific imprecatory prayers if he fails to pro-actively defend the sanctity of human life. (Google The Forerunner's articles on Impecatory Prayer if you don't understand this.)

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Some people are totally batshit crazy. Even if you believe in the existence of a god or gods, explain to me how it's even remotely moral to pray for someone's death so that you can get the president you want? Aren't these the same people who are always saying that the ends don't justify the means (which is why abortion is terrible, even if it's to save a woman's life)?

I just don't get it.

FYI, for anyone who's going to come along and say, "no one is praying for McCain's death!" I did as the writer suggests and looked up "impecatory prayer," which is actually spelled "imprecatory prayer," but you will get a billion google results for the former because everyone is reposting this story.

Anyway, imprecatory prayer is when you pray for God to help you hurt somebody else or defeat some enemy (because supposedly you are praying for a "righteous" reason, otherwise God won't help you and you're a dirty, dirty sinner. What is "righteous" is presumably up to the individual to decide by reedin' his Biiiiible).

2 comments:

Quixie said...

It boggles the mind, don't it?

Anonymous said...

I have been regularly praying for Arnold Schwarzenegger's death ever since it became clear that he's guilty of at least 27 counts of felony sexual battery, and since it became clear the the CA Attoney General was abandoning the call for a hearing into his felonies. This isn't voluntary; prayer is all I have left. If the GOP condemned him outright, if Schwarzenegger had the decency to kill himself (or, at least, forever leave politics), I could probably abandon the effort. As is, I can only pray for him to die. Praying for the GOP to condemn him hasn't worked, and if I don't do something in response to the continual "Pretend he's normal. Pretend he doesn't hate and maim women." lies, I'd literally go insane. It's all I can do to not pray for someone (prefereably a woman) to assassinate him.

So, yeah, I can understand praying for someone's death. When they maim people, when they shame people and laugh about it, when they continue to prosper even though they're unthinkably cruel criminals, it's pretty hard to do anything else.