When WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah first called for "a national day of prayer and fasting" in an April 11 column, his bill of particulars read like an anti-Obama rant:
- There's a concerted effort to redefine marriage as any union between people, regardless of sex, possibly regardless even of the number of participants in that union and possibly even regardless of the status of blood relationship between them;
- America continues to abort unborn babies by the millions and has now moved further in the direction of euthanasia on both ends of the life spectrum - possibly even making it a matter of national, state-controlled health-care mandates;
- American foreign policy seems directionless, no longer with the primary concern being national security, but in fostering and fomenting change for the sake of change and breaking down the barriers of national sovereignty;
- Government seems determined to enforce a monopoly on force by making it more difficult for Americans to exercise their constitutionally protected right to procure and bear firearms
- Government and cultural institutions are breaking down the pillars and principles upon which self-government has been built;
- Government is building up its authority and diminishing the role God plays as the supreme authority in the lives of free people;
- The people are responding, predictably, by doing what's right in their own eyes, as the people of ancient Israel did before their judgment.
Now, Farah wants you to believe there's no partisan intent behind his now-formal (it must be; it has its own special URL, which redirects to a promotional page) National Day of Prayer and Fasting, set for the totally-not-meant-to-send-a-political-message day of Sept. 11, and he whines when he's called on it. From Farah's May 3 column:
An editorial in the Times and Democrat of Orangeburg, S.C., expresses concerns about the idea.
"Our concern is attempts to make such a prayer day a political statement," the editorial says. "It is being proposed and pushed via petition by Joseph Farah -- founder, editor and CEO of WND.com, formerly known as WorldNetDaily. Farah is the author of 'The Tea Party Manifesto.' His 2003 bestseller. 'Taking America Back,' predicted the rise of the tea party."
So who said anything about politics?
Who said anything about a political statement?
Obviously, the unnamed editors of the Times and Democrat did - by insinuation.
Because I have written some books that were political in nature and presumably because I have some strong political opinions, I am somehow not worthy of calling for a day of prayer.
No, that's not it, Mr. Farah. It's the fact that you're pretending it's not another attempt on your part to stick it to Obama that makes you not worthy of it.
There's also the fact that Farah painted President Obama's re-election in the most dire and apocalyptic of Biblical terms:
- Before the election, Farah declared that "One thing most Americans have experienced during the Obama years is tribulation," and "I pray fervently for my fellow Americans, that they have developed the character and the hope for a better America to bring the Obama tribulation to a quick end."
Farah rather desperately oversold his claimed modesty in his May 5 column, writing, "I admit a journalist and media entrepreneur is not the most likely candidate to be promoting spiritual revival." But Farah is not a journalist -- he said so himself in a 2009 column when he declared that "I stepped beyond my role as a journalist and media entrepreneur to become an activist, a crusader, some might even say a 'birther.'"
Farah peddled some of that false modesty in his May 3 column as well, stating, "I've been attacked for many things in my life. For some of them, I deserved it. I've beat myself up for much of what I've done."
Do any of those involving destroying the credibility of his own "news" website to pursue a four-year, scorched-earth anti-Obama jihad, or that has yet to acknowledge the fact that WND refuses to tell its readers the truth about its utterly discredited "eligibility" obsession? Somehow, we suspect not.
In addition to Farah's hate and lies by proxy through the website he operates, Farah has spread numerous lies in his WND column. Will Farah be seeking forgiveness from God for the lies he's told? Shouldn't he also seek forgiveness from his readers first?
Farah complains that his National Day of Prayer and fasting is political "only in the vivid, warped and distorted imaginations of people with their own political agenda." No, Joe, they're not warped or distorted at all -- they've simply been watching you operate for the past 15 years.
If Farah really believes in the power of repentance, he should publicly apologize to his readers for the massive dishonesty his website has perpetrated over the past the past four-plus years, trying to personally destroy Obama -- using the same manufactured-scandal playbook Farah ran against President Clinton in the 1990s -- merely to gain a political scalp.
If he can't do that simple and desperately needed act, there's no reason for anyone to believe he's sincere about his day of prayer.
(An expanded version of this column is available at ConWebWatch.)