Rep. Paul Broun Uses Prayer for Political Attack
Last week Rep. Todd Akin made news by casually alleging on a Religious Right radio program that “at the heart of liberalism is really a hatred of God,” a stunningly offensive statement that provoked demands of an apology from local clergy in his district.
As Matt Finkelstein at Political Correction catches, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) must not have been following the news last week as at an event this weekend he used a prayer to compare progressives to terrorists “who want to destroy us from the inside.” From the Marietta Daily Journal:
“Father, there are many who want to destroy us from outside this nation,” Broun said. “Folks like al-Qaeda and the radical Islamists. But there are folks that want to destroy us from inside, the progressives and the socialists, who want to make this nation a nation that’s no longer under you, under God, but a nation that’s ruled by man.”
Broun’s comments share the same themes as Akin’s: the ridiculous accusations of replacing God with government and the attempt to claim faith as the sole domain of one ideological group.
It is offensive enough to make these comments, but to do so in the course of an invocation to God is particularly revolting. This is the political abuse of religion at its worst.
