Pray For Obama

[BoxPhoenix]

Pray For Obama

I have been.........















...................... yet he is still there?

[Anj29]

Psalms 109:8, An Ugly Prayer for President Obama
Monday November 16, 2009

Any time the citizens of a state, particularly a democracy, invoke their faith to pray for the demise of those they oppose politically, we should be concerned. When the call for such prayers becomes one of the most popular Google searches in the country, we should shake, especially those of us who believe in God, prayer and the Bible. Psalm 109, verse 8, went viral this morning in just that way.

Among the world's top Google searches today are phrases that contain the words "Psalms 109 8", and "Psalm 109 8 prayer for Obama". For those of you who may not know that particular verse, it reads "May his days be few, may another take over his position." And before anyone excuses this toxic use of scripture as nothing more than the wish that President Obama not be re-elected to a second term of office, the next verse in the psalm reads, "May his children be orphans and his wife a widow".

In fact, the entire chapter is about the prayed for death of an evil person. Not to mention that anyone who knows enough Bible to have thought about this verse in particular, surely knows the entire chapter and appreciates its message. Pretty scary stuff.

All this is especially upsetting in light of the last weeks' events at Fort Hood. Exactly how long is it going to take us to figure out the danger of linking faith claims and violent fantasies? How is it that the very same people who would have wanted to curtail access, and rightly so, to the hate-filled, violence-inducing, sermons to which Major Hasan listened, do not cry out against these prayers and those praying them?

The issue is not the scripture quoted or the name by which God is called by those doing the praying. The issue is invoking the God in whom any of us believe, to act as executioner of those with whom we disagree.

From Yigal Amir, who murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to Major Hassan who murdered 13 and wounded 30 more, to whomever might step in on behalf of a "Christian nation" to make the words of the Psalm 109 a reality, each was inspired by prayers and scriptural readings not unlike those of the millions who made verse 8 a top Google search this morning. There is no place for such prayers in any of our faiths and until we all stand up and say so, at least a little blood will be on all of our hands.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/windowsanddoo ... r-for.html

[meranyia]

"Deborah Lauter, director of civil rights at the Anti-Defamation League agrees that the bumper sticker falls within acceptable political discourse.

For it to be considered hate speech, it “would advocate actual violence or cite scripture that was more clear in its message.”

But that doesn’t mean that it’s completely innocent.

“Are we concerned about real hostility towards [President Obama]? Absolutely,” says Ms. Lauter. “Is this a part of that movement? It may be, but in terms of this message itself, we would not criticize it.”

[renata]

Not knowing who started the email, no one can really know for certain whether the person only intended exactly what s/he quoted, or more. I think the majority of people who saw this just thought of it as a joke, and weren't interested in wishing or praying ill on him - only that his term be short. But you raise a good point - definitely over the top and easily construed as malicious intent.

[rubbadubbawubba]

CafePress Is No Longer Officially Okay with Praying for Obama's Death





CafePress has reversed itself for the second time and discontinued once and for all the sale of "Pray For Obama: Psalm 109:8" merchandise, which is Christian code for "pray for Obama to get killed by God."

CafePress pulled the merchandise earlier this week when people pointed out what the prayer meant, but they quickly restored the items, telling Gawker in a statement yesterday that the slogan was in line with "current public discourse and our determination of what it is fair political commentary."

They've changed their mind. The CafePress blog announced today that Psalm 109 items are banned again:

Last night we posted a poll on our blog, read through the emails we've received and weighed the nature of the calls we've received on the topic. In the process we also learned that many of the original designers of the Psalm 109:8 designs had already decided to remove them on their own.

General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.

Psalm 109 is a "Cry For Vengeance." Verse 8 reads: "Let his days be few; and let another take his office"; it goes on to ask God to kill the supplicant's enemy and make beggars of his children. So some sneaky Christians thought it would be funny to sell T-shirts bearing the slogan at CafePress, because Godless liberals wouldn't know that it was really a prayer for God to kill Barack Obama for being Muslim.

The online poll's respondents found the slogan "overly inflammatory and inappropriate," 76% to 22%.

[Via Politico.]

Hmmmmm. . I bet there's some money to be made here. . . lol. .

[meranyia]

yeh.lets..............EW ORLEANS (AP) An African-American man from Mississippi admits posing as a white supremacist to send a death threat across state lines by Facebook.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says 20-year-old Dyron L. Hart of Poplarville pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to making a threat in November 2008.

Hart admitted creating a name and using a white supremacists' photo to pose as a white man who planned to kill blacks because Barack Obama had been elected president.

He originally was charged with threatening three black students at Nicholls State — where he had attended one semester — but pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count.

He sent the threats from a computer in Poplarville.

The maximum sentence is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; sentencing is Nov. 18.

Why did Hart do this? Frankly we have no idea. He wouldn't friend us on Facebook.
..Black Man Becomes Obama-Hating White Supremacist on Facebook......................

