Pastor Wiley Drake, a former Southern Baptist Convention officer and vice president running mate of Alan Keyes, made a little ruckus in the pro-life/pro-choice communities when he indicated that the death of abortion doctor George Tiller was “an answer to a prayer.” But, he did not stop there. The next person on his death prayer list is…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…President Barack Obama. On Alan Colmes radio show, our beloved pastor friend shocked Alan Colmes (which I thought would be impossible to do, since the dude sat next to the likes of Sean Hannity for years) when he unapologetically indicated that he was offering up an “imprecatory prayer” (translation: a holy curse) for the President’s death. I absolutely CANNOT make this up:
Jim over at the Progressive blog Irregular Times argues that Drake’s lunacy is pretty harmless given that he has offered up similar “prayers” for members of the leftist Americans United for the Separation of Church and State who, nevertheless, are still in tip top shape. In that respect, he’s absolutely correct. I mean, God does NOT make it a point to go around ending lives just because some nut prays for it to happen. Even Tiller is dead because of another loon…not God.
But what concerns me about this story – above and beyond the obvious absurdity and vileness of praying for death upon a person – is that there are people out there more than willing to carry out the deed. I took a little flack earlier for my contention that prominent voices could provide the very impetus for a person to go off on the deep end and do the unimaginable. But I stand firm in my convictions: words are a powerful tool in motivating certain kinds of behavior. People who use their words in a such a hateful and inciting manner MUST be brought to bear. Censored? Sadly, I’d have to say no, given my firm support for free speech. But if somebody wants to neutralize his rhetoric (i.e. with a fist in the mouth), be my guest.
So far, at least a few people in the Christian community have decried Drake’s lunacy. But the damage may already be done. The seeds of hatred have long since been planted. What will spring forth is anybody’s guess.
– ACL
The Unmitigated Word 
Hey, Andre. Fyi, the organization is Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Would you say that the fact of the three AU leaders’ continued health, despite Drake’s public prayer for their death, is an indication that Drake’s followers aren’t all that willing to convert his prayers into their deeds?
Cheers!
Hello tracking2008,
Thanks for the correction. When I blogged about this, I was reading Jim’s entry and an article about the European Union at the same time. I mixed the two entities…oops! That’s how my mind tends to work. 🙂
To address your question, I certainly hope Drake’s “prayer” won’t translate into a deed. I’ll be honest in saying that I don’t think Tiller’s killer was necessary a devout follower of prominent conservative voices, either. I don’t know for sure. But as I said earlier, I think there is power in the voice. Words can speak things into existence. Similar to how motivational speakers can inspire people to do great things, I think they can inspire people to do harm.
I SERIOUSLY hope I’m wrong in this case.
Thanks for your comments.
I seriously hope the folks on the right remember this when they talk about how evil Islamic fundamentalists are. An American citizen publicly declaring that both he and God want the President of the United States dead? If an Arab person said that, he would be in Gitmo right now.
Why do you have to label EVERYTHING as right-wing? True, Pastor Drake is a part of the extreme religious right. But I’m a God-fearing conservative myself and I don’t put myself in the same ring as this looney toon. Please stop trying to smear all conservatives and putting them in the same ilk as this fool.
Josh, nobody is making this a right-wing, left-wing issue. This is about a preacher who – by his own admission – prays for the President’s death.
Perhaps instead of saying “What? It’s not all of us conservatives who are like this…”, you should use your energy to decrying this mess yourself. You and I share at least one commonality in that we’re both Christians. So we can either let loons like this come to be the face of Christianity or we can make it our goal to exemplify the REAL spirit of Christianity to the world.
This guy was a VP candidate?! Praise be to God he didn’t get elected.
“Praise be to God he didn’t get elected.”
Meh, he and Alan Keyes didn’t stand a chance. They ran on America’s Independent Party. He stood as much of a chance of being elected as I did.
Thank God for the small favors, huh?
I think the main distinction between this situation & the previous post that explored the Hannity/O’Reilly/Limbaugh connection is that this nut is asking for somebody to be killed (the POTUS no less!). The others have never, & presumably would never, even come close to approaching that point. In fact, I liken much of their whining to that of what most of us here were doing for the entire eight year duration of Chene….err I mean Bush.
In this case, calling for the death of somebody, the POTUS no less, who seems to have idiots plotting to kill him every other week being arrested, is more than troubling.
-n
The GOP motto: “We feed the monster. But don’t blame us when it eats Tokyo.”
…however, (and I really hate to give ignorance and hatred like Drake’s ANY chance to grow), but his violence thoughts and prayers about the President are protected under the Constitution. Even something as horrific as wishing for death on the POTUS is within Drake’s right.
Drake has long gone off the deep end. He uses his pulpit for his own personal agendas. Such as “boycotting Disneyland” for employing gays…..and his latest escapade, trying to prove that the President is an “illegal alien”. Drake seems to suffer from a mental illness named “narcissistic personality disorder”. People who suffer from this illness have symptoms such as delusions of grandeur. He seems to believe that acting like an insane person will get him fame. But he is only making a spectacle of himself. I feel sorry for his family. He has become an embarrassment to the FSBC. Maybe at one time his ideas about helping the homeless were positive and helpful. But he has turned his pulpit into a circus. His church services are no longer religious, but more political. And some people have been thrown out of the church physically for dissenting out loud. And there are a lot of O.C. citizens who dissent over his insane beliefs. If he’d use his position for the good of mankind, instead of for his own personal agendas, he night be doing a service to Orange County. But he isn’t. He should go back to Arkansas where his racism and hick ways are accepted. Because most of the citizens in O.C. think he is crazy and needs to be institutionalized.
Co-signed, cinamin! Thanks for stopping by.
*I like the artwork, by the way. 🙂