Oct 312016
 

Mike Huckabee was on Fox News recently and he said he prays that Donald Trump wins the election.

Mike Huckabee by Gage Skidmore 6

I don’t fault Mr. Huckabee for supporting the candidate whose views are closest to his own, even if I disagree strongly with those views. I don’t fault him or any other religious person for relying on his faith for comfort during a stressful election. But I’m not sure I understand why a Christian who believes in an omniscient deity (Yahweh) would pray for one particular candidate in an election.

What response is Mr. Huckabee expecting from Yahweh?

“Thank you, Mike! I was sitting around up here in Heaven, all bored and omnipotent and looking for appropriate ways to intervene in human affairs, but I had no clue how to proceed. I knew I wanted to manipulate the 2016 USA presidential election but… who to support? Then you came along with your prayer and, in your perfect wisdom, which far surpasses Mine, you chose Donald Trump. Now, on your recommendation, I’ll manipulate the election to make sure Trump wins, thereby undermining American democracy and disregarding the ‘free will’ of my children.”

Mr. Huckabee thinks he knows which candidate is the right one for our country and he wishes to enlist the Almighty in ensuring his favorite candidate wins. What’s wrong with this? Setting aside the fact that Mr. Huckabee is asking his god to commit election fraud, it never seems to occur to Mr. Huckabee that if Yahweh exists and He is omniscient, a better and more sensible prayer would be for Yahweh, not Mr. Huckabee, to determine which candidate is the right one for our country.

But even this would be a waste of time, for Yahweh, if He is perfect, is already intervening in the world in all of the “correct” ways.

There is an inherent irony in prayer. If you truly believe in an all-knowing, all-wise, omni-benevolent deity, why would you waste your breath making pleas to it? The only sort of deity that needs guidance, information, or inspiration from its devotees in order to behave rightly is a highly imperfect one, not the sort of deity worth worshiping. Anyway, your omniscient deity must already know what you want. And if you truly trust in the perfect judgment of your deity, why would you ask it to put the full force of its divine power behind your imperfect judgment?

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 Posted by on October 31, 2016
   
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