New Right-Wing Craze: Using Bible Quote to Pray That Obama’s 'Days Be Few'
Johnny Asia
http://www.alternet.org/story/144098/
New Right-Wing Craze: Using Bible Quote to Pray That Obama�s 'Days Be
Few'
By Amanda Terkel, Think Progress. Posted November 20, 2009.
A new slogan is making its way onto t-shirts and even teddy bears:
'Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8,' which reads, 'Let his days be few; and
let another take his office.�
The newest far-right craze is an anti-Obama slogan that is making its
way onto t-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, and even teddy bears: �Pray
for Obama: Psalm 109:8,� which reads, �Let his days be few; and let
another take his office.� The meme is also taking off on Twitter, with
conservatives calling it �hilarious.� Commentators have noted that
it�s unclear whether the intent is to hope for an end to Obama�s time
in office � or an end to his life. But a look at the lines in the rest
of the psalm hint at the latter:
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek
their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers
spoil his labor.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any
to favor his fatherless children.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let
their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let
not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the
memory of them from the earth.
Diana Butler Bass at Beliefnet explains that Psalm 109 is one of the
�imprecatory� prayers, �a lament in the form of petition to destroy
one�s enemies.� While perhaps intended to be a joke, she notes that
the psalm actually �entreats God to destroy the president�:
It is the personal prayer of an individual, someone who has been dealt
an injustice by another�and usually more powerful�person. The words of
Psalm 109 are those of deep agony, the longings of a victim for
retribution and justice. This psalm is considered one of the most
difficult of all the psalms�full of violent images of vengeance and
death.
Quite a few of the �Pray for Obama� items are being sold at
CafePress.com, although many of them have been taken off of the site
(here�s a cached version of some of them). Cafe Press representative
Margene H. told ThinkProgress that while the site took down some of
the �Pray for Obama� items today, it is now in the process of
reinstating them:
We initially pulled the Psalm 109:8 content from our products today
because broader media dialog indicated that these designs potentially
suggested violence towards the president. Based on current public
discourse and further review of the actual content, we have determined
that it is fair political commentary and we are in the process of
reinstating this merchandise. As with all of our content, these
designs will continue to be reviewed and if at any time their meaning
is construed as advocating violence we will revisit our decision.
On Tuesday, MSNBC�s Rachel Maddow spoke with �Patience With God�
author Frank Schaeffer, who said that while the psalm was
�frightening� in a secular context, it�s even �more threatening� in a
biblical context.
+
Pucker your lips for the Apocalypse!
Johnny Asia, Guitarist from the Future
Catherine Jefferson
> http://www.alternet.org/story/144098/
>
> New Right-Wing Craze: Using Bible Quote to Pray That Obama’s 'Days Be
> Few'
Yeah. :/ This is not going over well in religious circles, though,
including evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant circles. It's one
thing to want Obama to leave the presidency because of political
disagreements with him. It is an entirely different thing to pray for
the death of a sinner in his sins. Most evangelicals and
fundamentalists consider it evil to wish, let alone pray, that someone
will die and go to hell.
Not all Christians consider Obama a great sinner (I certainly don't),
but those that do and that actually believe their own faith are even
more horrified by this meme than I am.
--
Catherine Jefferson <ar...@devsite.org>
Personal Home Page * <http://www.devsite.org/>
The SpamBouncer * <http://www.spambouncer.org/>
Escape_the_Cult_Now
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>
>http://www.alternet.org/story/144098/
>
>New Right-Wing Craze: Using Bible Quote to Pray That Obama�s 'Days Be
>Few'
>
>By Amanda Terkel, Think Progress. Posted November 20, 2009.
>
>
>A new slogan is making its way onto t-shirts and even teddy bears:
>'Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8,' which reads, 'Let his days be few; and
>let another take his office.�
Right-wingers in the USA may be doing that, but i doubt if anyone else is.
But non-rightwingers all over the world were fervently praying that during
George Bush's term of office, wondering when he was going to start yet another
war.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk