# Focus on the Family wants Obama Drowned Out. Literally.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 13, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851 "2008-08-13T15:38:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/1 "2008-08-13T15:38:51Z")
[From the _London Times_](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4520147.ece):
> [@](#):
>
> A Christian fundamentalist group is praying for a deluge to drown out Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in two weeks’ time.
>
> Focus on the Family is asking for “abundant, torrential” downpours to flood Denver and silence Senator Obama when he accepts the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination on August 28.
>
> “Would it be wrong to ask people to pray for rain of Biblical proportions,” asks an umbrella wielding Stuard Shepard in a video put out by the ultra conservative evangelical group. He asks for the rain to start “two minutes before the acceptance speech begins.”
They might want to rethink this based on the track record: Pat Robertson called for God to smite Disney World for being gay-friendly, and the next major storm ran smack into Virginia Beach (home of Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network). So if history is any guide, we should look for FotF’s headquarters to be knocked off its foundations by a mudslide. Which would be doubly appropriate, somehow.
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/2 "2008-08-13T15:43:19Z")
I am not a meterologist, nor do I play one on television, but I have lived in Colorado long enough to know that if Denver gets hit that hard weatherwise so will the area north of Coloradol Springs (if not harder) where Focus on the Family has their offices.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/3 "2008-08-13T15:57:18Z")
These people have a…um…unique concept of what Christianity is all about, don’t they? “Smite mine enemies, O Prince of Peace, Lord of Love!” Besides, didn’t God promise never to make a flood of biblical proportions again? Something about a rainbow? Oh, wait! That symbol’s been stolen by the homersexuals. Gay people must somehow trump God’s promises. I had no idea we were so powerful.
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### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/4 "2008-08-13T16:08:59Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay]
These people have a…um…unique concept of what Christianity is all about, don’t they? “Smite mine enemies, O Prince of Peace, Lord of Love!”
[/QUOTE]
Actually, it’s probably more like:
[QUOTE=Monty Python]
‘O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that, with it, Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits in Thy mercy.’
[/QUOTE]
😃
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/5 "2008-08-13T16:11:21Z")
[QUOTE=TV time]
I am not a meterologist, nor do I play one on television, but I have lived in Colorado long enough to know that if Denver gets hit that hard weatherwise so will the area north of Colorado Springs (if not harder) where Focus on the Family has their offices.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve been in Denver in late August and I can’t see a thunderstorm generating that much rain unless a tornado gets involved as well. And I agree, that big a storm would do a number on Colorado Springs as well.
Besides, Invesco has a self-draining field.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/6 "2008-08-13T16:17:40Z")
That’s pretty silly, God is going to do everything he can to get Obama, the AntiChrist, elected. He’s not going to disprove his own prophesy, is he?
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/7 "2008-08-13T16:31:17Z")
I like the part where they put God on a schedule.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/8 "2008-08-13T16:37:35Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay]
These people have a…um…unique concept of what Christianity is all about, don’t they?
[/QUOTE]
Indeed, they seem to focus on hatred and bigotry, not family.
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### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/9 "2008-08-13T16:41:56Z")
And what if on that day Denver sees the nicest, prettiest, bluebird sky day that anyone can remember? What does that imply for Fucktards with Families? That God doesn’t listen to them?
Good.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/10 "2008-08-13T16:42:04Z")
How much rain does Denver usually get in August?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/11 "2008-08-13T16:46:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> These people have a…um…unique concept of what Christianity is all about, don’t they?
It’s not so much a desire to get into Heaven as it is a hope that other people are going to Hell.
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### Author:  [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/12 "2008-08-13T16:47:35Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
How much rain does Denver usually get in August?
[/QUOTE]
Not that much, but when it strikes, it can come in huge amounts that flood out an infrastructure poorly prepared to handle it.
Anyway, look at the original YouTube. It’s smarmy and annoying, but qualified. It isn’t exactly asking for any smiting, just wishing for an annoying amount of rain. It was the production value of a 5th grade end-of-year project; just some dumbass with an umbrella in front of a camera.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/13 "2008-08-13T16:59:00Z")
In fairness, FOF [pulled the video](http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/11/focus-action-pulls-video-asking-people-pray-rain-b/) a couple of days ago after numerous complains from members who (to their credit) thought it was a misuse of prayer and made Christians look bad. The douche who made the video is now saying it was all just a “joke.”
I actually don’t have any problem with it. If they want to pray for rain, let them pray. I say why stop at rain? Why not pray for something really spectacular. I say pray for frogs. A rain of frogs would look much more Biblical than ordinary rain. Blood would work too.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/14 "2008-08-13T17:00:24Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
How much rain does Denver usually get in August?
[/QUOTE]
Denver gets the same monsoonal pattern that the rest of the Southwest gets. So any storms, if intense, are likely to be rather short and cause flash flooding at the most. Call it about 2 inches if there’s not another hurricane heading this way in August. (Did the remnants of Dolly make it into Colorado, or did they stop in northern New Mexico?)
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### Author:  [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/15 "2008-08-13T17:34:37Z")
Serious question…Would asking God to rain on your enemies be taking God’s name in vain and therefore violate one of his commandments?
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/16 "2008-08-13T18:03:26Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
Indeed, they seem to focus on hatred and bigotry, not family.
[/QUOTE]
Well, if your families are all about hatred and bigotry…
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### Author:  [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/17 "2008-08-13T18:29:09Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
I like the part where they put God on a schedule.
[/QUOTE]
I liked that, too.
I sense some large disappointment coming soon to Focus on the Family.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/18 "2008-08-13T18:34:29Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
I like the part where they put God on a schedule.
[/QUOTE]
I’m picturing Rev. Dobson following God around with a big appointment book, like the secretary in a 1940s office movie. “And you have the Vegas appointment at 11…I reserved a private room at Circus, Circus for that. The thunderstorm of biblical proportions is scheduled for approximately 9PM, MDT, in Denver…”
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### Author:  [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/19 "2008-08-13T18:45:36Z")
[QUOTE=SpectBrain]
Serious question…Would asking God to rain on your enemies be taking God’s name in vain and therefore violate one of his commandments?
[/QUOTE]
Not sure about that, but it seems incredibly presumptious.
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### Author:  [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/focus-on-the-family-wants-obama-drowned-out-literally/459851/20 "2008-08-13T19:40:37Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay]
I’m picturing Rev. Dobson following God around with a big appointment book, like the secretary in a 1940s office movie. “And you have the Vegas appointment at 11… **I reserved a private room at Circus, Circus for that**. The thunderstorm of biblical proportions is scheduled for approximately 9PM, MDT, in Denver…”
[/QUOTE]
Bolding Mine
He is going straight to Hell just for that alone. 😃
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