Posted on 11/30/2005 6:40:50 PM PST by NormsRevenge
INDIANAPOLIS - A federal judge on Wednesday barred the Indiana House from opening its sessions with specifically Christian prayers, ruling that such prayers amount to "an official endorsement of the Christian religion."
Judge David Hamilton advised House Speaker Brian Bosma that invocations given in the Legislature should not use the name of Jesus Christ or Christian terms such as savior.
Of 53 opening prayers given in the House during the 2005 session, 41 were given by clergy identified with Christian churches and at least 29 mentioned Jesus Christ, according to court documents.
Hamilton said that practice "amounts in practical terms to an official endorsement of the Christian religion."
"All are free to pray as they wish in their own houses of worship or in other settings," Hamilton wrote. "Those who wish to participate in a practice of official prayer must be willing to stay within constitutional bounds."
Bosma called the ruling an "intolerable decision" that threatened free speech. He said he has directed his lawyers to study ways to overturn the decision.
The Indiana Civil Liberties Union challenged the prayer practices in a lawsuit on behalf of four people, including a Quaker lobbyist, who said they found the tradition of offering the usually Christian prayers offensive.
"The prayers send a very powerful message of exclusion to those who are not of that denomination," said Ken Falk, the ICLU's legal director.
Dozens of religious leaders signed a statement saying House prayers should honor religious diversity.
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In the name of diversity..
Judge Hamilton is a Clinton appointee 1994
Impeach the judge
No, ignore the judge and continue to open with a prayer.
Here's what the Indiana House needs to do...ignore the Federal Judge's ruling.
The Federal Court has no standing in this case and has never had any authority in the matter of any state government's treatment of religion. It is time for a state to lead the way in enforcing this fact on the rogue federal courts.
The good judge has made his decision.
Now let him enforce it.
I agree that the state should just ignore this. The Feds have no jurisdiction.
The state of Massachucetts paid its clergy until about 1840; and nobody even considered that the Feds could get involved.
The state flag of Maryland used to hold that its flag could be displayed only on a flagpole with a cross on the top. And nobody ever thought the Feds could get involved.
The Federal constitution concerns Congress and a Federal
establishment of religion, only.
pingout tomorrow/
(Text of 'politically incorrect' prayer given by Pastor Joe Wright before the Kansas House of Representatives in 1996.)
When minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new sessions of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
THE PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good,," but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We confess:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the Name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In six short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called one nation under God.
(Delivered before the Kansas House of Representatives by Central Christian Church Pastor Joe Wright on January 23, 1996.)
At least one legislator did walk during the prayer, according to the Kansas City Star. Others made speeches criticizing what the House Minority Leader, a Democrat, called "the extreme, radical views" reflected in the prayer.
It's time for the state to ignore the legislating judge and continue on with their tradition!
Because it is a grave sin and contrary to scripture for a Christian to pray other than in the name of Jesus. John 14:13-14, 1 Peter 2:5 and 1 John 5:14
INTREP
"Dozens of religious leaders signed a statement saying House prayers should honor religious diversity."
Methodists, Episcopalians, the usual suspects probably.
They wouldn't have stood for this outrage in 1776, and we shouldn't either. Its gone quite beyond impeachment.
The self-serving gutless wonders we elect would never do it.
The system is totally broken.
Arizona Representative Doug Quelland opened a session of the Arizona House of Representatives with that prayer, about a year, and a half ago. Some of his fellow house members whined, but the phone calls to his office were nearly all to thank him.
Yes, the silent majority can speak occasionally.
You're probably right. But the same thing should have happened in Florida when the Courts ruled Terry Schiavo should be starved and dehydrated to death.
Somebody should stand up to these courts.
But ALL our political offices, nearly every one, is filled by craven cowards whose only interest is in retaining their sinecures so they can retire with all those great perks the normal folk never get. The only way they can be assured of that is by not rocking the boat and shaking up the system.
And the system needs to be shaken up and the boat rocked so hard that a lot of these people fall off.
Back in 1776 this judge would be stretching a rope in the town square, surrounded by hundreds of armed militiamen.
But this is 2005 and we don't have militia - we have the police establishment - with their own perks and salaries to protect, and they protect them by serving the courts, not us.
The House should open all their sessions "in the name of Judge Hamilton".
The "big deal" is that this is essentially a Christian nation - most people here are Christians. They could have a minister come in and give a prayer at the opening session, and alternate with a rabbi, and a priest. I don't think anyone would care.
But acknowledging that this is essentially a Christian nation and using the name of Christ in no way signifies an "establishment of religion" in the sense the Founding Fathers understood it.
If you don't like it - don't listen. But don't stop us from doing it.
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