[meranyia]

egeek10 if you reading......................... Anti-Obama billboard sparks controversy
Advertiser Phil Wolf: Obama 'not telling the truth'
By Electa Draper The Denver Post
Posted: 11/20/2009 10:17:22 PM MST A billboard at a Wheat Ridge car dealership -- with a caricature of President Barack Obama as a turban-wearing jihadist -- has sparked a boycott and death threats, but even more support, its sponsor said.

Phil Wolf, owner of Wolf Automotive, said the billboard asks a legitimate question about Obama's alleged lack of documentation of his American birth.

"President or Jihad?" the billboard reads. "Wake up, America! Remember Fort Hood!"

Wolf said politicians have not been held accountable.

"This man is not telling the truth," Wolf said. "He should prove he's an American."

Bobby Clark of the liberal online network Progress Now Colorado is organizing a boycott of Wolf Automotive. Clark said "birthers" and "teabaggers" like Wolf have been emboldened by mainstream Republican politicians and pundits.

For the rest of the story,and picture http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13834161

[Anj29]

Some apologists for this partisan grotesquery maintain that the slogan/sticker is simply a prayer that Obama serve only one term -- a perfectly defensible sentiment, I suppose, if you believe in a God who helps pick winners and losers in elections. As though Biblical context is irrelevant. As though "let his days be short" is anything other than a prayer for death.

Let’s see now. A president whose children are rendered fatherless and whose wife is rendered a widow. Of whom does that put us in mind ?

“Pray for Obama, Psalm 109:8” is a thinly veiled expression of hope that Obama is assassinated, a hope rendered triply ugly by its invocation of scripture.

Let’s see now. Citing holy writ to support a call for political violence. Of whom does that put us in mind?

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_co ... mpers.html

[meranyia]

praying is between god and you...........................that is not..................>>>>" FBI: Muslim leader used religion to justify criminal activity

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

*


The Muslim leader killed in a shootout with agents was using his idea of religion to justify part of his criminal activity, the head of the Detroit FBI office said Wednesday.

“The criminal activity was in support of his beliefs,” Andrew Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit FBI office, told the Free Press Wednesday. “This is about criminal activity, not about religion.”."....................................................In his speech Obama said that Islam is “a great religion”. He regularly describes Islam as a peaceful religion. ..." " Abdullah related a story he claimed was in the Koran in which people in Mecca and Medina would rob and steal from the caravans, and then donate a portion of their ill-gotten gains to benefit Allah,” the criminal complaint reads. “Abdullah concluded that story in the Koran justifies stealing, robbing, and other illegal acts, as long as they profit Islam.”


Family members of Abdullah say the allegations are wrong and that he helped the poor."..............................In his speech Obama said that Islam is “a great religion”. He regularly describes Islam as a peaceful religion. ..." .....................In his speech Obama said that Islam is “a great religion”. He regularly describes Islam as a peaceful religion. ..." ....................................In his speech Obama said that Islam is “a great religion”. He regularly describes Islam as a peaceful religion. ..."

[meranyia]

Some apologists for this partisan grotesquery maintain that the slogan/sticker is simply a prayer that Obama serve only one term -- a perfectly defensible sentiment, I suppose, if you believe in a God who helps pick winners and losers in elections. As though Biblical context is irrelevant. As though "let his days be short" is anything other than a prayer for death.

Let’s see now. A president whose children are rendered fatherless and whose wife is rendered a widow. Of whom does that put us in mind ?

“Pray for Obama, Psalm 109:8” is a thinly veiled expression of hope that Obama is assassinated, a hope rendered triply ugly by its invocation of scripture.

Let’s see now. Citing holy writ to support a call for political violence. Of whom does that put us in mind?

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_co ... mpers.html

what if the is no wife and kids...........you leave that part of the prayer out ????

[rubbadubbawubba]

Roots of Right-Wing Populist Rage -- the Christian Right

Listening to the rhetoric and reading the placards at recent right-wing events has led many progressive observers to conclude that "these folks are nuts!" Well, they are no more crazy or ignorant than most Americans (stifle that giggle), but they do live inside a bubble.

We all live inside our own bubbles in terms of where we get our information. If you grew up listening to right-wing libertarian talk radio and conservative Christian televangelism programs you might be able to break out of that that bubble, but it is difficult, and the exception, not the rule.

Sure, many of the ideas in the Political Right ignore about 50 years of social science -- but not in their book -- literally not in the books they read. Or the TV they watch. Or the radio they listen to. Or the magazines, newsletters, and direct mail that arrive in their mailbox. And this is what it is important to understand. These folks are no more crazy or ignorant than we are, but their "fact" base is produced in a parallel political universe.

The 2,000 or so folks at the 2009 Values Voter Summit this past weekend in Washington, DC share a set of ideologies with minor variations and differing combinations. While most of these folks have economic libertarian beliefs, they differ in form and focus from secular economic libertarians. I'll cover the "Free Market" sector of the populist right in another post.

