One thinks of prayers as nice things and of the Bible goodness, wisdom, and light. What an ugly wake-up, then, to find supposedly decent people praying for the President’s death. 
And they’re using the Bible to do so, no less. This, against a president who shares with his detractors Christian faith and belief in the sanctity of the Bible. Goes to show that not all Christians are, well, “Christian”; and while the Bible indeed contains great wisdom, lofty ideas, and words of comfort and peace, it also contains much that requires intelligent and wise treatment.
Some of the Bible is simply inappropriate for literal application in our time and place. That doesn’t make it worthless. On the contrary, biblical texts such as the one that Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) irresponsibly applied to our sitting President push us to think for ourselves, weighing and judging the fitness of certain received ideas or sentiments. “Irresponsible” is to put O’Neal’s treatment lightly, really. My husband observed that it’s treasonous. At the least, it’s in poor taste. Uncool. Unfortunately, O’Neal is not alone in his smug ugliness. Whatever you might think about Obama or I might think about O’Neal, that biblical text has no business in political discourse today. If you must have one, trade it in for 1 Timothy 2:1-2.
