Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Hat tip to Fred Clarkson at Talk2Action, who caught a couple of self-identified Christian reconstructionists praying for God to strike down John McCain so Sarah Palin can become president. Jay Rogers, a militant anti-abortion type from Florida, waxes eloquent about Palin for a while then presents his plan:
So here is my three point plan:1. Vote Constitution Party. (I vote my conscience and cannot support McCain even with Palin.)
2. Pray for Sarah Palin to win. (I am an idealist, but also a realist!)
3. Pray for John McCain's salvation and speedy death. (Google The Forerunner's articles on Impecatory Prayer if you think this is harsh.)
He also bizarrely claims that there is "more untapped oil in Alaska than in Saudi Arabia." Clearly Mr. Rogers is in his neighborhood playing with toys only he can see. But he's not alone. Another blogger, who goes by the nickname Ixion and is dedicated to "Keeping Reagan and Christian Reconstruction in America," concludes a long screed about Palin with this:
May the LORD cause McCain/Palin to win the White House in 2008, and then smite the godless McCain in favor of Palin. Amen.
This is nothing new to the religious right, of course. Last year Wiley Drake, one of the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, urged his followers to pray for the demise of Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. And Pat Robertson famously prayed a few years ago for God to strike down liberal Supreme Court justices so they could be replaced with ones more to his liking. Perhaps someone needs to send these guys some of those What Would Jesus Do bracelets.
Politics
Comments
And this guy hasn't been reported to Homeland Security why??
He is openly calling for working to cause the death of who he hopes will be the next President.
OK, he's a nutcase, but remember, so was Eric Rudolph.
Can we be CERTAIN this guy doesn't have a Rudolph somewhere in the ranks of his readers, who will see himself as an instrument of God's will?
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | September 4, 2008 10:14 AM
McCain better look out. Remember when Robertson prayed for a SCOTUS opening and Rehnquist dropped dead?
Posted by: I am so wise | September 4, 2008 10:14 AM
Didn't they get the memo? I guess god needs to send another hurricane at an inconvenient time for republicans.
Posted by: bud | September 4, 2008 10:15 AM
I'm 99.999% sure calvinists4conservatism is a joke blog. Look at his blogroll - most of the sites are also joke sites. I particularly like "Society of Christians for the Restoration of Old Testament Morality". SCROTM, get it?
Posted by: JLB | September 4, 2008 10:17 AM
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | September 4, 2008 10:18 AM
I think the site is a parody, too. See this:
Posted by: Greg Esres | September 4, 2008 10:28 AM
Ed Brayton said:
Are you sure that's not what Jesus would do? After all, he wasn't above cursing trees.
Posted by: Braxton Thomason | September 4, 2008 10:37 AM
Ed, what a pathetic embarrassment. Did you even bother to read what is on the calvinists4conservatism blog? These guys aren't even serious Christians - they MOCK Christianity. And you used those idiots as an example of the entire religious right, as evidenced by you quoting the website then following it up with "This is nothing new to the religious right, of course." Wow, way to go. Props to you for using a credible resource to back up the well-reasoned and thought-out position that all people on the religious right are praying for McCain to drop dead so Palin can become president.
Next time, use some more credible sources, like The Onion or something.
Unbelievable.
Posted by: mroberts | September 4, 2008 10:43 AM
Posted by: Taz | September 4, 2008 11:05 AM
mrroberts, if you think parody is always easy to spot in the internet please conduct the following experiment:
Go to youtube to any random video and make a comment so ridiculous and over the top that it is an obvious parody statement.
Posted by: kodiak | September 4, 2008 12:04 PM
May God smite them all.
There is not enough smiting going on. Bring back smiting!
BBS?
Posted by: Patricia | September 4, 2008 12:15 PM
You bring the same tired bullshit every time. Whenever a religious right nutjob is shown acting like a nutjob (which Robertson and Drake were), you claim it's a smear against "all people on the religious right". Nothing in the post backs that up, and your playing the persecution card is getting old.
Oh come on you guys know you would give mrroberts a hard time if he cited a parody site. :P Let him have his day for cryin out loud.
Posted by: 386sx | September 4, 2008 12:19 PM
What about the main point of the post, the Forerunner blog, mroberts?
