Yes

by Lesley Hebert

Created on: July 13, 2010

As a Canadian, I am continually astounded by political happenings south of the border.

When I saw the title of this debate, my first reaction was one of absolute disbelief.  Is a man of God spreading hatred by publicly praying for someone’s death?  It couldn’t possibly be true, could it?  Isn’t this just the ravings of a nutty member of the lunatic fringe?

Forgive my naiveté.  I did not know that religion was about hatred.  I thought that it was a power for good, that provides an ethical framework for living and brings us closer to the divine. I thought that Christianity, in particular, was about love and forgiveness.  I do believe I heard somewhere (could it possibly have been in Sunday school?) that Jesus told us to love one another.

On second thoughts, maybe I have heard similar death wishes expressed by so-called men of God.  I am thinking, of course, about the fatwas issued over the past several years against prize-winning novelist Salman Rushdie, evangelist Jerry Falwell, and various Danish cartoonists. 

But I digress.

Reverend Drake did not pray for just anyone’s death.  He prayed for the death of the democratically-elected president of his own United States, a country with a dubious Presidential safety record.  Four presidents, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy, have been assassinated.  It is suspected that two others, Zachary Taylor and Warren Hardy, were poisoned.  In addition, there have been failed assassination attempts against ten more presidents:  Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

(source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots )

Seen in this historical light, the reverend’s prayer begins to sound eerily sinister.  He might have ostensibly been praying to God, but his prayer was a public act which was deliberately intended to reach a human audience.  In other words, it was a political act performed under the guise of a religious one. 

When the powerful express their wishes, there are often others eager to carry out those wishes.  Salome asked King Herod for the head of John the Baptist on a platter and her wish was granted.  King Henry II of England angrily declared “who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” and Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral.   Now a powerful church leader in a country where church and state are constitutionally separated “prays” for the death of Barack Obama. 

Reverend Drake prayer is a dangerous mix of politics and religion which uses the pretence of religion to incite an evil act.

Should he be fired?  Absolutely.

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