Bush, Prayer, and an Onion
I ran across a news article that just didn’t sit right concerning President Bush and his prayer habits. I used my trusty search engine to search on the topic only to find that a few bloggers had linked to the same article, but no other news source was reporting on this hot Christian topic. It seems that this news site is just a fancy front-end for an online tabloid.
The article found on The Onion who called themselves “America’s Finest News Source” was written about a month ago. It reports on how Christians are criticizing President Bush’s prayer habits. Notice I did not link to the site. I do not wish to endorse “The Onion” or any of its contents. You can cut and past the link from the end of this post to see the original article if you wish, but here is the meat of the article’s message:
“President Bush, already facing the lowest approval ratings in history, is coming under fire from former supporters over what they call his “ineffectual and incompetent” use of prayer for national guidance and assistance.”
The article goes on the quote a fictitious member of the Family Research Council(FRC) who is critisizing Bush’s prayer habits. By the way, that link points to the about page for FRC where President Bush is pictured with FRC president Tony Perkins and several others who are influential in the Christian community. Jack Yoest points out that the FRC member mentioned in The Onion article is not a member of FRC. He should know since his wife Dr. Charmaine Yoest is the Vice President for External Relations at FRC.
Are there requirements to be met before prayer will be answered? Yes! Your heart must be right with God and with others.
In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. If you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard. 1 Peter 3:7 (NLT)
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. James 5:16 (NLT)
If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! Job 11:13 (NLT)
The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous. Proverbs 15:29 (NLT)
Does God answer ALL prayers from the righteous? Yes! The answer may not be what you expected, but God does personally take all calls from his children.
May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory, flying banners to honor our God. May the LORD answer all your prayers. Psalm 20:5 (NLT)
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 (NIV)
How do you get on God’s preferred caller list? Click HERE to learn how.
(Bible verses in the post are from: BibleGateway.com)
The Onion article quoted can be found at:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46938
May 3rd, 2006 at 4:30 pm
The Onion is a satire site. Didn’t know if you knew. I think they strive to be equal-opportunity offenders.
May 3rd, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Hi Ozz,
As you may have figured out by now, The Onion is purely made-up satire. It comes out every Wednesday and pokes fun at the media and at public figures. All the stories are fake.
May 3rd, 2006 at 9:35 pm
JanetLee and Daniel,
Thanks for the heads up. I did not know they were a satire site until I checked my comments tonight. I did scan their FAQs but did not see any disclaimers. I just went back and found it. It is in the last two paragraphs of the Privacy Policy page. I am glad that I did not go off on this as if it were a real news story. I did give the word news a little emphasis when referring to The Onion.
I guess my statement that they are just fancy front-end for an online tabloid was not too far off after all. I would give them a rank of one step up from tabloid just because they do admit that they fabricate information.
May 4th, 2006 at 1:20 am
I think you should give the Onion another chance. I am one of its biggest fans (I even pay to get the print version in the mail), and while we are on different ends of the political spectrum, I think JanetLee is on target when she says that they are equal-opportunity offenders. Not only that, but their non-political articles are funny as well. Their satire works (in my opinion) because they latch onto what many people find true about something and take it to the level of humorous absurdity (i.e. some people find it a little disconcerting that GWB is unabashedly religiously associated). Believe me that they were talking lots of trash about Kerry on the campaign trail, and they would keep on doing it if he had won, and you might’ve found it a little funny. (I sure did, and I voted for the guy.) Just my two cents. Thanks for listening (or not).
Charlie