The lard is telling ol’ Herman to run for Front Man, it seems:
Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain says that God told him to run for president, National Journal reports.
“I prayed and prayed and prayed,” Cain told about 100 members of the Georgia Young Republicans in Atlanta on Saturday. “I’m a man of faith, I had to do a lot of praying for this one, more praying than I’d ever done before in my life. And when I finally realized that it was God saying that this is what I needed to do, I was like Moses. ‘You’ve got the wrong man, Lord. Are you sure?’”
Cain isn’t the only Republican candidate who says God convinced them to run, however.
In May, before officially announcing her candidacy, Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said that she felt a “calling” to seek the GOP nomination.
“I’ve had this calling and tugging on my heart that this is the right thing to do,” Bachmann said.
In June, in an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Bachmann reiterated her comments about God telling her to run for political office.
“Did God tell you He wanted you to run for the Minnesota State Senate, or something like that?” host Bob Schieffer asked.
“I prayed about that, as well,” Bachmann said. “And that’s really what that means. It means that I have a sense of assurance about the direction I think that God is speaking into my heart that I should go.”
They might be sincere. When I hear a politician talk about how God is telling them to do something, I start looking for their angle. I guess I am a bit cynical.
I would prefer them saying the think they are qualified to run the country and want to serve their country. It may be a lie, but I do not want to hear them tell me that God told them something. IMO, If they are using God and/or religion to deceive people then they risk judgement.
60 minutes had a great report on how it appears that congressmen are enriching themselves through insider information. I think this is why many people want to get into government.
It would be better IMO if people would live as an example to others. If they are Christian (or other group) then act as a Christian should act. Do not talk the walk, walk the walk.
“They might be sincere.”
That worries me even more!
Seriously.
If I told you, in all earnestness, that I “talk” with aliens (or Napoleon) and they give me advice… what would you think of me?
Why is it any less strange when people make the same statements about Jesus (or whomever)? I’m sorry, but no one can tell me they are having conversations with an invisible anything and not find themselves regarded as a mental defective by me.
If this pisses off any religious people out there, well, so be it. You’re entitled to believe whatever you like – and I am fine with that. But absent some proof that your invisible friend is real and actually is talking to you, I have good reason to suspect you’re not quite right in the head, too.
Mind, I’m not an atheist. That would be as presumptuous as claiming to “know” Jesus. The hard fact is none of us – not one of us – knows a blessed thing about whether there is a being outside nature who caused and controls it, what this being wants from us, what happens when we die (other than “lights out”) and so on. We can have opinions; we can feel. All fine.
But it’s ridiculous to say we know anything about it.
Eric, agreed.
I’ve always thought religious folks are mental defects. The one’s that come right out and say they *talked* to a fictitious entity are narcissistic. Narcissistic mental defects forcing others to do their bidding. Wonderful.
When you add the narcissistic religious mental defects to the LIEberal mental defects you see that the logical thinking people are way outnumbered.
This whole thing HAS to fail and a large percentage of the population must be culled as the diseased parasites have overrun the struggling host.
Onward.
Indeed.
The thing that I run up against, the thing that floors me and just ruins my day… is the fact that if you tell most people you are in communication with the spirit of Napoleon they will (rightly) mark you off as a loon… but if you say precisely the same things about Chaysuss, then they treat you with deference and respect … and consider you especially moral and righteous, too!
Roger that shit! I’ve been saying for years that we are surrounded by people who are delusional. Not only delusional that some imaginary being exists up in the sky somewhere but that you can take a dollar from Peter and give it to Paul and make the economy better off.
Religion is indeed a mental disease. You can talk about Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Aliens etc… and you will be labled a nut-job, but talk about baby Jesus and you are considered completely “normal”. Or should I say “normalized”?
Truth is there is, given the size of the universe, a much greater chance of the existance of other life forms than there is a religious god – spelled with lower case ‘g’ for irreverence. Shit there’s just as much evidence for the existence of Santa Claus as there is god:
god has a book, Santa has many books about him.
god has an image, Santa has an image.
god doesn’t have any money of his own, neither does Santa ( trust me I know, I have kids )
Hell at least if you ask Santa for something, 9 times out of 10 you might get it!
Most of the religious people I know are fundamentally fucked up! Whether it’s gambling, super hot tempers, greedy bastards, or just evil mother fuckers there is something wrong with them.
I believe in Santa for sure. That dude delivers!
Hard-core religious certainty is a red flag for me, too.
I may be just dumb, but I can’t fathom how anyone can claim certainty about such a thing. It’s beyond reason, beyond proof, beyond critical examination. Just “have faith” and “believe” which, to me, amounts to do this/accept that “just because” – which is something I have always had a problem with. If there’s a reason, ok. But I ain’t buying anything based on “just because”!
For me, the key thing is conceding that such questions are, at best, unanswerable. We can suppose, we can guess, we can have inclinations and opinions. All fine – and equally valid. Perhaps there is a being outside of nature that set things in motion. Perhaps, somehow, our consciousness exists independent of our physical bodies and we “live” (somehow) after our bodies die. I have no idea. And neither does anyone else.
To go beyond that – to claim one “knows” that my god not only exists, but yours doesn’t (and mine’s right but yours is wrong) and so on is a species of arrogant – and demented – stupidity I can’t abide.
Well…let’s see here…didn’t Ghandi say something to the effect that there are as many religions as there are people? If we consider the common belief that God is omnipotent, omnicious, eternal and infinite that would make “Him” All That Is. There’s no way around it, “God” would therefore be the very sum of everything in existance; all experience, matter, energy and knowledge, encompassing all dimesions and states of being and consciousness.
What we so inadequately attempt to describe as “God” is therefore incomprehensible to the physical human brain. Maybe once I disconnect from this bio-mechanical vehicle and return to a state of fluid energy I’ll understand it all.
But right now I’m more concerned about what we need to do to stop the thugs in DC from stealing the fruits of our labor and using them to kill our fellow men over land, power and natural resources. Perpetual unjust warfare, at least it seems to me, is such an obviously un-Godly pursuit I can’t understand why so many so-called Christians and churches blindly support it. What happened to that 11th commandment, love another?
Maybe Mr. Cain does hear a small inner voice telling him to run for sock puppet. But I’m pretty sure what he actually hears are real live voices from his peers at the Fed, big banks and corporations, trilateralists and other international thieving vermin telling to get in there and run interference against Ron Paul. Herman Cain will pull enough “conservative” vote away from Dr. Paul to ensure four more years of B.O. Or if Cain does manage to get himself elected, we still get four more years of the status quo. It’s win-win for the powers-that-be. Somehow I don’t get the feeling God has a thing to do with this mess….
Yes, exactly.
And what drives me up the wall is that so many (cough) “conservatives” fall for it once the Gawd Talk begins. Be a garish “good Christian man” and anything goes. It worked beautifully for The Chimp. It is working for Chimp II (Perry) and it is working for the “conservative” Obama, too.
What’s so sad to me is driving around, seeing politician’s bumper stickers on beat-up working pickup trucks. Their owners are blithely unaware that the same asshole they’re voting for is the one stealing them blind.
Seriously, America deserves what’s coming. A people this willfully ignorant have to suffer the consequences or they’ll never learn. I just resent having to stew in the same crockpot with them…and see my kids suffer it too.