Political Prayer

A few Sundays ago I took my daughter to the local Catholic church. Despite the problems we're having with the corrupt Vatican and the commie Pope, Catholicism still remains one of the more traditional of the major Christian denominations, and certainly the most classy church service.

Besides the Bible reading and the sermon, the only aspect of Catholic mass that varies from week to week is the prayer invocation. Near the end of the service, the congregation is prompted to pray regarding varies issues that are currently relevant. In this particular instance, the church body were asked to pray for an end to the death penalty, to which the congregation obliged. (I did not, although I did silently pray that God kill all the anti-social felons so we won't have to do it ourselves.)

There is something comical about a someone standing in front of a massive crucifix asking the congregation to pray to end the death penalty. It kind of makes sense, but then there would be no Christianity without the death penalty. Even if I did agree that the death penalty should end, it seems like a strange thing to ask the assembly to pray for. Do we pray for political outcomes now at church? Is that really the role of the Almighty? I wonder how we would limit ourselves of that was the case. "Dear Jesus, please fix the timing on the stoplight at 2nd and Main. I get burned by it everyday on my commute to work, and then again on the way home."

Politics is the realm of humans. Lobbying toward particular outcomes is political activism. If the Church wants to rally parishioners to some cause they can, and that's what they are doing, indirectly through a prayer invocation. It's a fake prayer. The goal is not to compel God to oppose the death penalty, but the parish. Despite no Biblical directive to oppose the death penalty, and certainly to Catholic tradition of opposing it, the Church leadership has a certain political bent and have decided that Churchgoers should as well. I've found another church that is not only more in line with my opinions on such things, but even more so isn't inclined to hijack prayer for politics.