The National Day of Prayer and my Christian Beliefs

Lately I've been having some mental health issues...or in guess in this case "spiritual" issues. Almost to the point of calling it a crisis of faith, but then again it's really not about me at all, but rather the rest of the world. 

About two weeks ago, I was talking to my Aunt about politics. She's not generally a conservative Republican, but she stated to me that she isn't voting for Obama this year because she's certain that he's NOT a Christian. When I asked her how she knew that, one of the things that she stated was that He refused to support the "National Day of Prayer" this year. She said that it had never not been supported by a president, and that Obama was the first. She knew that was true because "Franklin Graham" said so, and that Franklin Graham wouldn't lie...that he had no reason to. I had a hard time with this, but accepted what she had to say and decided to do some research into it. Where it lead me was somewhere I never expected it to.

 Thanks to my partner Dana, I was able to find out a LOT of very scary things about the National Day of Prayer this year. Not only is it sponsored by Franklin Graham, but it has some interesting Keynote speakers: Kirk Cameron, and Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council (FRC). The FRC is the organization where one of it's office workers was recently gunned down by a militant (for lack of a better word) who broke into the office and started shooting. They are considered a Christian based organization that is very political. They are also a well known hate group, and are listed on a number of hate group lists along with Westboro Baptist Church. Now, before I get to my main point and what's causing my faith crisis, allow me to paste a few tidbits here of things said and done by the FRC and Tony Perkins, courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center...
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 “If President Obama and the powerful homosexual activist groups he is aligned with get their way [on marriage equality], it will be disastrous for America.” — Tony Perkins, FRC fundraising letter, October 2011

 “The videos are titled 'It Gets Better.' They are aimed at persuading kids that although they'll face struggles and perhaps bullying for 'coming out' as homosexual (or transgendered or some other perversion), life will get better. …It's disgusting. And it's part of a concerted effort to persuade kids that homosexuality is okay and actually to recruit them into that lifestyle." — Tony Perkins, FRC fundraising letter, August 2011

 "Those who understand the homosexual community—the activists—they're very aggressive, they're—everything they accuse us of they are in triplicate. They're intolerant, they're hateful, vile, they're spiteful. But I understand that and certainly our response to them should be one of love and of compassion. But let me tell you why it's not love to be silent in the face of those who are advancing an agenda that is both destructive to our society and more importantly destructive to the individuals involved. To me, that is the height of hatred, to be silent when we know there are individuals that are engaged in activity, behavior, and an agenda that will destroy them and our nation." — Tony Perkins, Speaking to the Oak Initiative Summit, April 2011

 "We believe the evidence shows … that relative to the size of their population, homosexual men are more likely to engage in child sexual abuse than are heterosexual men." — Peter Sprigg, "Debating Homosexuality: Understanding Two Views." 2011.

“While activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. … It is a homosexual problem.” — FRC President Tony Perkins, FRC website, 2010

"Homosexuals cannot bear one another's children. They are not complementary, as are men and women. And they are, as a rule, highly promiscuous. …Other studies suggest that children raised in homosexual homes are much more likely to be exposed to violence than those raised by a mom and dad." — Tony Perkins, Address to the Faith and Freedom conference, Sept. 13, 2010

 “[A]llowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military would likely result, for the first time, in heterosexuals being forced to cohabit with those who may view them as a potential sexual object.” — Peter Sprigg, “Homosexual Assault in the Military," 2010 _______________________________________________________________

 There's more...but that's enough for now.

 Dana continues to follow the yellow brick road of hate speech that this man has polluted our air with to find out that this so called "Christian" organization has also sent money to Uganda to support an anti-gay legislation there calling for work camps and death penalty punishments for people practicing homosexuality in that country.

 Now, before this all comes off as a "Mike Advocating Homosexuality" page here, I want to state that this really isn't my issue, although all this other stuff does enrage me. The real issue to me as that there is this much hate in a so called "Christian" organization. These are not the actions of real Christians...Are they??? Since when has God called us to judge? To pronounce sentence? And since when has Homosexuality become an unforgivable sin? I understand what Paul said, but he didn't say that it was any greater or worse than any other sin. God hates the sin...not the sinner. I take all of this into perspective and realize that Franklin Graham is using this man along with Kirk Cameron (No prince himself in this area) and I'm starting to see a very interesting picture forming around our "National Day of Prayer." It's really not a "National Day of Prayer" anymore, but rather an Anti-Gay Christian Right Wing Bitchfest!

 I love you Dearly Aunt, but not even I can advocate the National Day of Prayer anymore, so how can I blame President Obama for not supporting it? I agree that a National Day of Prayer is a good thing. But this isn't a Christian thing that they are getting ready to do...mark my words. If the word Homosexuality comes up during the day even ONCE, then its not about Prayer...it's political.

 This is how Christians are behaving in this day and age. It's not very Christian, is it? How can I not be embarrassed to call myself one? I'm not going to waste my time defining the word Christian here either. If you don't know what a real Christian acts like, then you don't know what it is. Read your good book and find out.

Thanks for allowing me to rant, and to clear my head a bit.  This has really been distracting me in all facets of my life lately...almost to the point of depression.  I'm hoping that writing about it will help.  I've not done enough writing lately I guess...It's always been my own personal therapist.