When religion and politics go horribly awry

August 15, 2007

As many readers know, I worked at Americans United for Separation of Church and State for several years, and dealt with a lot of controversies dealing with houses of worship intervening in political campaigns, which is prohibited under federal tax law. Yesterday, my former colleagues found a good example — but got an unexpected response.

In a complaint to the IRS, Americans United’s Lynn said Dr. Wiley S. Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, issued a press release Aug. 11 endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

Drake’s press release was issued on church letterhead. He also endorsed Huckabee on a church-affiliated radio show and featured a Huckabee campaign official.

By any reasonable measure, Rev. Drake crossed the legal line. If he wanted to endorse Huckabee in his personal capacity, that’s his business, but he used his tax-exempt, non-profit religious ministry to intervene in the Republican presidential primary. Clearly, that’s a no-no.

Indeed, Drake bragged about his endorsement and urged other Southern Baptists to back Huckabee, too. On his radio show, Drake said, “I believe Mike Huckabee is, indeed, a man that I can endorse. As Second Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention, I put out a press release to that effect.”

So, Americans United filed a complaint with the IRS. The funny part came when Drake heard the news.

Following Drake’s press release about Huckabee, Drake issued another press release, calling on his allies to make “imprecatory” prayers against my former colleagues. From Drake’s statement:

In light of the recent attack from the enemies of God I ask the children of God to go into action with Imprecatory Prayer. Especially against Americans United for Separation of Church and State. I made an attempt to go to them via Matt 18:15 but they refused to talk to me. Specifically target Joe Conn or Jeremy Learing. They are those who lead the attack.

Imprecatory prayer, is now our duty

Now that all efforts have been exhausted, we must begin our Imprecatory Prayer, at the key points of the parliamentary role in the earth where we live.

For those unfamiliar with the theological concept, Drake is effectively urging people to ask God to do bad things to Americans United employees. (Most Christian denominations don’t accept the idea of imprecatory prayers, but a handful are really into it.)

Here’s the rub: Drake asked his followers to “target Joe Conn or Jeremy Learing.” Except, Jeremy’s last name is “Leaming.”

So, here’s the theological question of the day: if a bunch of people pray for God to punish some guy named “Jeremy Learing,” who had nothing to do with this incident, does it still count? What, if anything, happens to Jeremy Leaming?

And what, pray tell, is Drake thinking violating federal tax law and asking God to strike at those who dared to point it out?

Time to levy a notable fine to teach an object lesson about the federal tax code.

  • Could be he realizes that God can’t save his ass from the wrath of the earthy IRS and this is his only way to strike back at the heathens.

    The prayer could be construed as a “terrorist” threat. Apparently, Drake only uses his bible for thumping.

  • This is a real brain-teaser. I still haven’t figured out how God decides which football team wins after they both pray for victory.

    Or how God has time to wreak vengeance on some secular group that opposes a Buena Park evangelist when he can’t do anything about Darfur.

  • Time to dismantle the entire “faith-based” apparatus, which has clearly been an engine for disseminating federal dollars in return for GOP political support.

  • These people are all ( nut’s ) If I believed in God would I as a christian pray for him to hurt people? Are they insane? Will the IRS care at all? not likely

  • If the IRS follows the law, this guy and his church are toast. But will the White House hear the imprecatory prayers of Wiley and his fellow Southern Baptists? Will it intercede on their behalf with the IRS? Stay tuned.

    There’s no Baptist like a Southern Baptist. The woods around here are full of them.

    And I firmly resolve to stop saying nice things about Mike Huckabee.

  • And what, pray tell, is Drake thinking violating federal tax law and asking God to strike at those who dared to point it out?

    Ooh! I know the answer to this one: “It’s okay if you’re a Republican!”

    Great post CB. I hope someone has still more fun with this. Maybe someone named Jeremy Learing will suffer a minor injury or mishap and request a restraining order against these Southern Boobtists (to steal a term from a friend) and their violent god.

