Hawaii Makes Great Decisions

Hawaii: a land of beautiful weather, beautiful landscape, beautiful people, and as of last month, no prayer during state senate meetings. In a move that would seem unfathomable by any other state in the Union, the senate of Hawaii decided to end the daily prayer that was usually given every day before the session began which more than likely referenced Jesus. Of course!

The ACLU wrote a letter to the senate telling them that they were circumventing the separation of church and state. Instead of asking for prayers that didn't reference any deities, the senate decided to do away with the practice all together. To that, we salute you Hawaii!

Spartanburg, SC Heads Down The Prayer Path

Does anyone remember when John F. Kennedy had to prove to the nation that his religion (Catholicism) would not interfere with his governance? Neither do I. Neither does the rest of the country. Now, everyone is concerned with their elected leaders wearing their religion on their foreheads like some sort of moronic billboard. It looks like Spartanburg County, SC is about to have their own religious battle for, you guessed it, prayer before county commission meetings.

There is a quote from Chairman Jeff Horton that is very telling about what happens when you mix governance and religion. (emphasis added)

“He prays for all council members and everyone in Spartanburg, and always includes our fire personnel and police officers and our military personnel. He doesn’t try to convert anybody to Christianity in our service, I mean our, um, meeting."

Even that guy is having trouble distinguishing the meeting from church. But, I have to say I love the reason that this even became an issue.

Prayer in the public square has been under increased scrutiny since March, when Councilman O’Neal Mintz — filling in for Chaplain Jerry Clevenger — opened a council meeting with a prayer condemning abortion and same-sex marriage. Clevenger, a Sheriff’s Office employee, typically gives the opening prayer and uses less controversial language. But he does close his prayers “in Jesus’s name.”

Damn, that guy is bold. What do you expect when you let hillbillies run rampant at public functions where they can gain points with the flock of Jesus? It gets better. Horton says:

“But as a Christian, I cannot ask anyone not to say Jesus’ name.”

Yes you can! What you do is stop praying at government functions! This guys is flat out telling everyone that being a Christian supersedes his oath of office. So one night, when this guy hears the voice of God tell him to enact Christian Sharia Law, then he will because Jesus told him to.

The best way to avoid this situation is to stop praying before meetings. Stop praying at government functions. Keep your prayer to yourself. By the way, didn't that Jesus guy that these people seem to not be able to stop talking about have something interesting to say about prayer?

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." - Matthew 6:6

I guess they overlooked that one.

North Carolina Legislature Wastes Time On Prayer

History repeating itself is boring. A pastor who had honorary chaplain duties for the North Carolina House of Representatives was relieved of his dutieswhen he refused to take the name of Jesus out of the end of his invocation.

"I was made to feel like a second class North Carolinian when I was told that my services would no longer be needed if I could not offer the opening prayer in the manner prescribed by the House of Representatives, rather than in the manner my Biblical faith requires," said Pastor Ron Baity.

Waa, waa, waaaaaaaaaaaa! I know that being a pastor in North Carolina must be a horrible thing what with all of the religious people here. However, the problem I have with this whole story is not that this pastor wanted to pray to Jesus, it is that the NC Legislature is wasting time on prayer!

Why does the Legislature need to pray before getting down to business? Why can't these pious politicians pray before they show up to the meeting? I would prefer that the business of the state be taken care of with as little ancient mysticism as possible. Imagine if someone sacrificed a lamb on the steps of the House before every meeting. It would be a disgusting display and a waste of time that would have no bearing on the business of the State.

Just like prayer.

Nothin' Fails Like Prayer!

Supposedly there is going to be a massive prayer campaign held this weekend for the ambiguous "plight of children." I have a lot of questions here: What children? Children in what country? All children or just the ones that are in need? What constitutes need? I don't understand exactly what they are going to be praying for.

One thing I have noticed is that how easy it is to pray instead of actually doing something. Pious Christians everywhere are willing to sit around and think to themselves for a whole weekend, but going out and actually doing something to help children that are being molested, or children who are starving, or children who are homeless, well that just sounds like a lot of work.

So when you think prayer can heal the world, or anything for that matter, ask yourself this: when is the last time prayer made someones arm grow back? When is the last time prayer brought the dead back to life?

Prayer Comes To Greensboro, NC

Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight has decided to replace the moment of silence before city council meetings with prayer. He is being inclusive and offering to let people of many faiths offer the invocation.

He took office in December and said the prayer is an opportunity to exercise faith without tying government to religion.

I have an idea: practice your faith all day long, then when you come to a city council meeting, conduct actual business. Why do Christians have to have some semblance of religion in every aspect of their lives? And why do they constantly feel the need to force a prayer on everyone else?

Look, prayer is not effective. It does nothing but make some pious Americans feel good about their ridiculous beliefs and piss off everyone else. How about we use the time at city council meetings to actually do business. I, for one, am sick of Christians trying to make every building they enter into their church. Come into my house and pray. See what happens.