{"id":3564,"date":"2015-09-26T12:31:18","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T17:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/?p=3564"},"modified":"2015-09-26T12:31:18","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T17:31:18","slug":"called-by-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/2015\/09\/26\/called-by-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans (crank) called by God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to the 2016 Presidential\u00a0election in the U.S., the Republicans are suffering from\u00a0what I can only call an embarrassment of riches, with a field so wide that they have yet to fit them all on a single stage. They are also suffering from a surfeit of public piety, which compels them to cite divine guidance whenever they enter and\/or leave the hunt for high office. In this post, I will track each of them as they drop out;\u00a0end-of-campaign dates are noted in parentheses.<\/p>\n<h3>Scott Walker (21 Sep 2015)<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&#39;m in. I&#39;m running for president because Americans deserve a leader who will fight and win for them. &#8211; SW <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/DZG253QjfP\">http:\/\/t.co\/DZG253QjfP<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Walker16?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Walker16<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottWalker\/status\/620540478308487168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 13, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Just after announcing his run for high office, Scott Walker <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightwingwatch.org\/content\/scott-walker-says-his-presidential-bid-gods-plan\">released an e-mail<\/a> to his supporters making it clear that it was not his decision alone:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>My relationship with God drives every major decision in my life. Each day I pray and then take time to read from the Bible and from a devotional named Jesus Calling.<\/p>\n<p>As you can imagine, the months leading up to my announcement that I would run for President of the United States were filled with a lot of prayer and soul searching.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why: I needed to be certain that running was God\u2019s calling &#8212; not just man\u2019s calling. I am certain: This is God\u2019s plan for me and I am humbled to be a candidate for President of the United States.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And now we know how &#8220;God\u2019s plan&#8221; for Scott Walker turned out:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Please see my statement from earlier tonight on my campaign &#8211;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OGhOQgEPyO\">https:\/\/t.co\/OGhOQgEPyO<\/a> &#8211; SW<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottWalker\/status\/646148977830686720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 22, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to thank God for His abundant grace. Win or lose, it is more than enough for any of us.&#8221; Sometimes God calls his servants to impossible tasks, one must suppose.<\/p>\n<h3>Rick Perry (11 Sep 2015)<\/h3>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ErikBCorcoran\/status\/642090787791093760<\/p>\n<p>The sitting governor of Texas first gained national notoriety by hosting a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/08\/07\/us\/politics\/07prayer.html\">massive prayer and worship service<\/a> in the same stadium which hosted the 38th Super Bowl. Perry did a fine job of muddling church and state together that day, but he did not say at the time whether God was leading him to run for President. His wife later <a href=\"http:\/\/religiondispatches.org\/anita-perry-god-was-speaking-to-me-that-rick-should-run-for-president\/\">made it abundantly clear<\/a> that God was definitely speaking to them about a presidential bid, although she was hearing the divine voice somewhat more clearly at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Oops.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/rick-perry-quits-presidential-race-with-no-regrets-says-gods-will-superior-to-mine-145153\/\">The Christian Post<\/a>, Perry was led by Christ to suspend his campaign:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When I gave my life to Christ, I said, &#8216;Your ways are greater than my ways. Your will superior to mine. Today I submit that His will remains a mystery, but some things have become clear. That is why today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;Today I step aside knowing as long as we fight for the cause of conservatism, our nation is in good hands.&quot; &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovernorPerry?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GovernorPerry<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovernorPerry\/status\/642451483422621697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 11, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Evidently, God&#8217;s will was for Governor Perry to run for President and then fail to gain political traction. Twice. Mysterious ways, indeed.<\/p>\n<p>Who will be the next GOP contender to drop out of the race? God only knows!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to the 2016 Presidential\u00a0election in the U.S., the Republicans are suffering from\u00a0what I can only call an&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":3520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}