    On a more serious note, if one of Drake’s flock decides to carry out their god’s will by committing a crime v. AUSCS or its employees, Drake could well be in still more trouble.

  • Whenever religion and politics get in bed together, bad things happen. Think of Henry VIII, the Spanish Inquisition, Iran after 1979…..the separation of church and state are necessary. I am sick of the mindless running our country into the ground exploiting the names of religious figures.
    I think any church that gets involved in politics is FOR PROFIT and should pay taxes like the rest of us. The christian right neo-cons have made christians hated around the world, as hated as Americans, thanks to Bush’s foreign policies.

  • Given that the world is full of wackos who ‘hear’ the voice of god in their heads, it is far from implausible that one of the annointed ones might decide to do god’s work. Imprecatory prayer constitutes a threat and should be illegal.

  • Just like the imprecatory prayers against abortion clinics and gays this will lead to violence against AUSCS members. bet on it….

  • This is really a call to arms, he wants people to attack those 2 gentlemen (even though he wants God to do the attack.) Isn’t using the radio to ask his audience to attack someone illegal? Pretty sure its a big no-no.

  • I too have been a supporter of AU myself for some time. Barry Lynn is a wonderful person, spokesman, and executive director. A similar situation arose when Howard Stern on his radio show used to ‘pray’ for cancer to strike some of his enemies (in a totally farcical manner to be sure). Some people upon hearing this went apoplectic. I was amused by the notion of God as a harried executive rubber stamping all these prayer requests and erroneously allowing one of Howard’s cancer requests to go through. If that should have actually gone through, who would be ultimately liable; the requestor, or the one who did not sufficiently review the request?

  • This is one of the most hysterical things I think I’ve read in a while. The mental pictures of crazed Baptists speaking in tongues, cursing the wrong people just makes me giggle.

    After my giggle fit subsided, the first thing that popped into my head was what about that whole Love thy Neighbor stuff. This was the first hit in Google:

    Apparently Jesus said:

    Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’

    and:

    Let’s look at who Jesus says our neighbor is: You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:43) “

    Given the above, it would seem that Imprecatory prayer violates the Law of the two commandments. Don’tcha think?

    Of course I realize they probably aren’t rational people to begin with.

  • What if the response of God to the imprecatory prayer tells followers to do things to things to these people? And since when does believing in the separation of church and state make one an enemy of God? Wouldn’t that make most Americans enemies of God, including our founding fathers? Couldn’t this be considered a psychological terrorist attack thereby labeling this group terrorists? What is it that the Patriot Act asks us to do when we see terrorists attacking? Isn’t there a law being broken when someone calls for an attack on American citizens who turn in lawbreakers? What do they do to the IRS who actually enforces the law? These people are beyond just paying a fine, they need to have their non tax status removed and back taxes assessed.
    Huckabee…your friends are seditious and insane and you’re one of them. How’s that workin’ for ya’?

  • a fatwa by any other name…

    Let’s just hope they figure out that they and the Taliban are two sides of the same coin and decide to wipe the rest of us out. Then they would have to turn on each other and may the best God win.

  • I had typed a relatively long post regarding my eye rolling and these poor folks’ lack of logic and consistency in applying the Bible to their lives. But as I reached for another piece of celery and hummos (my afternoon snack) the post disappeared! Alas, it must have been god punishing me for wanting a separation of church and state and for criticizing his followers.

  • Steve, I bet if precatory prayer worked, spelling wouldn’t matter.

    Schnooky, could it be that God’s might want to show everybody that He won’t answer these people’s imprecatory prayer?

  • How’s Huckster feel about the imprecatory “prayers” being offered on his behalf? Hell of a Christian for ya. He probably characterizes those dirty church-n-staters as heathen Islamofascist sympathizers who should be bombed back to the good ol’ Stone Age or else detained and tortured indefinitely.

    Thanks Dave @ #15 for encapsulating the Anti-Christers hypocrisy so well.

  • Maybe God supports the separation of church and state? “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s; render unto God what is God’s” ~Jesus of Nazareth

  • If God’s bureaucratic apparatus is anything like what we have down here then Jeremy Learing is in deep shit.

