Anna Pierre, R.N., a mayoral candidate from North Miami, said that she received God's political endorsement. A poster on her FaceBook page featured a White Jesus. (Pierre is a Black woman.) The poster read: “Anna Pierre, RN is endorsed by Jesus Christ.”

Unfortunately for Pierre, the Almighty did not have enough power to bring her the political victory. Actually, it was much worse than that. Out of seven mayoral candidates, Pierre came in dead last with 56 votes, or 0.83 percent - a rather ungodly finish.

Earlier in the race, Pierre claimed that voodoo practitioners tried to sabotage her campaign. Someone allegedly left voodoo tools such as food, candies and dolls with pins stuck in them in front of the door of her campaign office. (Pierre is originally from Haiti, and Miami has a huge Haitian population.)

What if Pierre had won the election? She would have roared incessantly that “God is great!” However, as filmmaker Spike Lee once remarked, “they never thank God in the losers‟ dressing room.” This all raises the question: what counts as strong evidence against the existence of God?

During the first Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein insisted that whichever side won the war, that side must be favored by God. However, after Iraq lost, Hussein never returned to this subject. In fact, he was captured and eventually killed in the second war.

The Nation of Islam‟s (NOI) Screwy Louie Farrakhan says that God is always on the side of the oppressed. That raises another question: How could the oppressed be in the throes of oppression if God is on their side?

The late philosopher William Jones never accepted Farrakhan‟s odd opinion about God. Jones asked the question Is God a White Racist? (That is the title of his provocative book.) After all, White people have most of the world‟s wealth, influence, power, etc. White people in the U.S. are among the most religious people in the world.

If God is on the side of Black people, why do Black people die much earlier than White people? Why do Black people have worse health than White people? Black people pray more often and see faith healers in higher percentages of the population than any other group. Moreover, they have higher church attendance than every other group. However, in the U.S., Blacks make up about 12% of the population yet make up about 40% of those awaiting organ transplants.

What tangible evidence exists to back up the extraordinary claim that God favors a particular side? In sports, this claim is problematic. Many athletes that emerge victoriously in sporting events thank God for the victory. However, as one freethought writer, Dexter Martin, once pointed out in the newsletter I used to edit, The AAH Examiner, is not this asking God to cheat in sports? If God intervenes on the side of one team, that gives that team an unfair advantage over the other. After all, no athlete or team can defeat God. As Martin noted, praying for victory is the equivalent of athletes using spiritual steroids or performance enhancing drugs (assuming that God actually exists and cares at all about sports.)

It is conceivable that a belief in God could have a devastatingly negative influence upon individuals, teams, etc. After all, if one believes too deeply in God and not deeply enough in one‟s self or team, that person could fail to eat, sleep, and train properly, etc. That person could refuse to get the proper nutrition. If God is on your side, what do you need with worthless crap like practice, film study, etc.?

How does one argue against the claim that he or she has lost because the victors were on the side of God? If at all possible, should the losers strive to join the victors? (If you can‟t beat „em, join „em.) Should the losers switch gods or religions? Should they reject theism altogether? (Now that‟s a novel idea!)

Obviously, smart and talented people do not obsess about the supposed will of God when it comes to trying to win. They look to themselves. They consider new strategies, new ideas, new programs, new training methods, new tactics, etc. They try to learn from history, they seek new players, new coaches, new managers, new allies, etc.

If the nurse from Miami is wise, she will stop trying to win the political support of Jesus. Rather, she will go back to the drawing board, come up with better strategies, raise more money, etc. Those are the kinds of ways in which she might one day become victorious. Then again, maybe she ought to just drop out of politics altogether and go back to her day job.