Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

Southern Baptist Ministers Lead Prayer For Obama’s Death

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

img-bs-top-avlon-pres-day_214247805540Several Southern Baptist Ministers across the nation are leading prayers in their congregations asking God to kill Obama and “leave his children fatherless.” They reference Psalm 109:8 as a biblical commandment for all Christians to pray for Obama’s quick death. John Avlon interviews two of the ministers and reports:

Praying for President Obama’s death has become a sick cottage industry for some evangelicals on the lunatic fringe. Bumper stickers, T-shirts, and teddy bears are sold with the wholesome-sounding slogan “Pray for Obama” but tagged with the more troublesome “Psalm 109:8”—which reads “May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership” followed by “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.”

In Wingnut circles, it’s known as the “Imprecatory Prayer.” Offered not just from select pulpits, but increasingly expressed through tweets and forwarded via email, this decidedly un-Christian Christian subculture has found its most enthusiastic advocates in a few Obama Derangement Syndrome-afflicted preachers—notably Orange County’s Wiley Drake and Arizona’s Steven L. Anderson.

Pastor Wiley Drake kicked off this Presidents’ Day Weekend with an email blast to his supporters saying “Imprecatory Prayer is now our DUTY” and announcing a daily teleconference call to advance the cause. Drake has been an enthusiastic advocate of imprecatory prayer since he announced that God answered his call with the murder of Kansas abortion clinic doctor George Tiller in church last May. “George Tiller was far greater in his atrocities than Adolf Hitler,” Drake said at the time, “so I am happy. I am glad that he is dead.” This emboldened him to add “the usurper that is in the White House … B. Hussein Obama” to the list said in his church on Sundays.

It is often reported that self-identification as a Christian is declining in America. Those in the republican “family values” right wing claim its because of the left wing waging a “War on Christianity and Christian Values”. Could it be that folks are really turning away from Christianity because of lunatics like these calling themselves Christians and giving the rest of us a bad name?

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Posted in Faith, Family Values, Racism, Radical Republicans, Tea Parties | 10 Comments »

A Christmas Message from our Chairman…

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

blue-democratic-donkey-ornamentFolks have told me a great many things about Christmas lately - how and with whom to celebrate it, what to buy and where to buy it, and even how to talk about it. I have actually heard folks in the pulpit, at the lunch table, and even on my television speak fervently on the subject of the season’s greetings, whether “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” is more proper. Bless their hearts, they just get so excited about Christmas and they should. It is only recently that we have had the freedom to celebrate it!

Following the English Protestant Reformation, groups such as the Puritans, the forefathers of today’s evangelical Christians, strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the “trappings of popery” or the “rags of the Beast.” Following Oliver Cromwell’s victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England’s Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647. Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans. In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Christmas celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681, but was revived by the Royal Governor. The celebration of Christmas fell out of favor after the Revolutionary War because it was seen as an English custom, but it was revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving depicting harmonious warm-hearted holiday traditions he claimed to have observed in England.

I hope you can forgive me for not joining those important high-minded debates at Christmas time. I’m sure they’ll work it out. Meanwhile, I’ll be visiting family and trying to pick out some gifts while trying to keep perspective on what its all about. Dr. Suess has always been helpful in that regard:

“”And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.”

In Christmas Spirit,

Jonathon Fagan
Chairman, RCDP

Posted in Faith, Family Values, From the Chair | No Comments »

Rutherford Republican Compares Rep. Mumpower to Jesus

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Caption reads, "The scene is reminiscent of Judas joining hands in prayer with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane moments before the soldiers arrived to arrest him."

Caption reads, 'The scene is reminiscent of Judas joining hands in prayer with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane moments before the soldiers arrived to arrest him.'

Tim Rudd, Rutherford County Republican and Tennessee Republican Party Executive Committee Member, sees Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) and Jesus (God’s only begotten Son, Savior of All Mankind, Member of the Holy Trinity) as equals, who were both betrayed by one of their own. Jesus was betrayed by Judas, condemning him to die a horrible death on the very cross he was forced to carry and had his side pierced by a Roman soldier’s sword while others cast lots for his clothing. Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) was simply denied the Speakership of the Tennessee House when Rep. Kent Williams (R-Elizabethton) joined with 49 Democrats to elect himself Speaker.