Conservative Christian evangelicals allied with the Christian Right represent about 15% of the electorate. Most of them also have apocalyptic beliefs about the second coming of Christ, and many of those see it as an impending event they will witness in their lifetime. That explains why 15% of Republicans in New Jersey say they think it is possible that President Obama is the Antichrist (one of the signs of the arrival of the prophesied End Times); while 14% are absolutely sure Obama is the Antichrist.

For those Conservative Christian evangelicals with this specific set of apocalyptic beliefs, stopping Obama is a mission from God; and also a test of faith which might determine whether or not they go to Heaven or get Raptured.

Conservative icon Phyllis Shlafly received the Values Voter Summit major award at the concluding banquet. It recognized her role in creating the contemporary conservative movement. Schlafly's ideology is rooted in that of the Old Right, based on the policies of President William Howard Taft who served from 1909-1913. After WWII, in the 1950s, Schlafly organized conservative women to roll back the liberal policies of the Administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945). She also backed the failed Republican Presidential candidacy of Sen. Barry Goldwater in 1964. When the New Right began to emerge in the late 1970s with major support from veterans of the Goldwater campaign, Schlafly, a devout Catholic anti-communist, helped bridge the gap between the Old and New Right, as well as between conservative Catholics and conservative Protestants.

What books did the Old Right bring into the New Right? Several authors were named at the Values Voter conference. In addition to Schlafly, authors W. Cleon Skousen and Fred Schwarz were mentioned from the podium. In terms of the contemporary Christian Right, these authors along with Gary Allen, John Stormer, Tim LaHaye, Larry Abraham and a few others wrote the books that contain the basis for almost all the Values Voter rhetoric, slogans, and workshop sessions decried as lunatic by the Left over the past week.

The best known book was Phyllis Schlafly's A Choice, Not an Echo which suggested a conspiracist theory in which the Republican Party was said to be secretly controlled by elitist intellectuals dominated by members of the Bilderberger banking conference, whose policies were designed to usher in global communist conquest. Schlafly's husband Fred had been a lecturer at author Fred Schwarz's local Christian Anti-Communism Crusade conferences and training seminars. The title "A Choice, Not an Echo" became one of Goldwater's campaign slogans.

Schlafly elaborated on the theme of the global communist conspiracy and its witting and unwitting domestic allies in a number of books. The Gravediggers, was a Schlafly book on military preparedness co-authored with retired Rear Admiral Chester Ward. Ward, a member of the National Strategy Committee of the American Security Council was also a lecturer at the Foreign Policy Research Institute which formulated many benchmark Cold War anti-communist strategies.

The Gravediggers claimed U.S. military strategy and tactics promoted during liberal Administrations (both Democratic and Republican) were actually consciously designed to pave the way for global communist conquest. The Gravediggers was also tailored to support the Goldwater campaign. Schlafly and Ward also wrote Strike from Space, which later formed the basis of President Reagan's missile defense program. Schlafly was appointed by Reagan to his National Security Task Force, and she worked with retired General Daniel O. Graham to promote space-based missile defense.

For over 50 years ultra-conservative Christians have been reading these types of books which lay out arguments that lie at the roots of contemporary right-wing populist rage. These are not marginal or "fringe" figures. They have played a major role in Republican Party politics and governance for over 30 years. Dismiss them at our own risk.

[Anj29]

Conservative Christian evangelicals allied with the Christian Right represent about 15% of the electorate. Most of them also have apocalyptic beliefs about the second coming of Christ, and many of those see it as an impending event they will witness in their lifetime. That explains why 15% of Republicans in New Jersey say they think it is possible that President Obama is the Antichrist (one of the signs of the arrival of the prophesied End Times); while 14% are absolutely sure Obama is the Antichrist.

It's only 15%? Thank God.

I'll bet a lot of them watch (and believe) Beck.

[meranyia]

hmmmmm......................."There are literally hundreds of videos currently viewable on YouTube of Bush being burned in effigy. I’ve posted a screenshot of one above, but "rather than clog up this post with several embedded YouTube videos (which slows down the page loading), I’ll simply post links to several of the videos here:

Bush getting burned

bush you liar we’ll set your ass on fire

Burning George Bush

George W Bush burns in effigy (Washington DC)

And for a little variety: Bush getting smashed

(On the “Related videos” sidebars for all of these you can find many additional burning-Bush-in-effigy videos.)

In case you feel that burning Bush in effigy “doesn’t count” — just imagine the outcry there would be if even a single instance of Obama being burned in effigy was filmed (claims of “lynching,” etc.)." .......................................................http://www.binscorner.com/pages/d/death ... sts-i.html < pictures rest of the text..............

[renata]

"Pray For Obama: Psalm 109:8" merchandise, which is Christian code for "pray for Obama to get killed by God."

To say it's "Christian code for 'pray for Obama to get killed by God' " is categorically ridiculous. True Christians don't pray for God to kill people. Those who want to make them look ridiculous and bloodthirsty make these idiotic claims.

Edited for clarity...

[ivegotflyingmonkeys]

How sad.