If McCain Loses, At Least We Know Who Is to Blame

On Saturday, October 11, John McCain held a rally in Davenport, Iowa. The rally opened with an invocation from Arnie Conrad, Executive Director of Interim Pastor Ministries.

Now I'm well aware that you can't hold anyone fully accountable for things said during an event they have sponsored, nor does the mud slinging guilt-by-association that's being flung around these days directly mean much.

To this end, I don't hold the McCain campaign responsible for Mr. Conrad's words. I do, however, hold Mr. Conrad fully accountable for them.

In his invocation (seen and heard in the last segment from Countdown in the video clip, above) Mr. Conrad says the following:

"I would also add, Lord, that Your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god, whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah, that his opponent wins for a variety of reasons.

And, Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation because they're going to think their god is bigger than You if that happens.

So I pray that You would step forward and honor Your own name in all that happens between now and election day."

I'll leave you to watch Keith Olbermann's reaction to the use of "Hindu" as a God and to some of the other points Olbermann takes issue with.

For me, the problem with Mr. Conrad's statements is they show a clear "God is on Our Side" mentality that is not only not spiritually based, but is fundamentally dangerous. For, if God is on any one side, He is clearly against the other side. Go way beyond the prayers for God's wisdom and protection being said at Obama rallies on a daily basis; forget about the idea of Competing and Canceling-Out Prayers. Mr. Conrad is saying that his belief in a political ideology is not only superior to the other party's ideology, but is directly aligned with The Will of God.

Think about that: Republican ideology is God's Will. Therefore, Democratic ideology (and Libertarian, Socialist, Communist, etc., ideologies) are against God's Will. That would make them fundamentally evil.

American politics is so polarized that, in general, any national election is decided by the 20% of the electorate who are Undecided. (Forty percent will vote Republican, period; forty percent will vote Democratic, period) What we, as a nation, have lost (if, indeed we ever really had it) is the ability to have a reasoned discussion about differences. Is it really that difficult to sit down across a table from someone with opposing political views and discuss them, not to try to convince the other person of the fallacy of their beliefs, but simply to understand why they hold those beliefs?

Apparently, it is. Just the other day I was in line at a local mega-DIY store and I happened to turn around and saw the older couple standing behind me. They both had such venomous looks in their eyes as they locked eyes with me. At first I thought it was the typical "long-haired hippy" response I've gotten for much of my life -- but then I remembered that I'd recently cut most of the pony tail off. It wasn't until I was walking back to my car that I realized they had been reacting to my satchel strap of Obama buttons that had been pointed their way.

I believe in God. I believe that God created all of us and that He loves all of us. That love extends to the people who earnestly try to to His will every moment of every day and to those who have the darkest of hearts.

When Moses came down with the Ten Commandments the people argued the minutia of their meanings. When Christ came down He said, essentially, "Okay, I get it. Ten was too many. Let me distill the essence of all of those and everything else, into two simple statements: Love God. Love each other. Think you can do that?"

Loving everyone is tough. Loving your enemy is even tougher. (Just try it sometime) However, it is the rock upon which the New Testament, and therefore Christianity, is built upon.

When people wonder why Christianity has such a bad name across the world I believe it's because of people like Mr. Conrad who fail to grasp that Loving Each Other means loving all of the people all around the world, be they people who worship "Hindu, Buddha, Allah" and/or people who support Barack Obama.

When anyone corrupts Christianity by poisoning it's simple message of love and compassion with power, they stop doing God's will and diminish us all.

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