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IPFS News Link • Politics: Republican Campaigns

Five Scriptures You Won't Hear About at Rick Perry's Prayer Fest

• counterpunch.org
 
God doesn't withhold rain because we've done something wrong "God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matt. 5:45) Perry recently called Texans to pray for rain, which implies that God steers clouds toward the worthy. According to Right Wing Watch, one of the events co-sponsors has said the earthquake in Japan happened because the emperor had sex with the Sun Goddess. It may be a part of our lower nature to blame disasters on people we don't like or understand, but Jesus taught that God sends rain on the just and unjust. Furthermore, he said our love should be equally nonselective. I have chosen Christianity as my life's religion, but when nonjudgmental love is taken out of its center, it becomes poisonous and predatory. The word "God" can be a helpful symbol for all the transcendentals of life, but the symbol becomes instantly pathological when used as a scientific explanation or political justification. God doesn't have favorites Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism." (Acts 10:34) When the Bible says that God is not a "respecter of persons" it means that God doesn't have a favorite country or religion. The idea that God wants Christians to be in charge of other people violates Jesus' teaching that we are to take the lowest place. We are to change the world by humble persuasion and good example, not by messianic coercion. The assumption that Christianity and America are God's two favorite things will be particularly ironic, as the prayer event falls on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Worship by those who neglect the poor is offensive to God "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me… Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (Amos 5:21-24) The prophet Amos chastised the religion of his day for praying to God while mistreating people.

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