Lou Engle's 'The Call' in Detroit

Lou Engle

    You’ve probably already heard, but a week or so ago, on 11/11/11, there was a prayer rally in Detroit targeting a number of groups - gays, Catholics, and African-Americans in Detroit, with an emphasis on Muslims - with group prayer. According to the organizers, this was done with the hope that these groups feel the influence of God in their lives and change their ways - which according to their faith (or at least their particular brand of it) are ’evil’ and ’sinful.’ Prayer leaders used words like ‘dark’ and ‘demonic’ to describe the lives and actions of said targets, and decried mosques, with event promoters talking about driving stakes into the grounds of Mosque properties with the intent to drive away demons.
    Understandably, the event - the preparation for which seemed to do little more than raise hostility from all sides - drew protesters from all walks of life. Members of the LGBT community, the Islamic faith and even clergy from several Christian churches of various denominations gathered to stand outside and protest ’The Call,’ which they said in practice encouraged hate rather than love, and was not Christianity as Jesus envisioned it. The organization and actual execution of the rally raised a lot of concerns, especially from the Muslim population of Detroit, and across the United States. Were they justified?

Though before and after ‘The Call’ Lou Engle (the lead organizer) came under fire for anti-Muslim sentiment, Engle says this is wrong - that Muslims are NOT the target of the prayers.

“Our fight is not against Muslims, it is against the principalities, powers, and forces of darkness.”

This wording raises a few questions, being that the obvious implications of saying that then targeting Muslims with prayer means that he believes that their faith and practices are influenced by the ‘powers and forces of darkness.‘ However, he also said:

“We must pray that God would restrain the spiritual powers behind Islam and grant us the great awakening that we desperately need for America.”

And that

“[Detroit is a] microcosm of our national crisis in many areas including the rising tide of Islam."

Even

“Muslim proclamations for fourteen hundred years have been fueling the demonic realm.” 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but listing Islam amongst abortion, racism and homosexuality as things that are wrong and need to end seems to be... well, anti-Muslim.

Personally, I can’t wrap my head around the claim that this was an event driven by ‘love’ given that the organizers chose to go into one of the largest Muslim communities outside of the Middle East and then hold a high-publicity rally declaring the need for Muslims to convert and repent their ways. After all, the bible - specifically Jesus - said this about public Prayer:

“5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” - Matthew 6: 5-7

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't seem very 'private.'

In fact, most times you see mention of Jesus praying in the bible, he is alone or separates himself from his disciples for the purpose of praying alone. Check out pretty much any mention of Jesus in the Gospels in regards to prayer, and he’s either alone on a mountain, or making sure to distance himself from his followers so that he’s alone while he prays.

Those who attended The Call for the sake of praying in large numbers in a public place where they knew they would receive media attention cannot claim religious justification for their actions - fellowship can be found in church, requests for specific prayer focus can be spread by religious leaders or word of mouth, and prayer in large numbers can be achieved in separate locations: there is no need to gather for the sake of Intercessory Prayer. Therefore, the real intention of this action can only have been publicity, getting their actions on TV, and making a show of numbers to discomfort Detroit Muslims.

    Sad as it may be, it isn’t particularly surprising, given Engle’s stance as a Dominionist Christian - that is, someone who believes that Christians must dominate the “Seven Mountains” of cultural influence, which are government, education, media, arts and entertainment, the family, business and religion.

    Despite all the ill-will the stir has caused, I couldn’t help but be a little amused by the whole thing. One of the specific prayer requests at The Call called for Jesus to appear in the dreams of Muslims:

“At 11-11-11 the Lord just clearly showed to us, you got to pray all night long because it’s when the Muslims sleep and all over the world right now Muslims in the night are having dreams of Jesus, we believe that God wants to invade with His love Dearborn with dreams of Jesus. We’re gathering together to say God, pour out your grace and revelations of Jesus all over Dearborn and the Muslim communities of North and South America.” -Engle

    I was amused, because this sort of statement reminded me a lot of the practice of Intercessory Prayer in a number of other religions. Intercessory Prayer - praying for someone on their behalf because they will not or cannot speak to a Deity on their own - is common practice in Vodun, where a practitioner will address the Loa on behalf of a supplicant, and provide the appropriate offerings and prayers. Priests and Priestesses from a wide stretch of religions serve similar purposes - monks in China and Vietnam pray for the deceased to help them in the afterlife on behalf of their families, or a coven may come together to perform a ritual to benefit the members, friends or family.
   
    The belief that Jesus sits at the right hand of God and speaks to him on behalf of the Christians who pray means in fact that all Christian prayer is Intercessory - after all, Jesus intercedes on their behalf.

    The bible makes many references to the power of prayer, and testifies that the faithful will have their prayers answered - granted that the prayers are for a closer relationship with God, for greater faith, and for personal growth. Asking for changes in the lives of oneself or others by gathering together and addressing one’s deity is referred to in anthropology and various world religions with several terms, amongst them ‘ritual,’ ‘magic,’ and ‘spells’ -  but I think most of the people who attended the rally would be horrified to hear their not-quite-Christian gathering called as much.

    I think that a lot of the people who went did so with good intentions: but they also went in ignorance, and without consideration for the political and societal impacts of their actions.

I suppose that if I believed in that sort of thing, I’d pray for them.  

Here's a vid from "Right Wing Watch" featuring some of Engle's (and associate's) more questionable quotes.