  • These people are corny, like people who try to criticize you by bringing up every little corny thing you did years ago over and ever again– they’re like, Rick-Moranis-in-Ghostbusters-fun-to-laugh-at.

  • I am more than amused everytime some SB around here tries to regale me into repentence by pointing out the power of devout prayer by the faithful. Inevitably, they know someone (even someone in their family) who had an “incurable” cancer and was at death’s door. Yet because they believed and prayed, a “miracle” occured and the cancer just disappeared. Even the doctor couldn’t understand it. If I question it further, they tell me there are thousands of such cases, look it up.

    Then I always ask them, “Well, do you know of anyone who had a severed limb who prayed earnestly to God (I know I’d try it if it happened even though I’m an atheist!) and the limb was miraculously reattached, or does God just do certain medical procedures?” Hey, it’s not like he doesn’t have a track record on limb reattachment (see soldier in Garden of Gethsemene).

  • It’s kind of the ultimate, “I’m gonna go get my big brother to beat you up,” with God as the ultimate big brother. They really are just children, aren’t they.

  • Since we are tearing at the wall between church and state I think it appropriate to remove the tax exempt status of all religious organizations. With the extra tax revenue we could fund mandatory abortion for all white women!

    What a total tool.

  • See, now if the Left had its own version of the Mighty Wurlitzer, there would be calls across the blogosphere and shortly on the cable news shows for Huckabee to explain why he supports calling the wrath of God down to punish those who want tax cheats punished.

    Shouldn’t tax cheats be punished? Shouldn’t we be asking God to bring in more tax money so that we can spend it on supporting our troops in Iraq? Why do Huckabee followers hate our troops, and cheat on their taxes?

    Does Huckabee endorse the use of imprecatory prayer? What are the guidelines for its use? Would he use it against Pakistan? If he doesn’t endorse its use, will he denounce those of his followers who do, particularly in support of tax avoiders?

    Next stop: :”Division grew like wildfire among Republican front-runners over the issue of imprecatory prayer and tax avoiders. We’ll have the details at 11.”

  • All I’m saying is, if Jesus wanted to say that His followers should resist to the utmost any requirements of state that incidentally infringed on the practice of religion, He certainly had the opportunity and ability to do so. Instead, He affirmatively commanded, simply, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s; render unto God what is God’s.” This seems to imply that, quite the contrary from commanding state influence or control over religion, Jesus commanded separation of church and state. Now, surely, the Lord is a good Lord, and would not mislead his flock. In that case, Americans United for Separation of Church and State would basically be on a mission from God, like Kenny McCormick in the BFF episode of South Park, and Rev. Wiley S. Drake of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park would be a blasphemer.

    Wishing harm on people who disagree with you over whether a tax should apply to your church through precatory prayer doesn’t sound like a practice of any Christianity I’ve ever heard of- instead it sounds like voodoo mumbo-jumbo. Even in the Old Testament, if the Jews prayed to God to smite their enemies, I think they were praying about a dire enemy who was in competition with them for scarce, vital resources, not Schlomo down at the tax collector’s who wanted to tax the local rabbi.

  • …I ask the children of God to go into action with Imprecatory Prayer.

    In Paganism, this is called Black Magick and is as close to “dealing with the Devil” as one could possibly come.

    Furthermore, Mathew 18:15 says nothing about revenge or assembling a mob to exact that revenge:

    “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” –Mathew 18:15

  • If Drake next asks his followers for imprecatory prayers against the IRS, the prayers work and God descends from the clouds and strikes IRS down – does that mean I don’t have to pay taxes any more???

    Or

    Will God descent from the clouds and see what a God Awful mess the Murder in Chirf, the Bushies and the self proclamed “Christians” of this country have done to the screw the Ten Commandments and strike them down instead?

  • bjobotts: What if the response of God to the imprecatory prayer tells followers to do things to things to these people?

    Indeed. What if the crazies remember one of the most famous (and non-existent) Bible verses of all: “The Lord helps those who help themselves”?

