Will God Die on Nov 4th, 2008?

John McCain recently had a reverend give a bitterly partican invocation at a rally in Iowa. In that invocation, the reverend flatly challenged God to prove himself to be a just God by ensuring that McCain win next Tuesday. Here are his words:

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.

I won't get into a debate on my belief that God probably doesn't appreciate being "challenged" by mortals. But what I will say--or ask, rather--is this: If John McCain loses on election day, is God dead? Or at least, is the God of these McCain supporters dead?

Even this week, James Dobson of Focus on the Family in an interview of Saint Sara Palin said that he and his wife, Shirley, had convened a prayer meeting to beseech that "God's perfect will be done on Nov. 4."

So, again, I have to ask, when John McCain loses next week, will James Dobson be able to recover? I keep hearing this theme in reoccurring public prayers. Some version of the idea that God needs to ensure the election of John McCain. But in the same way John McCain is playing with fire with his vile attacks on Obama, essentially daring the gun-toting, God-fearing lunatics within his fan-base to take action on their fed hatred of Obama, these religious figures are playing with some canonical fire.

If you're going to be fucking with God, challenging him to prove himself by somehow taking your personal political preference, wouldn't you at least do it when the odds are somewhat in your favor? It's pretty obvious to most that Obama will likely win this election. So in my mind, these supposedly devout Christians are essentially preparing to flush their faith down the toilets. I'm not sure how someone like Lou Dobson, who claims to have a personal relationship with God, who claims that God personally talks to him in his prayers, can legitimize his continuing faith in God if he has essentially bet the house on his faith in God for this election.

If Obama wins...which he will...God will have directly not answered the prayers of the self-appointed Christian guru and expert in the word of God. I know that God is supposed to do miracles, and that the stories of the Bible are rife with big under-dog upsets, but this is not the times of yore. This is 2008. And when Obama wins next week, I say to all those who have prayed directly to God to make McCain win, they must renounce their faith from there-on out. Because it's obvious, if there is a God, he obviously isn't listening to they're prayers.

Sorry dudes.

On the other hand, if McCain DOES win this election, I would definitely consider that a miracle only allowable by God (or voting machine fraud). But in the absence of any legitimate proof of fraud, and McCain wins this one straight up, I will be forced to rethink my position on faith and God. But I gotta say, even for God, it's going to take more than the power to part the Red Sea to swing this one for McCain.