DanMargarita.com

The reason I mention this is that as I write, it is the day before the Presidential election, and there is a story in today's Boston Globe in which the Rev. Billy Graham is quoted as saying "I've been praying that God's will shall be done...and if they (the Bushes), by God's will, win, I'm going to do everything in my power to help them make it a successful presidency."

Rev. Graham seems to assume that God is supporting George W. Bush for President. Does he mean then that he thinks Satan is supporting the Gore campaign? Does it mean that if Al Gore wins, that God is really supporting him and that Rev. Graham was on the wrong side? Will God determine the outcome of this election? Could God ever be on the losing side of an election?

I realize that I'm not writing anything that hasn't been written about before. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wrote on the subject (note to Mike Barnicle: if you?re going to plagiarize, steal from the best) noting that both the North and South claimed to have God on their side.

"Surely, God cannot be for and against the same thing?" the Great Emancipator mused (I'm paraphrasing here).

History is full of people who have acted irrationally because "God told them to." With orders to take John Wilkes Booth alive, one of the soldiers shot and fatally wounded Lincoln's assassin, because God told him to do so. All right, enough Civil War anecdotes.

Many suicide bombers have been known to yell, "God is great!" as their final statement before committing their heinous deed. (Actually, their last saying is often "aaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!" but that is less of a statement than a pained, maniacal cry.) I have a sneaking suspicion he's not gonna be too happy with you, pal.

Gore has said that in difficult times he asks himself, "What would Jesus do?"

Bush, a born-again Christian who claims Jesus as his favorite philosopher, apparently doesn't ask himself the same question, judging by the number of executions that he has presided over. I don't imagine that Jesus would condone executions, or he probably would've said "OK boys, start chucking the stones."

In an effort to gain the moral high ground and "out-God" his opponent, Gore selected Sen. Joseph Liebermen, an Orthodox Jew as his running mate. Leiberman has mentioned God so often in his stump speeches that I'm surprised that he hasn't produced any stone tablets with new Commandments on them.

This looks to be a close race, and there is no way to predict the outcome. By the time you read this, either George W. Bush or Al Gore will have been chosen as our next president.

God help us.