Orange County Register

I gave Pastor Wiley Drake a ring about his call to so-called “death prayers” for Americans United, which got the IRS on Drake’s case (see the blog item from earlier today). They’re called “imprecatory prayers.” They seem to call on bad things to happen to ones enemies - “Let his children be fatherless,” for example.

I’m not a religious scholar nor a Baptist, but Drake’s response didn’t not seem to be a complete denial that these were “death prayers.” Here’s what he said.

“I’m not asking for anybody to die or for anybody to be killed. But with people like (Americans United’s) Barry Lynn, the Bible makes it very clear we should pray imprecatory prayer. … It’s not my hit list, it’s God’s hit list. … It’s so we pray back to God about God’s will. My job is to agree to God. What God does is not up to me.”

– Martin Wisckol

Lynn, for one, isn’t buying it.

“Trying to turn God into some sort of heavenly man is repugnant,” Lynn said. “There is more than a whiff of the Taliban in this action.”

Both Drake — who said he expects to be nominated to become chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention — and Lynn benefit from this ongoing skirmish, since the press helps raise their profiles.

“I’d be less than honest if I said I didn’t like the press,” Drake said. “I don’t make any apologies at all for any type of prayer.”

– Martin Wisckol

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