Voters should oust congressional Republican leaders because U.S. foreign policy is delaying the second coming of Jesus Christ, according to a evangelical preacher trying to influence closely contested political races.
K.A. Paul railed against the war in Iraq on Sunday before a crowd of 1,000 at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, his first stop on what he hopes is a 30-city campaign.
The Houston-based preacher said he believes that the Bush administration has delayed the second coming because U.S. foreign policy has blocked Christian missionaries from working in Iraq, Iran and Syria.
"Somebody needs to say enough is enough," he said to worshippers who stood, waved and called out in support.
At just over 5 feet tall, the charismatic man in a beige three-piece suit trimmed with sparkles is the latest - and perhaps the most flamboyant - voice in the debate this fall over religion and politics in Ohio.
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell has rallied many of the state's religious conservatives. His Democratic opponent, Ted Strickland, is an ordained minister. And a group of clergy members formed We Believe Ohio to counter what they consider threats to the separation of church and state.
Paul, who claimed to support conservative political leaders in the past, is launching "a crusade to save America from the wrath of God and Republicans abusing their power," according to his press materials.
His focus on Sunday was on national races, and he didn't single out any Ohio candidates.
"God is mad at this country," Paul told the congregation. He described the war in Iraq as "unnecessary genocide."
But his own tactics have also drawn criticism. Paul runs a group called Global Peace Initiative, based in Houston, and a ministry outgrowth called Gospel to the Unreached Millions.
Critics accuse the group of sinking cash into refurbishing and operating a Boeing 747 he calls Global Peace One.
"Paul flies around the globe using Jesus to pull in worldwide donations - unfortunately spending more money on jet fuel than orphans," according to a June article in the weekly Houston Press.
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a peer review group whose focus is to monitor charitable, religious and other nonprofit groups, severed its ties with the Gospel to the Unreached Millions last year when the group failed to provide information about its board of directors and the use of its resources.
It's also unclear how far this tour will go. Paul on Sunday didn't have a firm list of the cities he'll visit before Nov. 7.
Someone on this board once said that Australia got the better deal when we got all of Britains convicts rather than America which got it religious nuts ... no shit.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
"God is mad at this country," Paul told the congregation. He described the war in Iraq as "unnecessary genocide."
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Until their god starts acting godlike and does something really impressive such as freezing the seas or inverting mountain ranges to show his displeasure at humanity, color me unimpressed.
These people never stop and analyze their own statements. If the foreign policy decisions of a single nation can forestall the return of divine beings, we should be able to stave off the Second Coming indefinitely. M1A2s >>> iron chariots.
Hey, whatever makes America better. If the Dems win because they tell people that they'll make Jesus come sooner, then good for you guys. Fuck, put your candidates on reality TV! Have novelty telethons with midgets juggling burning singing cobras while dancing to the Star Spangled Banner! Whatever, just win the next time 'round! Please!
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
"Prodesse Non Nocere." "It's all about popularity really, if your invisible friend that tells you to invade places is called Napoleon, you're a loony, if he's called Jesus then you're the president." "I'd drive more people insane, but I'd have to double back and pick them up first..." "All it takes for bullshit to thrive is for rational men to do nothing." - Kevin Farrell, B.A. Journalism. BOTM - EBC - Horseman - G&C - Vampire
What does it say about a group of people who WANT the end of the world to happen? Who don't care enough to fix the current world, but just ussure in the End times and go right to Heaven?
While the idea is quite entertaining, it's also flawed. If the Dems believe that they owe their place in Congress to a bunch of wackoes, we'll be in the same mess. Like Morilore said.
"The surest sign that the world was not created by an omnipotent Being who loves us is that the Earth is not an infinite plane and it does not rain meat."
"Lo, how free the madman is! He can observe beyond mere reality, and cogitates untroubled by the bounds of relevance."
