Religion Leaders Teaching Followers to Pray Curses

Usually people pray for blessings to pour out upon humankind and planet. They pray for healing and help. Nevertheless, some believers have changed the requests for help. They are pleading with God to remove an evil leader from the Earth. Some may wonder who this evil leader is. These believers are calling upon God to remove the leadership of the President of the United States, Barrack Obama.  
Pastor Wiley Drake, (2009) is famous for preaching statements such as, “Ladies and gentlemen, if they’re a Muslim, they’re a danger to this country.” Obviously, Drake does not worry about being politically correct or hurting anyone’s feelings. This June Pastor Drake gave a live radio interview to DJ Colmes in California. During the interview, Colmes questioned Pastor Drake three times about praying for the president. First, he inquired, “Are you praying for his death?” Wiley replied with a simple, “Yes.” Then Colmes questioned him further with, “So you’re praying for the death of the president of the Unite States?” Again, Pastor Drake replied with a simple, “Yes.” Colmes then presented him with, “You would like for the president of the United States to die?” Drake’s last answer was, “If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that's correct."
The New Internal Version of the scripture reads, “May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.” Psalm 109: 8, 9 (BibleGateway, 2009). Pastor Wiley Drake contends imprecatory prayer may sound malicious, but it is not as immoral as it sounds. He told reporter Lilly Fowler, "I’m not for a Christian or anybody killing somebody. That’s God’s business." In other words, he is saying people follow Scriptures example. If incredible acts happen after that, it is God’s will. In addition, Pastor Drake points out that Martin Luther and John Calvin prayed imprecatory prayer this way.
It follows that, the next question people want answered is does this type of praying have true foundations in theology studies. According to Stephen Chapman from Duke University’s Center for Jewish Studies, imprecatory prayer took place upon Jewish and Christian traditions from the Ancient Near East. However, this tradition only happens to remind those faithful to covenants they held/hold with God, and if they did not quickly recall the covenants and get back to following God’s commands, their covenants would be broken and what the consequences of breaking that covenant meant to them.

The population may think this is limited to a few religious freaks. Nonetheless, signs show us this type of imprecatory prayer is gaining popularity. Brad Hirschfield, Beliefnet’s Rabbi, notes a top search now presented for research is none other than Psalm 109. Businesses have also taken note of this trend. A line of bumper stickers along with T-shirts have the logo “Pray for Obama” while simultaneously pointing to the passage in Psalm 109 that pleads for a quick end to current evil and wicked leadership.

Many may view imprecatory prayer as grossly immoral and incorrect. At the same time, there are many people who view abortion, partial-birth abortion, and same-sex marriages as grossly immoral and incorrect. Their beliefs come from any translation of the Bible. Many other people who view religion as foolish may believe imprecatory prayer does not deserve protection under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The latest news is that Pastor Drake recanted the wish for imprecatory prayer against President Obama. Although his reasons are not that he wants blessings and good wishes, he would ask followers to appeal to God with imprecatory prayer until there is a new leader. His rationale is that President Obama is guilty of treason against America and wants him to live long enough to stand trial for the crime of treason. Pastor Wiley Drake contends Obama is not a United States citizen. This makes his presidency entitlement illegitimate (Fowler, 2009).

All humanity should have the right to voice their beliefs, as long as they do not cause physical harm to another person, property, or themselves. To some imprecatory prayer is synonymous with a hate speech and at the same time abortion is synonymous with murder to others. Are the black and white lines indistinguishable or are they as clear as the line between good versus evil?

References

BibleGateway. (2009). Passage results: Psalm 109 (new international version). Retrieved November 23, 2009, from. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+109&version=NIV

Fowler, L. (2009). Praying for Obama’s death. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from. http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2009/11/23/praying_for_obama_death/index.html

Hillnery, L. (2009). Can the constitution survive terrorism. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from. http://www.regent.edu/general/library/about_the_library/news_publications/images/ConstitutionDayPic.PNG

Offbeat. (2009). Watching TV online. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from. http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/images/set3/bible-1.jpg