By now you probably heard about this weekends invocation at a McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa by one Pastor Arnold Conrad, the ungodly so-called man of God who sees religion as a cage match between higher beings and prayer as a locker room pep talk. In case you missed it you can listen to it here:
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. Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and election day.
Very disturbing to realize that hundreds, if not thousands have received spiritual guidance from this pathetic excuse for a Christian. Equally disturbing is the McCain campaign's official response to the invocation. Wendy Riemann, Midwest Regional Communications Director said the following:
"While we understand the important role that faith plays in informing the votes of Iowans, questions about the religious background of the candidates only serve to distract from the real questions in this race about Barack Obama's judgment, policies and readiness to lead as commander in chief."
WTF???
First of all the official statement doesn't address the wholly inappropriate and divisive nature of the invocation. How could they not disavow such a warped an disgusting sentiment? Shouldn't they have disassociated themselves from the "my god is better than your god" quality of prayer if for no other reason than the fact that some McCain supporters practice religions other than Christianity and therefore may be, you know, insulted? Are they afraid if they said something against the Pastor it would upset the base, and if so is this what their base has become - those who have no respect for people of other faiths and see them as the enemy?
An even more insidious aspect of the campaign's statement though is that by turning the focus away from Conrad and instead talking about how questions about the religious backgrounds of the candidates is a distraction - they seem to be insinuating that there's something to be distracted by when it comes to Obama's religious background.
Just another subtle way of allowing the Muslim rumors, and associated fears and bigotry to persist.
The McCain campaign passed reprehensible weeks ago. I'm running out of adjectives to describe the depth of their scumminess.