Open Letter to Rev. Arnold Conrad:

I don't know if you kids remember the good Reverend Arnold Conrad...he's the nutjob who offered the following prayer during a McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa:

I would also pray Lord that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their God -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his [McCain’s] opponent wins for a variety of reasons.

And Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.

Oh Lord, we just commit this time to you, move among us, make your presence very well felt as we are gathered here today in Jesus's name I pray.

As the risk of sounding "arrogant", I would like to pose the following question to Reverend Conrad, as well as all the Fundie nuts who subscribe to this sort of diseased thinking (Ray, I'm looking at you):

Where's your god now?

The Golden Calf Part Deux: It Gets Better

I mean, it gets worse. I mean -- oh, hell, go and read for yourself:

The late-middle-aged redhead at the centre of the top photo is Peggy Noonan, hack writer and genuine believer who really should know better. OTOH, if her retirement funds are as crapped out as everyone else's then I suppose a devout Catholic might as well go along with this sideshow. It can't make things worse, right?

Part I here.

(Aside: We're rearranging furniture to accommodate a long family visit, and my computer and modem will have to be moved and re-connected. Don't know just when it will happen or how long it will be until I'm back online. Don't fret, I will be back.)

Lulu of the Week: Nothing Fails Like Prayer

Thanks to Wonkette.com for the pic and the link to this only-in-America story:

Prayer Needed for Global Economies

By Ivorie Anthony
The 700 Club

CBN.com – WALL STREET

In January of this year, Cindy Jacobs was in a worship service when the Lord spoke to her, “Cindy, the strongman over America doesn’t live in Washington, DC – the strongman lives in New York City! Call My people to pray for the economy.”

This word so shook Cindy; she knew she had to call the people of God to converge on New York City the week of October 29 for an emergency prayer rally to cry out against economic collapse in the midst of shaking.

The Lord further said, “October 29 was Black Tuesday, the day the stock market crashed, and Satan wants to do it again.” We must be proactive in prayer. At the beginning of the year many intercessors began to hear from the Lord that without divine intervention, a major shaking was coming to Wall Street....

In early August in her prayer time Cindy heard the Lord say, “There will be no more business as usual.”

Little did she know the scope of what this meant on a worldwide scale. God is on the move. She and many others have taken this as a major point of intercession. She believes that just as there came a time when God judged the gods of Egypt, He is now judging the god of mammon. Nations are standing on the cusp of history that will determine their course for generations to come. God is judging the ideologies of nations. He is moving to put the fear of the Lord not only on His church; but upon the nations of the world.

For these and other reasons Cindy is calling for a Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies on Wednesday, October 29, 2008. They are calling for prayer for the stock markets, banks, and financial institutions of the world on the date the stock market crashed in 1929. They are meeting at the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank, and its 12 principal branches around the US that day....

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Riiiight. 'Cause prayer has worked so well to date.

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EDIT: And of course PZ Myers caught this one and made it much funnier.