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First Amendment

Suit by Ex-White House Lawyer Says Prayers Incite Violence Against Him

Posted Oct 15, 2009 8:12 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A lawyer who challenged a foundation’s right to endorse military chaplains claims in a lawsuit that representatives of the organization are inciting violence against him through their prayers.

Lawyer Michael Weinstein and his wife, Bonnie, claim in the suit that they want Gordon Klingenschmitt to “stop asking Jesus to plunder my fields ... seize my assets, kill me and my family then wipe away our descendants for 10 generations,” according to the Dallas Morning News.

The suit (PDF posted by Texas Lawyer) also says Klingenschmitt and Jim Ammerman are encouraging others to engage in similar conduct. Ammerman is founder of the Dallas-based Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches, the group Weinstein opposed.

Weinstein is a former military lawyer who served in the Reagan White House and was general counsel for Ross Perot.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Randal Mathis, told Texas Lawyer that people have fired shots at the Weinsteins’ home, set fire to their lawn and left dead animals there. "A threat is a threat and a call to violence is a call to violence," he told the Dallas Morning News. "And those are not constitutionally protected." He told Texas Lawyer he hopes the case will reach the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling on whether threats cloaked in a prayer are protected by the First Amendment.

Klingenschmitt denied praying for violence in interviews with both publications. He told Texas Lawyer he merely quoted scripture that said "Let his days be few" and "Let his posterity be cut off."

Comments

1.

AndytheLawyer
Oct 15, 2009 9:41 AM CST

First amendment considerations aside, Klingenschmitt’s prayers are unlikely to be answered.  Other than one incident involving temple moneychangers, Jesus doesn’t seem to have been prone to the sort of violent thuggery that Klingenschmitt is alleged to be soliciting.

If I were Klingenschmitt’s counsel, I’d advise him to pray to Satan for these things instead.

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2.

taxprojoe
Oct 15, 2009 11:34 AM CST

It isn’t so much that Jesus will pop down to smite him but religious idiocy encourages and finds justification in the mentally weak to encite violence.  It is the reason religious “wackos” can murder abortion doctors in the name of god and truly believe that it was in gods best interest.

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3.

B. McLeod
Oct 15, 2009 6:02 PM CST

Sure.  Because God, though all-powerful, would for some reason be unable to kill an abortion doctor on His own.

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4.

Heidi O
Oct 15, 2009 6:15 PM CST

Cut off his posterity!  Ouch!  I generally pray that God bless my enemies and provide for them (although I’m not above asking God to turn their ankles if they’re in hot pursuit).  It seems so much more Christ-like to me.

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5.

Bean Counter
Oct 15, 2009 6:16 PM CST

And God, though all powerful and loving, would for some reason unable to kill and/or to forgive these folks.

I suggest the military chaplains read their bibles more carefuly (perhaps they have the wrong version) because they start sounding very much like extremists (or terrorists).

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6.

clamla
Oct 15, 2009 11:13 PM CST

This guy sounds like a Christian (and particularly American) version of Osama bin-Laden and the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhamed Omar. If you want to start a worldwide religious war, he’s your man!

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7.

charles pace
Oct 16, 2009 4:24 AM CST

Threats cloaked in prayer may not be enough.  Incitements to violence, however cloaked, to the extent causative should more than suffice.  See the KKK case,  plaintiffs were awarded $32 m.

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