There's an alarming report from John Deeth at The Iowa Independent about the invocation at Senator McCain's Davenport rally this morning. According to Mr. Deeth, the pastor delivering the invocation said the following:
"There are plenty of people around the world who are praying to their god, be they Hindu, Buddah, or Allah, that (McCain’s) opponent wins. I pray that you step forward and honor your own name." Ends with "in Jesus’ name."
Leaving aside the objectionable implicit theology of this -- that Christianity is the only way to God, and everyone else is doomed to hellfire -- the politics of this invocation are, if possible, worse. The suggestion that God should "honor [His] own [N]ame" by racking up votes for Senator McCain is troubling on a number of levels.
The one that I'll focus on is the corrosive effect that this kind of theopolitics will have on those people who actually believe that this is how God acts in human affairs.
Speaking hypothetically here to the pastor and people like him:
--If you think that God acts to honor His own Name by elevating your preferred political candidate, what will your response be if your preferred candidate loses?
--Will you lose faith in God, as you understand God?
--Will you revise your understanding of how God acts in the world?
--Or will you take the view that an Evil One is also active in the world, and acts through human agents?
--If you take the latter view -- which is probably the path of least resistance for you, given your apparent beliefs -- will you act on it?
--If so, how?
[End of hypothetical dialogue with pastor.]
There may be only one outcome to the pastor's theopolitics. That outcome is yet more warped religiosity in politics, still more theologically based hate, still more wacky fundamentalism, and still more black-helicopter-style wing-nuttery when Senator Obama is elected President of the United States.
The Republicans aren't just shooting themselves in the foot with this sort of theopolitics. They are espousing a dangerous worldview that could haunt the entire country for years to come.
The same people who object to so-called "religious bigotry" are fomenting religious warfare.