A blog from Religion News Service (RNS), the only secular newswire focused exclusively on religion and ethics. RNS is a unit of Newhouse News Service and Advance Publications.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Heavenly Hit Men?

Church-state watchdog Barry Lynn is accusing conservative California pastor Wiley Drake of urging his followers "to pray for the deaths of staff members at (Lynn's) Americans United for Separation of Church and State."

Last August, Americans United filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service about Drake’s use of church letterhead and a church-based radio program to endorse presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Federal tax law forbids tax-exempt groups from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.

In a Feb. 5 letter, the IRS notified Drake that his First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park is being investigated.

In response, Drake issued a Feb. 14 e-mail appeal to followers to engage in “imprecatory prayers” (curses) against Americans United and three of its staff members.

“Trying to turn God into some sort of heavenly hit man is repugnant,” Lynn concluded. “There is more than a whiff of the Taliban in this action”

4 Comments:

Blogger Asinus Gravis said...

How long will it take for the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention to publicly repudiate this "loose canon"?

He has demonstrably rejected the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth. He has turned his back on the Sermon on the Mount.

In his enormous arrogance, vengance, defiance, and stupidity he is a living dishonor to Christianity.

And all of this in support of a politician whose policy positions themselves repudiate the teachings of the Prophets and of Jesus.

2/15/2008 07:07:00 PM

 
Blogger That Baptist Ain't Right said...

Maybe I'm waaaay off on this, but Drake needs to be seriously examined for some sort of emotional or medical need. This makes twice he has done this: it isn't like he knew he couldn't endorse candidates in the official capacity of the church leader. He knew that but did it anyway. And when he got caught, he calls for the Death Prayer on AU members? It's time the SBC realizes that Drake is a serious liability.

2/17/2008 12:32:00 AM

 
Blogger John Lofton, Recovering Republican said...

Not sure what Lynn means by "trying to turn God into some sort of heavenly hit man" when, I believe, God has already made some very impressive "hits" such as flooding the entire world and killing almost all human beings. Scripture is littered with the corpses of individuals and nations "hit" by God.
This is something that ought not to be forgotten.

John Lofton, Editor, TheAmericanView.com
JLof@aol.com

2/26/2008 11:10:00 AM

 
Blogger Albatross said...

John Lofton,
You are (deliberately?) failing to address the point - Wiley Drake is violating the tax code by endorsing a candidate using church letterhead. He is then calling for God to strike those that he deems the enemy. Perhaps he should just sit on the the right side of the law, stop playing God, and start living it, as he supposedly claims to do. Won't God appreciate that much more?

2/27/2008 12:52:00 AM

 

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