Posted by: Julian | September 4, 2008 12:19 PM
mroberts wrote:
You're right, I didn't bother to read the rest of the blog to notice that it's a parody.
Your reading comprehension skills really need work. "This is nothing new to the religious right" is not the same thing as saying that everyone on the religious right would behave this way. I doubt even most religious righters would do so, much less all of them. I know that the religious righters I know and am close to (and yes, there are many) would not do so. But it still remains true that this sort of thing does go on among the more extreme elements of the Christian right fairly regularly. I didn't say all, nor did I imply all, but you seem intent on reading that in to anything I write criticizing the religious right. You like arguing with the Ed in your head rather than the real Ed. I don't blame you, the Ed in your head is much easier to argue with.
Of the 4 examples I cited, one turned out to be a parody. But two of them were from extremely prominent religious right preachers, one perhaps the most influential TV evangelist in the history of the country and one the former VP of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | September 4, 2008 12:22 PM
and if calvinists4conservatives is a hoax, they do a damn good job of staying in character. They even gag and ban liberal posters.
Posted by: Julian | September 4, 2008 12:27 PM
So we vote in the religious right candidate, and almost eight years later the country is wholly in the crapper. So now these people think that what we need is a SECOND religious right candidate.
When can we just start ignoring these people?
Posted by: Shygetz | September 4, 2008 12:37 PM
Poe's Law rears its ugly head again.
Posted by: Jim Lippard | September 4, 2008 12:46 PM
Jay Rogers may be a self-parody, but he's serious. He's been a periodic commenter at various ScienceBlogs, and at my blog, promoting "Expelled."
Sadly, he's for real:
http://www.forerunner.com/jaysbio.html
Posted by: Jim Lippard | September 4, 2008 12:55 PM
Ixian, sometime also known as Bob Corker (not that Bob Corker R-TN), has been around a while. It seems to be his life's mission to prove Poe's Law true. I've never seen him break character and he adamantly denies that what he writes is satire. But there are little clues, like the SCROTM thing, and he often posts at fundamentalist parody sites.
While Ixian may not be on the level, Jay Rogers, who originally posted the three-point plan, is serious as a heart attack. Praying for a smiting may not be as poplar as it once was. But it's still common enough that it's hardly a surprise to see someone do it.
You can even send your kids of to Smite Camp, which sounded pretty cool to me at first. But then I found out they weren't really training the kids to be God's assassins. They just teach them to evangelize other kids. Where's the truth in advertising these days?
Posted by: Abby Normal | September 4, 2008 1:09 PM
And these people are calling themselves Christians? For shame!
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | September 4, 2008 1:38 PM
Jay Rogers at Forerunner is the guy who posted all the reconstructionist videos up at YouTube awhile back (2007?).
I debated him on his blog given the claims of one reconstructionist video-blogger, Howard Philips, who actually stated that implementing "God's Law" is liberty and wouldn't violate our current Constitution. I challenged those claims. Mr. Roger's reading and thinking skills were so poor he actually used a source to make an argument where he misconstrued the source after I'd already used that source in its proper context. Can you say cognitive dissonance? Here is that debate's link: http://www.forerunner.com/blog/2007/01/gods-law-tv.html
Here is a taste of one of his points after I asked how a gay person could enjoy liberty rights in a reconstructionist America, his reply was as follows:
Guess who gets to define what is "moral poison" in Mr. Rogers world?
He ocassionally writes very long blog posts arguing there is overwhelming empirical evidence that Jesus did perform the miracles in the Bible and was resurrected. He argues one doesn't require faith to accept Jesus as God, the physical evidence argues convincingly enough.
His site is not satire nor do I think anyone would mistake it as such.
The most distressing thing to me is that he is school teacher.
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 4, 2008 2:28 PM
Are the calvinists4conservatism the same hoaxers who did blogs4brownback last year? They sound very similar.
Anyways, even though c4c is definitely a parody, Pat Robertson and Jay Rogers definitely are not, so Ed's point still stands.
Posted by: Wes | September 4, 2008 2:37 PM
Ixion (Bob) did calvinists4brownback. He was an occasional commenter at blogs4brownback. But I don't think he was directly affiliated with them, unless it turns out Sisyphus is another of his aliases. I don't think so. But I've been wrong once before... or was it twice?