Darth Raptor wrote:These people never stop and analyze their own statements. If the foreign policy decisions of a single nation can forestall the return of divine beings, we should be able to stave off the Second Coming indefinitely. M1A2s >>> iron chariots.
I know. What's the point of worshiping a God who can't end the world unless the Old White Guys let him?
Durandal wrote:You know, if separation of church and state was really enforced, preachers wouldn't be able to run for public office.
I'm not really sure how one could justify the revocation of a right (that of running for public office) because of the job someone has or the beliefs they hold.
Durandal wrote:You know, if separation of church and state was really enforced, preachers wouldn't be able to run for public office.
I'm not really sure how one could justify the revocation of a right (that of running for public office) because of the job someone has or the beliefs they hold.
It's called a conflict of interest.
Damien Sorresso
"Ever see what them computa bitchez do to numbas? It ain't natural. Numbas ain't supposed to be code, they supposed to quantify shit."
- The Onion
Don't oaths of office generally (as I don't know any specific ones) preclude choosing church over one's office if one's elected (through oaths of loyalty to facets of the state), or does that not prevent a conflict of interest?
Speaking of which, wondering what'd happen if a preacher won as a write-in candidate without realizing that anyone'd put him on the paper...
"Yee's proposal is exactly the sort of thing I would expect some Washington legal eagle to do. In fact, it could even be argued it would be unrealistic to not have a scene in the next book of, say, a Congressman Yee submit the Yee Act for consideration. " - bcoogler on this
"My crystal ball is filled with smoke, and my hovercraft is full of eels." - Bayonet
Stark: "You can't even GET to heaven. You don't even know where it is, or even if it still exists." SirNitram: "So storm Hell." - From the legendary thread
Unless you're in some US states where you have to acknowledge a supreme being in your oath of office...
Ah, sorry...you meant a church rather than just churches sorry...
"Prodesse Non Nocere." "It's all about popularity really, if your invisible friend that tells you to invade places is called Napoleon, you're a loony, if he's called Jesus then you're the president." "I'd drive more people insane, but I'd have to double back and pick them up first..." "All it takes for bullshit to thrive is for rational men to do nothing." - Kevin Farrell, B.A. Journalism. BOTM - EBC - Horseman - G&C - Vampire
Durandal wrote:You know, if separation of church and state was really enforced, preachers wouldn't be able to run for public office.
I'm not really sure how one could justify the revocation of a right (that of running for public office) because of the job someone has or the beliefs they hold.
It's called a conflict of interest.
It's a conflict of interest if a priest who becomes an official allies his office to the pope.
It isn't really one assuming the separation requirement had an oath attached, which forbade him/her from using powers to elevate the church.
But anyway, it looks like there really might be a schism within the GOP, between the fundies who want to be a tad more conservative and the fiscal cons who don't want to be as socially conservative.
Howedar wrote:I'm not really sure how one could justify the revocation of a right (that of running for public office) because of the job someone has or the beliefs they hold.
It's called a conflict of interest.
It's a conflict of interest if a priest who becomes an official allies his office to the pope.
In theory, you could be right and it could be possible for a candidate to wear his religion on his sleeve while campaigning for office in such a manner that there is no conflict of interest. In practice, religious candidates who run for office are usually quite open about their intention to alter state policy to suit their religious beliefs. George W. Bush even made "faith-based charity" one of his campaigning points.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
Incidentally, the "so help me God" argument doesn't work: The laws of the state of Texas are subject to the U.S. Constitution, which bars the disqualification of officeholders who don't believe in God (or who refuse to engage in religious oaths, as quite devout Quakers and others do). See, e.g., Torcaso v. Watkins (1961); Lee v. Weisman (1992). In light of these federal precedents, the Texas Constitution has to be read as providing people who don't want to swear, but who instead want to affirm without reference to God, the right to do that. It's the Texas Republican Party's legal analysis that's ignoring the constitution of the United States, which is the fundamental law of Texas as well as of all other states.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
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- PeZook
