Earlier this year, Gordon Klingenschmitt issued a call for imprecatory prayer against Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, praying:
God, do not remain silent, for wicked men surround me and tell lies about me. We bless them, but they curse us. Therefore, find them guilty, not me. Let their days be few, and replace them with godly people. Plunder their fields and seize their assets. Cut off their descendants. And remember their sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now, Weinstein is suing Klingenschmitt, alleging that the effort resulted in harassment and death threats:
A former military lawyer who served in the Reagan White House and worked for Ross Perot is suing a Dallas-based religious organization in a case that could test the limits of free speech and prayer.
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he wants Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, to “stop asking Jesus to plunder my fields … seize my assets, kill me and my family then wipe away our descendants for 10 generations.”
The suit also asks the court to stop the defendants – Klingenschmitt and Jim Ammerman, the founder of the Dallas-based Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches – from “encouraging, soliciting, directing, abetting or attempting to induce others to engage in similar conduct.”
Weinstein, 54, said his family has received death threats, had a swastika emblazoned on their home in New Mexico, animal carcasses left on their doorstep and feces thrown at the house.
Klingenschmitt insists that he is not to blame because even though he wants God to kill Weinstein, he has “never incited anybody” to hurt him:
“I never prayed for anyone’s death,” he said. “I never prayed for anyone’s violence. All I did was quote the Scriptures.” His prayers are available on his Web site and for radio broadcast.
…
Klingenschmitt called the lawsuit a publicity stunt and Weinstein a “paranoid megalomaniac who has a history of anti-Christian persecution.”
He “would never pray evil upon my enemies,” he said, “but the justice of God is not evil.”
Does he want Mikey Weinstein to die? “I pray the Psalm that his days are few,” he replied.
