Mark Galli reflects on the long tradition of "imprecatory prayer" (praying down curses) in light of the recent incident involving the Rev. Wiley S. Drake, a pastor and former leader in the Southern Baptist Convention, asking his followers to pray for the death of two leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Like it or not, the Bible is laced through with imprecatory prayers, in both the Old and New Testaments, from David's "Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!" to Jesus' "Get behind me, Satan!" to Paul's "If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed!"
The difference between such biblical curses and the pronouncements of Rev. Drake is one of motive. David, Jesus, and Paul were not being unloving toward their detractors. At heart, they desired their redemption, realizing that the road to redemption is often painful and requires a generous portion of divine retribution. Rev. Drake, on the other hand, seems only to desire harm to befall his critics.
What Galli doesn't address, and this may have been beyond the scope of his article, is the utter triviality of the issue which sparked this controversy. Drake had endorsed Mike Huckabee for president in a letter on official church stationery and during a church-affiliated radio show on the internet, claiming divine sanction for his political choice. The most appropriate reaction to such an expression of theological shallowness and vacuity would be one of dismissive amusement. The fact that a left-wing pressure group got all bent out of shape over it is utterly ridiculous. So, too, is Drake's calling for the deaths of that group's leaders. The whole episode is an exercise in reductio ad absurdum, illustrating just how banal the whole church/state game can be when one's religious convictions are measured more by one's political ties than by one's commitment to following Jesus Christ.
I recall a conversation I had once with a minister of a more liberal persuasion a few years ago. He opened up a little about how convicted he had become about not forgiving his enemies. As an example, he mentioned Tom DeLay, at that time the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. This man had never met DeLay. He would never have heard of him were it not for his notoriety as a national political figure. Yet, he considered him his "enemy" and felt he needed to "forgive" him simply because he held different political views.
I could only feel sorry for such a poor soul. In order to extend "forgiveness," he had to make an "enemy" out of a man he had never met, and probably would never meet, who just happened to view the world a little differently.
As a proud AU member I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that this is a trivial matter. All non-profits have to abide by the same IRS rules. If the reverand wants to give up his tax exempt status then he can endorse a candidate. There has been way too much mixing of church and state in the last few years.
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