Poetic Justice

When it comes to religion, I freely admit I am skeptic. Over the last few years I've become increasingly so. To blindly believe in something without any supporting evidence is just silly, especially when one considers the vastness of the universe. Seriously: If man is so damn special, why are there other galaxies? Why are there quasars? Why are there spectacular nebula? Indeed, why bother a such a vast universe? Did God create all that just so the Hubble Space Telescope would have something pretty look at? That's why I had decided that the only way I would ever believe in God is if he snuck up and bit me on the ass.

But now something has happened that has caused me to question my lack of faith. Indeed, it can only be explained as a divine miracle. Not only is it absolute proof of a supreme being, but evidence he (or she) has a wicked sense of humor with a strong undercurrent of irony.

Early last week, Stuart Shepard of the conservative group Focus on the Family, asked evangelical Christians to pray for "rain of biblical proportions" to fall on Denver's Invesco Field during Barack Obama's acceptance speech. The idea was that since Democrats are generally pro-choice and want to legalize same sex unions, Evangelicals should ask God to smite the godless heathens by washing out their big party.

I'm not sure exactly why the prayers were thought to be necessary. After all, isn't God supposed to be all-knowing? Wouldn't he have at least the headlines about the Democratic convention on Yahoo's home page? Wouldn't he have been capable of deciding on a course of action on his own, without the distraction of millions of prayers? Speaking for myself, I certainly know I find it impossible to think when people are yelling at me.

Well, needless to say, it didn't happen. It did NOT rain, and Obama went on to deliver an inspiring speech.

The Republicans, on the other hand, were looking forward to throwing their own big celebration this week. Their convention was supposed to open tonight with speeches by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. And just as the media was focused on the Democrats last week, the Republicans were hoping to get same sort of free publicity this week. It was to be a golden opportunity to introduce the McCain-Palin ticket to the American people.

Now, thanks to Hurricane Gustav, it ain't gonna happen. Both the President and Vice President have canceled their appearances. They don't seem like they're partying while disaster strikes in New Orleans. Likewise, many other Republican bigwigs from places like Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas have decided to stay home and help deal with the aftermath of Gustav. As a result, the entire convention has scaled back its once grand plans. Even worse, the news from Louisiana will likely be dominating the nation's front pages all this week while convention news is relegated to the back pages. That means less publicity for McCain.

What makes this absolutely hilarious is that McCain's choice for a running mate--Sarah Palin--is a hard core Evangelical Christian herself. She is vehemently opposed to abortion rights and is a creationist. She even wants it taught in public schools alongside evolution.

So let's get this straight: Not only did God ignore the pleas to rain out the Democrats' party, but he's using an entire f*cking hurricane to upstage the Republican convention?!?!

Stuart Shepard's plea for prayers may not have invoked the wrath of God, but it certainly tickled His sense of irony.