Bleeding Heartland
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  • Opening prayer at McCain rally

    I found ths AP article on the rally over at Yahoo News.  It looks like McCain behaved himself today, but the crowd was still ugly.  The article included a disturbing quote from the opening prayer, which was given by Rev. Arnold Conrad, past pastor of the Grace Evangelical Free Church.

    AP quote –

    “I would also pray, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god – whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah – that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons,” Conrad said.

    “And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and Election Day,” he said.

    – end quote

    As a lifelong Christian, I think this is really bizarre.  First of all, it it polytheistic – Chrisitians, Jews and Muslims all agree that there is only one God.  What’s more, it implies that Obama, a Christian, is the candidate of the other gods.  

    I don’t know who he is, but this fellow, Rev. Conrad, must be pretty prominent in Davenport.  I might have expected to hear this kind of talk in the deep south, but I did not expect it in Iowa.

    corncam  Sat 11 Oct 4:15 PM

    • Rev. What's His Name

      I live in Davenport and have never heard of this guy. Admittedly, I’m not involved in religions here, but I do read the religion section of the local newspaper.

      dbrog  Sat 11 Oct 9:56 PM

  • John Deeth has a report at Iowa Independent

    John Deeth has a report on McCain’s rally over at Iowa Independent.

    corncam  Sat 11 Oct 4:27 PM

  • Theology, schmeology

    Now let me get this straight, God’s reputation is going to suffer if John McCain loses this election? Really? God, the creator of everything, will lose face if a 72 year old guy from Arizona isn’t the next President?

    Huh. That almost approaches hubris, if you ask me.

    dilford  Sun 12 Oct 11:18 PM

    • I think this is what we call

      a non-falsifiable assertion.

      I remember reading a hilarious comment from some evangelical after the 2004 election. She said she was so relieved that God sent us a good leader in George Bush, because she’d been worried that God would punish us by giving us John Kerry.

      In other words, there was no way she could comprehend that God might decide Kerry would be a better president than Bush.

      desmoinesdem  Mon 13 Oct 12:14 AM

    • another way of looking at it

      is to say that this is an incredibly Old Testament view of God. He shows his power by rewarding his followers and shows his weakness if his followers lose in battle.

      As a Jew, I assure you that you’d be hard-pressed to find any rabbi who still shares this interpretation of God’s power on earth. It’s odd to me to see a Christian clergyman clinging more to Old Testament views of God than Jews do.

      desmoinesdem  Mon 13 Oct 12:16 AM

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