Get God on Jim Bryson’s Side!
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Alex Knapp | Tuesday, August 15, 2006 |
Via Andrew Sullivan, I have learned that members of the Tennesee Republican Party have organized a prayer force to ask God to enable Jim Bryson to win the Tennessee gubernatorial election.
A Christian prayer group is hoping to provide Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Bryson with some divine assistance during his campaign.The “Bryson Prayer Force” is inviting Christians to join its current 80 members in praying regularly for Bryson, his family and campaign staff.
An e-mail sent out by the group included some suggested prayers. Weekly prayers are to be sent to those who have signed up to be part of the group.
“Pray for an open heaven over Jim and his team in each Tennessee county they visit, that the gates of each county would open to him and his team, and that the Lord’s divine favor will be granted to him everywhere he goes,” reads one example.
Blair Morgan, an attorney and vice treasurer of the Davidson County Republican party, is serving as state coordinator of Bryson Prayer Force.
Now Andrew has gone a bit overboard in condemning this activity (later in the post, he compares this activity to that of Hezbollah), but I’ll direct you to Protein Wisdom for comment on that.
Personally, I find the idea of praying for a particular candidate to win to be an odd sort of prayer. Depending on how the prayer was worded, you’re basically asking God to meddle in otherwise free elections–in other words, to invade the free will of your fellow human beings. Doesn’t seem to be a particularly good Christian thing to do.
On the bright side, if praying for medical recovery is at all comparable to praying that your candidate wins the election, then it seems that this prayer force is going to be ineffective. The most recent studies have shown that prayer for another person’s recovery not only doesn’t help in recovery, it may actually make conditions worse. If the same principle holds to politics, Bryson may have to do some fundraising if he wants to have a chance to win. However, given that Bryson is facing a four million dollar gap on the fundraising side, he may end up having to go with the old reliable–selling his soul to the devil.
Sorry about that, Prayer Force. Better luck next time!
About the Author: Alex has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law. He has been published in the Kansas City Star, TCS Daily, and Comic Book Resources. He joined the staff of OTB in June 2006. Additionally, he’s been writing at Heretical Ideas since October, 2001, and also reviews cigars at Cigar Jack's Cigar News and Reviews.
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What was that MadTV skit where the family goes around the dinner table, praying for God to smite Bob (family member also at table)?
That would seem to be the logical next step.
They're also forgetting the "if it be your will, God" tagline to the prayer.
hln
Huh??
Well then, any kind of prayer that would have a result of affecting one's life or a group of people would be considered as an un-Christian thing to do, according to your view.
Most Christians also understand that any prayer request is conditioned by it first being God's will.
Craig,
I think this fits in with the whole "the Lord helps those who help themselves" bit. If they want him elected, they're going to have to vote for him. And Anderson is going to have to smite his own cousin Bob :-)
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