Last July, Wisconsin State Representative Terry Moulton led his colleagues in prayer:
“In your name, and by the power of your spirit, I come against the Evil One. And I ask that he be cast from this place, this day.”
Not necessarily the most ecumenical of prayers, and now the Freedom from Religion Foundation has asked the Speaker of the Assembly, Mike Huebsch, to stop official prayers on the Floor before each session. You may remember FFRF from last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation case, which effectively, in this writer’s opinion, severely compromised the ability of individuals to use tax-payer standing to challenge Establishment Clause violations in court.
Rep. Moulton, who views his prayers as “exorcisms of the Assembly” called the Foundation “a very wacko group that is completely out of tune with mainstream America,” and said all he wanted to accomplish in the prayers was “to command that any satanic or evil forces be cast from the Assembly that day.”
Fair enough. Read more about this story at http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080618/GPG0101/80618075/1978/GPGsports
I don’t believe that faith should be a publically broadcast aspect of humanity. A person’s relationship with their chosen divinity, or lack of divinity, should be between that person, and that divinity. I also firmly believe in the separation of Church and State, for that reason. There was a time when the Church and the State were one… it was called the Dark Ages. ‘Nuff said.
BUT… I have no problem with elected representatives praying if that’s what they want. Or with the phrase “under God” being in the Pledge of Allegiance, or the Little League Pledge, it just isn’t an important enough issue for people to fight over.
Are we really devoting this much time to arguing over words when there are people dying from starvation, pointless wars, and inescapable poverty in our nation? Seriously!?
I don’t believe that faith should be a publically broadcast aspect of humanity. A person’s relationship with their chosen divinity, or lack of divinity, should be between that person, and that divinity. I also firmly believe in the separation of Church and State, for that reason. There was a time when the Church and the State were one… it was called the Dark Ages. ‘Nuff said.
BUT… I have no problem with elected representatives praying if that’s what they want. Or with the phrase “under God” being in the Pledge of Allegiance, or the Little League Pledge, it just isn’t an important enough issue for people to fight over.
Are we really devoting this much time to arguing over words when there are people dying from starvation, pointless wars, and inescapable poverty in our nation? Seriously!?