“Nope. I’m not gonna pray for his good. I’m going to pray that he dies and goes to hell. When I go to bed tonight, that’s what I’m going to pray. And you say, ‘Are you just saying that?’ No. When I go to bed tonight, Steven L. Anderson is going to pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell.”
This is of course not the first death-dealing prayers to be spoken by preachers in the United States, including such prayers for the death of President Obama, judges, or others.
Of course, hate appears to come naturally to the good reverend in Arizona.
“… And yet you’re going to tell me that I’m supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide, who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth abortion and all these different things — you’re gonna tell me I’m supposed to pray for God to give him a good lunch tomorrow while he’s in Phoenix, Arizona.”
Many have called for his arrest, which would be to combine an abusive use of the law with an abuse of the church.
18 U.S.C. 871 states:
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
However, praying for the death of an individual is a long-accepted part of Christianity and other faiths. An “imprecatory prayer” is usually a reference to Psalm 35 where David calls upon the Lord to kill his enemies. There are a variety of imprecatory psalms containing curses or prayers for the punishment and death for one’s enemies. Psalms 7, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 109, 137 and 139.
Such an arrest would be a deprivation of the free of speech and the free exercise of religion, in my view.
This does not mean that this not a matter of legitimate concern or investigation. It is being reported that the Christopher Broughton, the man who recently carried an AR-15 to the speech of President Obama on that trip to Arizona, is a follower of Rev. Anderson.
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