Holy Weblog!

Acknowledging you pray for the leader of the free world to die -– not to mention publicly rejoicing in the slaying of an abortion doctor — will get you a lot of attention. But the Rev. Wiley Drake, a Southern California preacher and Baptist gadfly, has a long history of drawing attention.

We’re guessing this little collection of tidbits about the good reverend only scratches the surface. Feel free to add your own in the comments if you know of any. Or heck, follow him on Twitter.

1. He was Alan Keyes’ running mate on the American Independent Party ticket during the itinerant right-wing candidate’s run for president last year.

Before that, he said he got in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, first for an earlier endorsement of Republican Mike Huckabee and then a subsequent endorsement of Keyes. Drake said he was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing involving his church’s tax-exempt status.

2. Drake and Keyes sued unsuccessfully to keep Obama from becoming “the first illegal-alien president in U.S. history” after calling into question his eligibility, saying Obama could not be president because his father was a British citizen.

3. He declared that “God will punish” fellow Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren for agreeing to give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration. “I pray He is kind to you in this punishment that is coming,” Drake wrote in a widely-released e-mail. In it, Drake slams Warren’s “recent plan to invoke the presence of almighty God on this evil illegal alien,” a reference to Obama.

He has also urged followers to pray that God would curse two officials with Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

4. Drake has been a very active advocate for the homeless in Buena Park, Calif., home of his First Southern Baptist Church. He was found guilty in 1997 of four counts of violating Buena Park city ordinances for allowing homeless people to sleep on church property and camp in its parking lot. A court ruled that he would not serve jail time or pay fines; instead, it sentenced him to 1,500 hours of community service, then said Drake’s work with the homeless would count toward those hours.

In 2000 the church finally obtained a permit to build a homeless shelter on its property.

(The New York Times offered an interesting account of Drake’s epiphany on the homeless in 1997.)

5. He’s the official chaplain of the anti-immigrant Minuteman Project. Yet he told the alternative newspaper OC Weekly that he began helping illegal immigrants in their attempts to become legal U.S. residents as soon as he became pastor of his Buena Park church in 1987.

6. Drake dropped out of high school to join a traveling rodeo and circus. He joined the Navy at age 17 and converted to Christianity during the Vietnam War, after he sat beside a dying Marine whose last words were “I don’t want to go to hell.” (Gayle White, “Politicking for the Lord,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 12, 1999)

7. He campaigned against the Bible Literacy Project, saying its textbook equated scripture with mythology and denied its creation accounts as untrue. “Sounds like our old friends the Communist back [sic] for another attempt with the Bible in hand this time,” he said in an Oct. 2, 2006, news release.

8. In 1999 he applied for a permit to carry a concealed firearm in Orange County.

9. He was elected second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2006. His bid to become the denomination’s president failed last year.

10. He spearheaded the Southern Baptists’ boycott of the Walt Disney Co. over its books, movies and TV programs, as well as its health benefits for partners of gay and lesbian employees. He tried and failed to have the denomination move its 2000 meeting out of Orlando, home of Walt Disney World. (The Southern Baptists ended what became an eight-year boycott in 2005, saying they considered it a success.)

11. He formed an exploratory committee in 2003 to weigh a presidential run. He told OC Weekly he would endorse “freedom of religion, not freedom from.” He said of non-Christians: “They are free to believe whatever they want, practice whatever they want. Just don’t try to force me to practice their pagan religion. Furthermore, if they don’t like a Christmas scene, etc., then go where they don’t have Christmas, etc. We are, after all, a free nation. They can stay stupid and not read the Bible if they so desire.”

12. While a pastor in Arkansas, Drake supported Bill Clinton’s gubernatorial campaigns. “I told people, ‘I can’t tell you who to vote for but I’ve met Bill Clinton and he wants to put Christian principles and Southern Baptists back ito the Governor’s Mansion,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1999. “Looking back now, I regret it.”

13. “Saddened” by Focus on the Family’s withdrawal of a video urging rain on the Democratic National Convention’s meeting at Invesco Field in Denver last year, Drake urged his followers to pray for rain. “I too am still against killing babies and allowing sodomites to marry,” he said in an Aug. 17, 2008, news release.

By Flickr user trappedinabay.

Will hate crime legislation protect people who have sex with ducks? That’s one of Pat Robertson’s biggest fears. America’s favorite loopy televangelist (OK, one of many) has drawn fire for that gem of a remark.

Enter Garfunkel and Oates and their “Sex With Ducks” parody. CNN’s Jeannie Moos reports:

Find the full video here: