Falling Into Your Own Pit

“God did not deliver on Republican Prayers: In a good Christian Manner, James Dobson’s Republican Organization, Focus on the Family sent out a notice 2 weeks ago requesting that all Republican Christians pray for rain in Denver to disrupt Obama's acceptance speech at the outdoor Invesco Field."

The above is an e-mail that I received from a friend last night telling me that James Dobson and his right wing followers were summoning people to pray that Denver would be inundated by a storm, thus disrupting the Democratic National Convention, and most importantly Senator Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on last Thursday night.

It seems that God did not hear their prayers, but instead turned their prayers against them. Senator Obama did make his acceptance speech on Thursday night to a capacity crowd of almost ninety thousand people at Invesco Field, while millions watched (and cried as I did) around the world. But since the right-wingers sought injury to others through a storm, now they have had to cancel portions of their convention and revelry because of a storm. “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein…” (Prov. 26:27, KJV).

The questions in my mind are: “When will powerfully placed preachers realize that God is not a Republican or a Democrat?” And “when will fundamentalist believers of any ilk, (Christian, Muslim, LDS, etc.) cease to invoke the name of God to support their personal agendas?” When celebrity preachers lead already narrow minded people to believe that God is as narrow minded and as petty as they are the outcome is an embarrassment for them and an insult to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When unbelievers see people who are supposed to be followers of Christ pleading with God to ruin the events and purposes of their opponents it makes a mockery of the teachings of Jesus.

I also wonder if the fundamentalists think that it is wrong for me or other believers to disagree with them? I am sure that many of the people gathered to hear Senator Obama speak considered themselves to be Christian. So was God supposed to punish the believers at Invesco Field for supporting Senator Obama, and pass over George W. Bush and John McCain for engaging in an ungodly and unjust war? No body died at Invesco Field, while Gorge Bush’s policies, supported by John McCain, have caused countless numbers of lives.

If Dobson’s actions in this matter are a reflection of the character of his god, it seems to me that his god is more like a bad dog than the God of the Bible. You can sic a dog on your opponent, but you can’t sic God on your political opponents. Maybe Dobson’s Bible doesn’t contain this verse “If your enemy hungry, feed him…” (Rom. 12:20).

We must remember that rabid, irrational Christian fundamentalism is never about Jesus any more than the fundamentalism of the Pharisees was about God or the Law. Fundamentalism is about fear and power; fear of the larger world outside and beyond the control of the fundamentalist; and using that fear and any other fear to control others. Fundamentalists once taught that God created African peoples to be slaves, that women should never be educated or given the right to vote, that Jews are habitually filthy and manipulative, that Chinese people were law breakers, that Native Americans were alcoholics by nature, and on and on the list goes.

Now the question is, “What is the difference between a fundamentalist in Jerusalem or Baghdad who straps on an explosive belt and walks into a crowded market and ignites it and one who sits at home in America praying for rain on Invesco Field?” They both mean to cause harm. The difference is only in degrees. Today he calls for them to pray for rain because someone opposes his politics; tomorrow he will call them to spill blood for the same reason.

Lynching used to be a Christian exercise.