Posted by: Abby Normal | September 4, 2008 3:29 PM
If it's a parody, it isn't a very good one.
Posted by: Andrea | September 4, 2008 4:01 PM
Ed,
I know election season is in full swing and that McCain has stirred the pot by choosing Palin who is an easy target for controversy especially from the left. But you've said you don't have a horse in this race and yet 12 out of 16 posts on the main page skewer Palin or McCain. Is there really nothing of interest in the Obama/Biden campaign?
While there is much to like about Obama, I don't feel very informed about how he might govern a super power, and precious little of real substance can be gleaned from typical media coverage (of his old preachers for instance) or listening to my partizan left friends. I've liked reading your material because it usually does not come at the news from either a highly partizan angle, or simply bashing without reason or a basis in fact. Isn't there more out there to comment on? Okay end of rant...
Posted by: Rich | September 4, 2008 6:41 PM
Rich:
I think Ed may not have a horse in the race but like any other sports fan, he's curious about what sort of doping is going on in the staples. If Sarah Palin had any credibility or, for that matter, ability to do the job she would inherit WHEN McStain dies, and IF she didn't haved a truckload of baggage I doubt that the media would be hanging on her like buzzards on a battlefield. This shit is just being served up--whatcha gonna do, ignore it?
Posted by: democommie | September 4, 2008 8:51 PM
Shygetz said:
So we vote in the religious right candidate, and almost eight years later the country is wholly in the crapper. So now these people think that what we need is a SECOND religious right candidate.
When can we just start ignoring these people?
This seems to be the conservative viewpoint: If a bad idea doesn't work, keep trying it.
Posted by: Blue Nine | September 4, 2008 10:31 PM
"This seems to be the conservative viewpoint: If a bad idea doesn't work, keep trying it."
It's quantum - if they keep repeating it often enough, probability dictates that it will work...
or Jesus will return, whichever comes first.
Posted by: Badger3k | September 5, 2008 12:05 AM
LOL@Ed and his broken humor detector.
Posted by: Ian Kennedy | September 5, 2008 3:31 AM
If any of those people are for-real and serious, sooner or later some nutcase in their congregation or audience is going to take it upon himself to be God's avenging angel and answer their prayers. And there are plenty of suggestible nutcases in extremist religious movements.
The Secret Service needs to keep an eye on those people.
Posted by: g347 | September 5, 2008 6:08 AM
Jay Rogers has a new blog post referencing PZ's post. Here is Rogers' new post: http://www.forerunner.com/blog/2008/09/pz-myers-weighs-in-on-my-sarah-palin.html
He is also bold-faced lying in his new post, even though he has not edited his comment in the first post where he promotes praying for McCain's speedy death.
Claim that PZ got it wrong (PZ did not get it wrong):
Rorgers' Original proposal:
There is no OR operator in the above statement, it's an AND operator. Rogers wants McCain to die a speedy death so his gal can preside.
This man is a school teacher!!!
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 5, 2008 6:28 AM
Honestly, no, there's not much of interest going on in the Obama/Biden campaign right now IMO. Obama picked a very safe VP candidate, and the Dem Convention was fairly non-controversial, apart from the 20 or so PUMAs that made asses of themselves. Then McCain picked a VP apparently at random, and spent the Repub Convention lying about their record. The Repub base is still arguing about the nominee and VP nominee, and now they say they won't let the press interview the VP. It's a train wreck, and everyone knows train wrecks are more interesting than traffic.
There really isn't much to see at the Obama campaign. I hope that changes.
Posted by: Shygetz | September 5, 2008 7:36 AM
I might add to Shygetz that Palin is also still a relatively unknown quantity, in a way Obama isn't.
I mean, come on,. Obama's been on the cover of People f'r chrissake, has not one but two biographies out, and has been a fairly visible public figure for two years at least.
When people say they don't "know" Obama, what they really mean is "he's black and those people aren't like us real Amuricans"
Policy wise he hasn't been any more or less specific than any candidates of either party in the past -- do a quick search of speeches from other campaigns and you'll see he's no different in that respect.
