George Michael is a well known popular singer from England. He’s also gay. In November, he came down with a serious case of pneumonia and was hospitalized in in intensive care unit in Austria. Michael stated his illness was “life threatening” and it forced him to cancel all his European tour dates.
Michael himself claimed he was lucky to be alive after his recovery.
What makes this story more than just another item of celebrity news (and I didn’t know he had been ill until a few minutes ago, much less ill enough to die, which tell you how avidly I follow celebrities)? Well it seems that a group of so-called Christians had been praying for him to die and calling for others to pray for his death also. The group of so-called Christians goes under the moniker Christians For A Moral America. Apparently morality includes praying to the Lord Jesus Christ to kill people, in particular gay people to die.
The group recently tweeted, “Pray for George Michael’s demise. He has chosen a satanic lifestyle and must meet an appropriate end.”
I was raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran. I memorized many, many Bible verses in my youth from the New Testament, including saying attributed to Jesus such as these, which I was taight to take to heart:
“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” – Matthew 5:44
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. – Matthew 22:36-40
But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. – Luke, 6:27-37
I have failed often enough in following these moral teachings, for I have hate my enemies, and I have judged and condemned others, and more often than not I have not loved my neighbor. But one thing I have never done is pray for the death of another person, even as child who was bullied. I prayed for the bullying to stop, true enough, but I did not pray that anything bad happen to those who were harming me. I and asked God in my prayers to forgive me for my hatred of people who hurt me, and to give me the strength to forgive them. Over the years I’ve gotten better at forgiving those who have harmed me, and praying even for them.
Now, as far as I know, George Michael has never brought any harm upon the people who call themselves Christians for a Moral America. I doubt any of them have ever met him. Yet they felt that it was right and proper to violate the teachings and commandments stated by Jesus quoted above, who they purport to follow and view as their personal savior, and pray openly for George Michael’s death because in their eyes he had chosen a “satanic lifestyle.”
I wish I could say that such are a fringe element of American Christianity, but I know many, many other people who claim to be Christians who accept “imprecatory prayer,” that is, praying for bad things to happen to other people or in other words call down curses on those you hate, is a Christian’s right and duty, despite the clear teachings of Jesus that require Christians to love others, and show compassion and forgiveness even to those who hate them, and do evil to them.
In the last few years we have seen “Christians” who have invoked imprecatory prayers for the death of President Obama and rejoicing in the death of Dr. George Tiller:
A former Southern Baptist Convention officer who on June 2 called the death of abortion provider George Tiller an answer to prayer said later in the day he is also praying “imprecatory prayer” against President Obama.
Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., and former running mate of American Independent Party presidential candidate Alan Keyes, said June 2 on Fox News Radio he didn’t understand why people were upset with his comments quoted by Associated Baptist Press from a webcast of his daily radio talk show.
Asked if there are others for whom Drake is praying “imprecatory prayer,” Drake hesitated before answering that there are several. “The usurper that is in the White House is one, B. Hussein Obama,” he said. […]
“Are you praying for his death?” Colmes asked.
“Yes,” Drake replied.
“So you’re praying for the death of the president of the United States?”
“Yes.”
I’d like to think that Christians for a Moral America and Wiley Drake represent a few nasty, bitter and hateful people who claim to be Christians, but I doubt that. My daughter goes to school with “Christian Kids” who routinely spout hateful remarks about gays, liberals and President Obama. They are quite proud of their hatred toward these individuals. They denounce her for being a member of her school’s Gay Straight Alliance. They can only have learned these unforgiving hateful attitudes from their parents and their ministers, preachers, pastors and priests, for the public schools here in Western New York certainly do not. They teach tolerance, respect and dignity.
The epidemic of bullying against gay kids in public schools by their classmates, many of whom profess to be Christians, is too widespread to represent merely a fringe element. It seems as if these “Christians” never learned the verses in the Gospels that I learned as a child. The Jesus they follow is not the one who specifically and repeatedly called for us to avoid condemning others, to forgive others, to practice love and kindness, and to show even our enemies mercy. The Jesus who preached among the downtrodden, the poor, the thieves, and the prostitutes. They appear to have written that Jesus out of their Bibles.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise Christians for a Moral America have endorsed Rick “Black people are freeloaders and don’t deserve our help” Santorum for President. He too shares their homophobic opinions of gays. He openly professes he would to go to war with Iran if he were President. He fits right in with their hateful world view.
To be blunt, I don’t consider them “Christians” or “moral” individuals. On the contrary, the beliefs they profess and the actions they practice are inherently immoral, as any of the great spiritual teachers of the past would tell them. They may have the first amendment right to spout their hate, bigotry and calls for the death of those whom they despise for no other reason than hatred, prejudice and bigotry these “Christians” preach and carry in their hearts, Their words and deeds are immoral by definition. Certainly they do not follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. I hope that some day they will realize the evil that they have done and continue to do under the cloak of their “religious beliefs” and “morality.” Sadly I do not see that day coming anytime soon.
