It seems there’s a number of religiously deluded people out there that are trying their hand at imprecatory prayer, asking God to destroy their enemies, and now one of them is being sued because of it:
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he wants Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, to “stop asking Jesus to plunder my fields … seize my assets, kill me and my family then wipe away our descendants for 10 generations.”
The suit also asks the court to stop the defendants – Klingenschmitt and Jim Ammerman, the founders of the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches – from “encouraging, soliciting, directing, abetting or attempting to induce others to engage in similar conduct.”
It’s not so much that Weinstein is worried about God actually acting on those prayers, but rather some of his followers:
Weinstein, who is Jewish, said his family has received death threats, had a swastika daubed on their home, and feces thrown at the house. He said the harassment started several years ago when he began protesting Christian proselytizing at his alma mater, the Air Force Academy.
Weinstein’s attorney, Randal Mathis, said their biggest concern is that Klingenschmitt’s audience includes a “certain number of unstable people” who might act in the name of God.
It’s not an unreasonable fear to have considering the number of people who have killed on God’s behalf because they believed they were being called to do so.
Klingenschmitt claims to have done nothing wrong:
Klingenschmitt, 41, told The News that he has “never incited anybody” to hurt Weinstein, whom he called a “paranoid megalomaniac who has a history of anti-Christian persecution.”
“I never prayed for anyone’s violence,” he told the paper. “All I did was quote the Scriptures.” His prayers are available on his website, the Pray In Jesus Name Project, The Evening Prayer’s Channel and for radio broadcast.
Does he want Mikey Weinstein to die? “I pray the Psalm that his days are few,” he told The News.
So he’s never incited anybody to hurt Weinstein, except that God fellow who has a known history of utilizing humans to do his dirty work. And it’s not that he’s praying for Weinstein to do so much as, you know, not be living too much longer if at all possible. Because that’s exactly what Jesus would do.
I’m not sure how they figure telling someone the equivalent of “God wants this guy dead and will reward the person that kills him in heaven. Don’t you want to do God’s work?” isn’t blatant incitement.
The icing on the cake is that the very people that pull this sort of crap would have an apoplectic fit if it were a Muslim doing it. Or any other religion, especially if the adherents are generally a swarthy lot.
But Les, what’s the problem? If the person killing you is not inspired by God, then you are innocent and go to Heaven. If they are inspired by God, then you deserved death anyway.
By the way- check out the Conservative Bible Project over at Conservapedia (via PZ):
This is either headsmackingly stupid, even for conservatives, or a brilliant poe. I call poe. But does it make any difference?
I call Poe too.
Then again, i’ve never been sure if Conservapedia itself is real.
Probably Poe, but the fact that Poe works is itself an indictment of right-wing whackaloonery.
Oh, and that Klingenschmitt guy? Totally inciting violence. Couldn’t be more obvious.
Can someone explain to me why asking a hitman to kill another person is a crime, even if it turns out that the ‘hitman’ is an undercover agent or something, but it is perfectly legal to ask someone you believe is omnipotent to do the same?
Especially considering that the ‘omnipotent being’ has a lot of followers who consider themselves ‘tools’ of said being and are perfectly happy to carry out the ‘good work’?
Hmm…I believe “tools” is the operative word in this case.
If you want an interesting read regarding Evangelicals taking over the military, and some info on Weinstein, Harper’s had a cover story on it a few months back, called “Jesus Killed Mohammed”:
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488
It takes one twisted individual to pray someone be harmed. That seems to go against the whole idea of prayer. But then maybe I missed that memo.
The whole idea of prayer is weird. At best, it’s thanking your gawd for good things. If you help to do those good things, then fine, whatever. But if you substitute prayer for action (“please, gawd, feed all the starving children”), and do nothing to better your world, then it’s laziness. Praying for personal gain is when it starts getting repulsive, like a raise, a victory for your home team, etc.
Add malevolence to this and you’ve got a fucking dangerous sociopath. Imprecatory pricks like Klingenschmitt are the worst of all.
But Gweed, you do realize, don’t you, that “God helps those who help themselves” is not to be found anywhere in the Bible?