Michele Bachmann believes God attacked the East Coast

GOP presidential candidate believes Hurricane Irene, earthquake, both the result of God's wrath

Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann believes that God played a hand in the recent hurricane and earthquake that hit the eastern seaboard this past week.

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians," Bachmann told a crowd of supporters recently. "We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending."

Yes folks, God is upset at America because of our finances. He could get past American abuses, overlooking slavery and racism, prejudice and suppression of speech rights, even wars that have been waged and have killed thousands of people. None of that matters because, as Michele Bachmann has pointed out, God is simply focused on our financial problems.

(Of course, Bachmann probably didn't even think to worry over past abuses this country may have perpetrated that God could be angry over -- she once erroneously believed our founding fathers eradicated slavery.)

Sarcasm aside, the fact that a leading contender for the GOP nomination for president believes that God is worried about our budgets shows just how off Bachmann's own beliefs really are. This is a woman, in fact, who has already prayed for the end of the world to come, believing that the end times are nigh.

Now I don't claim to be all-knowing; the end times could in fact be near, and I could be completely wrong on this whole thing -- maybe God really IS a right-wing economist, maybe Milton Friedman sits beside him in the Kingdom of Heaven. But to live out our lives expecting the end to be near is a dangerous way to be, especially with this view of God in mind.

Believing that the world could end in a year, a month, a week, or whenever you like gives you full clearance to live your life in a dangerous manner. It gives you permission to live in a selfish way, in a way that requires some politicians, like Bachmann, to pre-judge others, even in their capacity as secular lawmakers.

Our government requires us to treat each other with respect, to be neutral in terms of religious belief. If people want to believe the end times are near, that's fine -- let them believe it. But if their actions, through the takeover of American governance, brings forth an obstruction of rights for others, or otherwise impedes their ability to live fulfilling lives, the line between church and state is clearly crossed...which is precisely why a candidate like Bachmann would make a terribly frightening president.