Palin was a governor who only political junkies (and few of those) would be aware of. An interesting thing is that she is by far the closest thing to an ordinary private citizen either party has nominated in many, many years. So the media haven't been all over her except in Alaska. And really, when was the last time you read the Anchorage Daily News?
Palin also has a ton of stuff in her closet that hasn't hit the big stage yet -- even the bit with her (former) brother in law was a local story, and minus the VP nomination it would have stayed such. (Speaking as a former newspaper man, I can tell you if I went to my editor and pitched the Palin story, the answer I'd have gotten a month ago would have been "do we have any readers in Alaska?")
And frankly, Palin is also the most right-wing religious candidate at the presidential level I've ever seen. Someone who says teaching the bible as a science book is a good idea. To say nothing of a lack of intellectual curiosity that is absolutely frightening in anyone who aspires to be a world leader.
Posted by: Jesse | September 5, 2008 9:48 AM
Jesse stated:
Creating a sample of Bush 43, Cheney, McCain, and Palin; one could conclude the lack of intellectual curiosity is a defining attribute of the modern-day GOP, given that at least three of these four individuals consider that attribute a positive feature and practice accordingly.
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 5, 2008 11:03 AM
The s.o.b. changed item no. 3.
However, if you Google the page, the cached version has the original.
http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:VuRrygX506AJ:www.forerunner.com/blog/2008/08/sarah-palin-sigh-factor.html+http://www.forerunner.com/blog/2008/08/sarah-palin-sigh-factor.html&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Posted by: Xoebe | September 5, 2008 7:49 PM
I posted the below on the Forerunner comment thread for the relevant blog post given Xoebe's notice that Roger has edited his comments. Not sure if Foreruner/Rogers will allow my post so I thought I'd post it here as well (with slight edits).
I find it unimaginable this person is a school teacher. I wonder his principal knows he's advising his deluded audience to pray for McCain's death. Someone might take up the "God helps those that help themselves" mantra and make Rogers' prayer come true.
How delusional does one have to be to advise others to pray for the death of an American war hero who spent 5.5 years in a POW camp being tortured?
Where is the line drawn where the Secret Service enter the picture?
Here's my comment on his post:
Mr. Rogers,
Your original comment statement on this blog post stated:
"Pray for John McCain's salvation and speedy death."
There was no over simplification by Myers or the other bloggers who've linked to your blog post given your use of AND rather than using an OR operator that would have allowed McCain's "salvation" to finish your advice rather than a plan B, i.e., "a speedy death". Myers in fact quoted you verbatim, along with advising his readers to check out your imprecatory prayer link. That link's message does not contradict your statement, which is perfectly clear and stands quite fine on its own.
It is my observation you are lying twice, once by not owning up to your advising people to prayer for McCain's "salvation and speedy death", and again by accusing others of misinterpreting your original statement which is perfectly clear.
Here is a blog post link which led me to that post, this post also contains a link to an archive of your original post (in the comments section): http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/09/reconstructionists_pray_for_mc.php#c1090212
While your Adsense money might go up, I'd say your credibility is now near zero for the non-deluded, but that isn't your audience is it?
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 5, 2008 9:48 PM
Rogers reverts back to admitting he did and does pray for McCain's death, though he tries and softens it by claiming he prays for his death just like he prays for his own demise along with obfuscating the fact with a long dialogue on imprecatory prayer claiming his critics don't understand him.
In the same comment thread he claims with absolute certainty that abortion is a capital crime under God's law therefore women who have abortions are guilty of a capital crime and should be judged accordingly.
This man also actually believes his prayers lead to the deaths of people he prays against.
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 6, 2008 7:28 AM
"You're right, I didn't bother to read the rest of the blog to notice that it's a parody."
Just to let you know, my blog isn't a parody. Don't let erratic commentators throw you off the True track, Ed!
Posted by: Ixion | September 7, 2008 2:00 AM
Ixion is the reincarnation of Andy Kaufman?
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 7, 2008 11:12 AM
"Ixion is the reincarnation of Andy Kaufman?"
Who is Andy Kaufman?
Posted by: Ixion | September 8, 2008 9:03 PM
ROFL
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 8, 2008 10:47 PM