Controversial Southern Baptist Pastor Wiley Drake has again urged his followers to pray for the deaths of staff members at
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 and
website appeal to followers to engage in “imprecatory prayers” (curses) against Americans United and three of its staff members.
Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, “We deplore Pastor Drake’s reckless and repugnant antics. Introducing this kind of religious extremism into American life is reprehensible.
“We have asked the IRS to investigate what we believe to be Drake’s violation of federal tax law,” Lynn continued. “If Drake thinks he is innocent, he has more than adequate legal representation, and there is ample opportunity to make his case.
“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”
Wrote Drake, “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…. Specifically target Joe Conn or Jeremy Learing [sic] and their leader Rev. Barry Lynn. They are those who lead the attack.”
Drake directed his followers to Psalms 109 (as well as Psalms 55, 58, 68, 69 and 83) for examples of imprecatory prayers.
Verses from those texts ask God to bring death and destruction to those targeted.
“Let his days be few; and let another take his office,” says one passage. “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg.”
Another passage says, “Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell.”
Drake waged
a similar campaign last year after Americans United filed its complaint against him with the IRS. Religious leaders from a wide variety of faiths repudiated the pastor’s tactic.
Drake is a prominent pastor in the
Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. He recently completed a term as second vice president of the group, its third highest post. He currently is running for president of the denomination, which became increasingly political after a fundamentalist takeover in the 1980s.
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Some one prayed for me once and I didn't feel a thing.
I wonder if the court system
in that area would accept a
charge of "threats against"
by the three Staff Members?
If they did I would really begin to worry.
According to these nutjobs an unsaved life is not as valuable as a GAWD fearing saved Christian, unless it's a fetus.
Don't get me wrong. I don't like abortion either. I just don't think bombing clinics and killing people is the solution!
What worries me about this kook is the fact that he is inciting others to "pray" for the death of another human being. What if some unstable wackjob reads this guy's pleas and decides to go on a murdering rampage? Remember when all that gay bashing started? It was the TV and radio preachers spewing hate from the pulpit that incited and encouraged young Christian men to go to gay bars and attack gay men.
This is the same type of situation in that someone is using his authority to incite hate and, perhaps, violence in others. At the very least he should be sued and all his assets taken.
That would cut down on some of these nosy christians bugging the shit out of those who want to be left alone.
The Indiana House of Bubbas is pursuing a constitutional amendment to make churches exempt from all taxes. They say this is to forestall efforts to make churches pay taxes on their huge property holdings, but I could also see it being used to shield politically-meddlesome churches from IRS action.
I was unaware of this proposed amendment. That's fucking ridiculous... how likely is it to pass, though? I want to learn more about this... it totally pisses me off. This state could use more money, and all that untaxed church land would help out quite a bit.
John of Indiana wrote: “The Indiana House of Bubbas is pursuing a constitutional amendment to make churches exempt from all taxes.”
Now, if that’s not a government endorsement of religion, i don’t know what is. Just how long would such an amendment last before SCOTUS zaps it for violation of the 1st and 14th federal amendments?
Funny thing is, when one local community tried to open a casino to be operated by the Native Americans, the local churches all went balistic. I'm waiting on their response to this bill. Jim Earl