BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — It's probably the safest bet Larry Flynt has ever made. The Hustler publisher today offered Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock one million dollars in cash for proof that supports the Tea Party favorite's infamous claim that rape victims getting pregnant "is something God intended to happen." Flynt made the offer in an ad published in the Nov. 1 edition of the Indianapolis Star.
Flynt has flirted seriously with religion over the years, and at one point in his life even wanted to become a preacher. His short-lived "conversion" to evangelical Christianity by Ruth Carter Stapleton shortly after his shooting by white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin is also the stuff of legends—and, one day, undoubtedly, a TV movie. His comfort with being a pornographer is well known, of course, but the offer to Mourdock reveals his impatience with people who claim to have inside knowledge about God's true objectives. It is therefore not a surprise that the flipside of Flynt's offer to pay Mourdock one million dollars for proof that he was "authorized" by God to speak on His behalf is his observation that failure to show proof means that the candidate has committed "blasphemy" for using "the Almighty’s name in vain." In other words, it is our belief that Flynt's provisional condemnation was not made sarcastically, but in deadly earnest.
The letter, which was also posted to Flynt's blog, reads:
Dear Mr. Mourdock,
I am offering you $1 million in cash, to be deposited in any bank you designate in the United States, Cayman Islands or Switzerland, for proof to substantiate your statement on Tuesday, October 23, 2012, that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
Please be kind enough to verify your claim for a wondering nation. I will accept for purposes of this reward any verifiable transcript of your personal conversations with God; letters, email, text messages or videos from God, or messages addressed to you from God transmitted by any third party, including the Republican National Committee or the Romney/Ryan campaign.
I assume that you would not have made this statement unless you had been authorized by God. No one who believes in God would ever use the Almighty’s name in vain. That would be blasphemy. I am eager to receive your proof and pay my $1 million reward to you. Please send evidence immediately to me.
This offer is valid until 8 P.M. (ET) on November 5, 2012.
Sincerely yours,
Larry Flynt
