How Not to Intertwine Religion with Politics

A big story in the news right now is the proliferation of these "Pray for Obama" bumper stickers. The stickers invoke Psalm 109:8 and appear on the surface to be a positive sentiment-- that is, until one actually reads said verse. Psalm 109:8 is essentially a call for the end of bad leadership. It goes on to wish ill of a leader's family and loved ones. Here's the deal, folks: During the Tribulation (excuse me, the Bush administration), lefties, myself included, sported some admittedly zing-y bumper stickers. I had two on my car, which bore the slogans "Iraq Arabic for Vietnam" and "Jesus would vote Democrat after the last four years (sticker was purchased following the 2004 election)." Still, most of us never used Biblical scripture to insinuate that Bush should be murdered or that terrible things should happen to his family-- although there was that Backgrounds in Western Literature paper about Dante's Inferno in which I argued that Bush, Cheney, & Co. belonged in the hottest layer of Hell for being treacherous and leading their country into war. I did not, however, advocate violence against the U.S. government. I think the right-wing fringe's fear- and anger-based campaign strategy against President Obama will backfire and that this faction will be unpleasantly surprised come election time in 2010 and 2012.