Its all the same to Rudd, who compares Mumpower to Jesus and Williams to Judas in the following graphic, which he sent by email to his fellow Executive Committee members. Williams was denied membership in the Tennessee Republican Party for the move, and Rudd wants to keep it that way even though some are pushing for Williams’ return to the republican fold.

What Rudd has done is sacreligious, which is especially egregious during the Christmas season when Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth. Folks across the state are understandably upset with Tim Rudd for comparing their Lord and Savior to a politician. Here’s an example from Betsy Phillips:

Tim Rudd, sir, that you would even make something like this and send it to other people pretty much proves that you are a terrible Christian. And I don’t say that mildly.

Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say, “Please, use my suffering to illustrate your petty political problems.” And really, Rudd, how dare you try to pressure anyone into feeling like not doing what you want is akin to standing against Jesus.

You are not Jesus. Jason Mumpower is not Jesus.

People who do things other than what you would like them to do ARE NOT BETRAYING JESUS.

And, frankly, it’s evil for you to suggest that they are.

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Posted in Ethics, Faith, Radical Republicans, Republican leaders, Rutherford County Republican Party, Tim Rudd | No Comments »

Friday, September 11th, 2009
Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, Liberals, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even Atheists perished at these two ghostly-lit empty spaces. They had at least one thing in common - they were Americans. Today is not a day for political posturing. It is a day for solemn reflection on those Americans who died by those Americans who still live.

Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, Liberals, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even Atheists perished at these two ghostly-lit empty spaces. They had at least one thing in common - they were Americans. Today is not a day for political posturing. It is a day for solemn reflection on those Americans who died by those Americans who still live.

Posted in Faith, From the Chair, Service, Terrorism, Volunteer | No Comments »

Local Pastor answers ‘What Would Jesus Do’ on health care reform

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Pastor Michael Smith, Belmont University & Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Graduate

Pastor Michael Smith, Belmont University & Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Graduate

Pastor Michael Smith of Murfreesboro’s First Baptist Church offers one Christian’s thoughts on the health care debate we thought deserved your attention.

When I attempt to allow my Jesus-Center to influence my take on health care reform in the United States, I find myself drawn to a few core conclusions.

First, I am to pray and act for the well-being of all others. Among other things, this suggests I am not to seek to protect only myself or those like me but instead to be willing to run some risk, make some sacrifices, for the sake of other women and men. To put it another way, I am my brother and sister’s keeper, and if I understand Jesus rightly, all persons are my brothers and sisters. When I translate the sentiment into policy, I become more comfortable with the idea that some challenges require the wisdom and resources of the entire nation. While I may not yet discern the particulars, I accept that any solution must work for all of us.

Second, I am to seek and speak the truth. We Americans have become far too tolerant of lies told to advance an agenda. I’m afraid we’ve also become far too willing to accept and use lies ourselves, especially if we think a lie will help us “win.” I cannot imagine Jesus condoning the use of a lie for any purpose. Can you? If Christians are to play their proper role in the current debate, we must once again become people who seek and speak truth.

Third, I must lay aside all hatred. A while ago, a Christian woman said to me, “I don’t want any of my money going to help those people.” Whoever “those people” might have been to her, she dispised them. Take a little self-test. Use her phrase (”I don’t want any of my money going to help those people”) and try inserting a specific term in place of “those.” Try inserting terms like “poor,” “black,” “Hispanic,” “unemployed,” “liberal,” “conservative,” “pregnant out of wedlock,” and the like. Keep doing so until you find a term that makes your blood boil. That’s when you will have identified the group of people Jesus calls you to stop hating. Jesus forbids his followers to hate or to allow hatred to govern their life in the world.

Posted in Faith, Health care, Legislation, Seniors | 3 Comments »