Some conservative Christians are so enamored of Palin, they not only now want McCain to win, they want him to win and then quickly die.

Antiabortion militant and all-round theocratic activist Jay Rogers of Florida, whose blog is called The Forerunner, writes:

Pray for John McCain’s salvation and speedy death. (Google The Forerunner’s articles on Imprecatory Prayer if you think this is harsh.)

And then there is this guy, a self-described Christian Reconstructionist whose blog handle is Ixion, and is apparently from Tennessee:

McCain’s VP choice, Sarah Palin, suddenly made me want to vote for him, as long as the LORD smites him while he’s in office. She’s consistently conservative on all the issues, and if she’s good enough for The Forerunner, she’s good enough for me. The Forerunner agrees with me that McCain must be smitten, as well, so I’m obviously not alone in my viewpoints.

 

And more similar, awful sentiments follow that.

Now, these folks are obviously (I hope obviously) on the lunatic fringe of Christianity (your opinion of the size of that fringe may vary). As someone who wears a Christian hat on his head, I find this reprehensible, irreconcilable with Christ's teaching, and disgusting. I'll even call it evil.

That said, and the "Power of Imprecatory Prayer" aside (is God going to listen to your Imprecatory Prayer more than he listens to the folks praying for or against any other candidate or candidate's health this season? If so, why?), this calls up once again the specter of how important the VP selection is this year. That's true for both candidates -- between McCain's age/health and the number of racist lunatics with guns who might come after Obama, the odds of either man fulfilling a four year term are lower than at any recent time I can think of.

So it's not beyond the pale to consider what such a succession would mean, or even decide that if, God forbid, something were to happen, the successor is someone whom you'd like to see in the Oval Office even more than the guy on the presidential side of the ticket. I suspect most conservative Christians who are swooning over Palin have given that at least a little thought; it's a bit morbid, but it's human nature.

I'm not a huge Joe Biden fan, but I think he would do a decent job as President (at least given the last 8 years as a comparision). That said, even if I really thought Obama were a clod, I would never dream of hoping (let alone praying) he would die so that Biden could step in. That's just plain wrong in my book.

I will say that if McCain/Palin wins, I'll be praying for McCain's good health for a looooong time. Though my hopes are I won't have to (I won't say my prayers because I think praying for a political outcome is not much better than praying for a sporting event -- it doesn't fit either of the Great Commandments in my book).

(via Les)

Filed under :: Elections 2008 :: Religion :: Religion - Me