I was driving my kids to school this morning when the news segment came on K-LOVE. Usually it’s cut and paste from Associated Press, but today they ran a story asking for prayer against the website WikiLeaks. According to them, Christians should join together to ask God to intervene against this “radical” news source. They cited the upcoming release of more documents about the war in Afganistan saying this could be dangerous for the US military and civilian informants.
Here’s my problem. This approach to journalism turns prayer into a tool for controlling public opinion. Never mind if WikiNews is exposing a government coverup or actually telling us the truth about this war. This story on K-LOVE is an attempt to bypass any real thinking about the issue. It’s as if pray is the password that shortcuts any rational evaluation. Just ask for prayer and Christians will support your cause.
Did anyone pray that God would suppress the truth about Watergate?
What about Vietnam?
This reminds me of the disgruntled deacon who wanted to discredit his pastor. Instead of the normal tactic of private slander he offered a prayer request. “I think we need to pray for Pastor Joe, we all know he’s been struggling lately. Let’s just pray that God will help him work out his anger issues. I don’t want to spread rumors, but keep his wife & kids in your prayers too.”
Certainly the issues raised by WikiLeaks are more complicated than a 30 second news clip. But this wasn’t news after all, just a propaganda prayer request.
What other examples have you seen like this? Leave a comment.
The source behind the K-LOVE story was the “Presidential Prayer Team” which has been profiled by snopes.com. In case you haven’t guessed, Fox News has been critical of WikLeaks.
