I don’t often agree with Jews; or anybody else of religious persuasion for that matter, at least not in terms of religious issues. But in this particular situation I do, and I’ll even take it a step further: religion should have no place in any governmental activity in the United States of America, as our Founding Fathers clearly established a Constitution delineating an absolute separation between Church and State.
If not stopped in their tracks, these Bible-freaks are going to turn every government session in this great country into a religious sermon. How so many Americans can believe all the religious fairy tales; all the mumbo-jumbo they believe in is totally beyond my comprehension. The United States will soon be referred to as “land of the idiots, home of the indoctrinated” instead of ‘”land of the free, home of the brave;” as written in Francis Scott Key’s Star-Spangled Banner.
Of course, if all these so-called “men of God” with their less-than-holy institutions of worship would like to hold prayers in Congressional, Senatorial, Judicial and/or any other governmental proceedings all they have to do is propose a Constitutional Amendment wherein they are allowed to preach all their gibberish to the invisible man in the sky, as long as their religious institutions are required to pay taxes; they just can’t have it both ways. My guess is that they would have no interest in this; they’re not THAT religious. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Jewish Minnesota lawmaker is asking Senate leaders to allow only nondenominational prayers to open sessions, after feeling “highly uncomfortable” when a Baptist pastor repeatedly mentioned Jesus Christ and Christianity in one of the invocations.
Democratic Sen. Terri Bonoff says she wants Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch to change the letter submitted to all visiting chaplains to say they are “required,” rather than “requested,” to make prayers nondenominational.
“I’m a very religious woman and believe deeply in God,” said Bonoff, of the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka. “We honor God in public and our political discourse, and that’s proper. But in doing a nondenominational prayer we are honoring him without violating the separation of church and state.”
A spokesman for Koch said Wednesday that Bonoff and Koch had been in touch, but he didn’t believe the two had discussed the issue in-depth. Koch did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Several Jewish senators, all Democrats, are backing Bonoff’s request but she is meeting resistance from some Republicans. The GOP gained control of the Senate after November’s election.
“I believe we don’t have a right to censor their prayers,” Sen. David Brown, R-Becker, said of visiting chaplains.
The prayer that prompted Bonoff’s request was delivered Monday by the Rev. Dennis Campbell of Granite City Baptist Church in St. Cloud, who mentioned Jesus Christ by name three times and made other overt references to Christianity. Campbell later defended the content of his prayer.
“There’s nobody that loves the Jews any more than the Christians, so that was not meant as an insult or disrespect,” Campbell said. “Rather, it was a show of respect to Jesus Christ — just like our founders showed respect to Jesus Christ and the word of God when they built our Constitution.”
It’s not the first time Jewish legislators have taken issue with how prayers are conducted in state Capitol sessions. A decade ago, a handful of state representatives unsuccessfully fought for House guidelines similar to what Bonoff is proposing for the Senate.
Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, said he has spent several years outside the House chamber during opening prayers. He said he spoke to Speaker Kurt Zellers after a pastor opened a February session with a Christian prayer that made several Jewish members uncomfortable. Paymar said he’d likely push for further steps if it happens again.
“It makes anyone who doesn’t pray through Jesus Christ, or believe in Jesus Christ — it makes them feel like they don’t belong,” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, who is Jewish. “It makes me feel like I don’t belong on the Senate floor to which I was duly elected by my constituents. In a government chamber, I and others should not be made to feel that way.”
The Hawaii State Senate in January ended opening prayers altogether out of concern over possible lawsuits on First Amendment grounds.
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