  • In response to one of the questions posed by Aeolus, the former head football coach at Arkansas, Frank Broyles, once said that he had learned through his many years of coaching that God usually roots for the football team with the two best defensive tackles.

    Glad I could clear that up for you.

  • If this kind of “prayer” that Drake mentions in his press release is consistent with the teachings and beliefs of Christianity, then that is another reason why I am not a Christian.

  • Further proof that contermporary southerners are the product of too many generations of hillbilly incest. They really are lower on the evoluytionary scale than lemurs.

  • “If this kind of “prayer” that Drake mentions in his press release is consistent with the teachings and beliefs of Christianity, then that is another reason why I am not a Christian.”

    I can’t speak for all churches, but I’ve never heard the term until now.


  • KTinOhio: “If this kind of “prayer” that Drake mentions in his press release is consistent with the teachings and beliefs of Christianity, then that is another reason why I am not a Christian.”

    I can’t speak for all churches, but I’ve never heard the term until now.

    I thought that was odd too. So much so that I mentioned it to my Charismatic Dad. Although we were as fundamentalist a family as your ever likely to meet, never was I taught the concept of “Imprecatory Prayer” (thankfully). My question to my Dad was whether this was one thing in the Bible we ought to ignore, which runs counter to what he always tried to convince me of: that the Bible is perfect.

    It might be consistent with the teachings of “Christianity”, but it is not consistent with the teachings of Christ.

  • 1″If your brother sins against you,go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

    I wonder who the witness’s this person got were.

  • God has just given a press release in which God states that Reverend Wiley Drake is a Satanic piece of crap.

  • People – do not scoff!

    Look what my bible group’s Imprecatory Prayers did to Fallwell…

  • As a Gnostic Christian, its just more proof of the orthodox christians especially Southern Baptists are devil….I mean demiurge worshippers. The Book of Job clearly shows Satan to be one of the Demiurges children.

    Since the Demiurge is kind of dumb, and will answer black magic prayers rather than altruistic ones, I can only hope no one out there has the name Jeremy Learing.

  • When religion has a purpose to turn away from “God” and to attack people, all at the bidding of a man playing God (such as this idiot.) it becomes a fanatic cult and I hope this guy and his church lose their tax exempt status…. and “God” has the last word here.

  • As a member of a religion that is often misunderstood and badmouthed by the wrong right, I find it mildly amusing that anyone who has the gall to be identified with the christian religion would ask for his followers to “curse” anyone, let alone an entire group! As a witch, I have taken an oath to “harm none”. Perhaps these people should take a lesson from us.

  • As a christian and a believer in GOD, I am personaly outraged by this “minister”, if you can really call him that. The GOD my wife and I worship and pray to does not go around hurting people just because we ask. Think about it, If every time I got mad and the good Lord to hurt someone, NO one would be around. We all get upset and agry, but it passes. In this case the guy got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, fess up and be a man. Or maybe he never grew-up. If Mr. Drakes has a ploblem with someone, he should talk it out with that person. I would also sugest that he reread his gospel lesson on loving your enemies, it might help. the Holy Bible, the Gospel of Mattew chapter 5, verses 38-48 ( pay attention to verses 43-45) & the Gospel of Luke chapter 6, verses 27-36 ( pay attention to verses 27-28, 35-36). Mr. Drake gives a bad name to good christians. I thank you for letting me speak my mind.

  • The evil one hates Frankensence insence. Tell Barry Lynn and all those good secular TRUE christians, that Saklas and his evil servants will not prevail. Burn the incense and call on the Pistis Sophia to protect you, and you should be hunky dory.

  • The devil helps his children Just like God helps his. What are Christian soldiers? Murderers?

    Please GOD kill all the Muslims on earth, they are of their father the devil. Then latino illegal alien intruders. Then kill communist pig chinese and then fidel castro, then the UN employees, then the Ted Kennedy, kill all these subhuman cancers and tumors on earth. KILL ‘EM ALL

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