Jewish lawmakers threaten walk-out over reference to Jesus

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | April 3, 2003 | Diana Lynne

[honway]

A Maryland minister was barred from giving the opening prayer in the state Senate after he refused to drop a reference to Jesus.

The Rev. David N. Hughes of the Trinity and Evangelical Church of Adamstown, Md., intended to round out his invocation yesterday with the line, "In Jesus' name, Amen." But the sergeant at arms – on the orders of Senate President Thomas Mike Miller Jr. – shut the reverend out of the body's chambers.

Miller issued the orders after two Jewish lawmakers threatened to stage a boycott of the legislative session if the phrase was not removed.

"I'm shocked by the response. I've never had this happen in 26 years," Hughes told the Frederick News-Post. "It just makes me feel that they've taken away my right as an American to pray, and this is the seat of government, and that's scary."

The pastor – a Vietnam veteran – was invited to give the prayer by Republican Sen. Alex Mooney. Hughes was Mooney's fourth guest. The other three were Jewish rabbis.

Opening up legislative sessions with prayer is a longstanding tradition in Maryland, as it is in states across the country. Mooney told WorldNetDaily no one had been barred from giving an invocation before. He sees irony in yesterday's "censorship."

Maryland state Republican Rep. Alex Mooney

"We were the first state to address religious tolerance in our state charter," he told WorldNetDaily. "This just shows a lack of tolerance for peoples' religious views."

Mooney recalled numerous instances of invocations referencing Jesus throughout the four years that he has been in office.

But at the beginning of the session this year, a string of invocations by Baptist preachers invoking the name Jesus Christ sparked debate on the issue. Miller appealed to lawmakers for tolerance and urged they stick to guidelines that call for invocations to be of an ecumenical nature and respectful of all faiths.

Webster's New World Dictionary defines ecumenical as "promoting cooperation or better understanding among differing religious faiths."

Since the debate, the Senate clerk screens prayers ahead of time and flagged the written text submitted by Hughes.

When Sens. Ida Ruben and Gloria Hollinger – both of whom are Jewish – heard of the reference, they asked Mooney to strike it.

"I said, 'Hey, I'll let him pray however he wants to pray. I'm not going to censor him and tell him how he needs to pray,'" Mooney told WND.

Ruben told the Frederick News-Post she then urged Hughes to substitute "messiah" for Jesus, telling him the reference could offend non-Christians and goes against the guidelines.

Neither Ruben nor Miller returned calls seeking comment.

"This is part of my faith," Hughes responded, according to Mooney. "The Gospel says when you pray, pray in Jesus' name."

The senators next asked to be excused from the floor during the prayer.

Paradoxically, a walk-out over a Muslim cleric's prayer opening a Washington state legislative session last month backfired on one Christian lawmaker.

Washington state Republican Rep. Lois McMahan

As WorldNetDaily reported, Rep. Lois McMahan, a Republican from Gig Harbor, Wash., refused to participate in the prayer and declared, "My god is not Muhammed."

"The Islamic religion is so ... part and parcel with the attack on America. I just didn't want to be there, be a part of that," she said in an interview with the Seattle Post Intelligencer. "Even though the mainstream Islamic religion doesn't profess to hate America, nonetheless it spawns the groups that hate America."

But a day later, McMahan apologized on the floor of the state House of Representatives amid mounting furor over her stance.

Debate over invocations is raging elsewhere in the country. As WorldNetDaily reported, several Southern California cities are grappling with threats from both sides of the issue.

Under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union to quit using the name Jesus Christ in invocations, the city of Lake Elsinore, in Riverside County, decided to eliminate mention of "religious figures." The decree subsequently had the apparent effect of eliminating the prayer altogether, as no local pastors would accept invitations to deliver the prayer, and city councilors adopted moments of silence instead.

The ACLU contends that praying at the request of a government entity is a violation of the First Amendment's prohibition against the establishment of religion.

But the nonprofit United States Justice Foundation, which threatened to sue the city if it failed to reverse its decision, maintains telling a pastor what to pray is a violation of his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion.

The notion of "separation of church and state" is derived from the dissenting opinion of the 1946 Supreme Court case Everson vs. Board of Education, which upheld a program allowing parents to be repaid from state funds for the costs of transportation to private religious schools. The court required only that the state maintain neutrality in its relations with various groups of religious believers.

"The decision in Everson does not rise to the level of being a battle cry for those who would wish to remove every vestige of religion from the public forum," USJF litigation counsel Richard Ackerman asserts.

"There's a push in this country to remove religion from society," Mooney echoed, "from the Supreme Court's decision on the Pledge to the ACLU going after all the Ten Commandments posted across the country. ... Nothing in the church-state relationship allows censorship and the removal of religious values from society."

[TopQuark]

and I don't have to embrace other cultures

Of course not.

The problem with your "logic" is that I was responding to your words where you were DEMANDING from others how to denote deities.

You are a real Rasputin. (No, it's not a compliment).

[Dianna]

. If you are in a mixed company, you seek a common ground. If you pray to G-d, you do not jeopardize any of your Christian beliefs and remain on common ground with Christians of all denominations, Jews, Muslims, and Hindu.

There is no common ground if we are discussing prayer. Who do non-believers pray to? Yet, you are not arguing THAT position. Oh no, we can pray. We just can't be "too Christian" about it.

[SendShaqtoIraq]

""This is a Christian nation" implies by all standards of logic that if one is not a Christian, he is not an American. YOu may not mean it --- and I take your word for it that you do not --- but that is what you say."

Mm. Let's see. Not everyone who lives in Israel is Jewish. Does that mean they are no longer to be considered a Jewish nation?

[TopQuark]

Surely. All those chaplains in the army, all those ministers on the Capitol Hill who somehow do this routinely without any problems --- they are all sellouts.

Looks like some people are more Christian than Christ around here.

[Delphinium]

I am going to bed, its past my bedtime. I can continue in the morning. Good night.

[Rasputin_TheMadMonk]

I never once said I wanted anyone to go away, except perhaps for certain liberals, but I digress.

Jew or gentile, believe what you please. Just don't expect me to put your culture before my own. No more than I would expect you to do the same for mine. My statement concerning God was made without thought to those of jewish ancestry, I don't tend to think of the jews nor the catholics, nor the hindus, nor the buddists, nor the islamicists, nor the raelians, etc. ad nauseum when I make a statement here. I speak from the north american, south eastern, anglo-saxon, baptist Christian point of view. Mine own and none other. It's between me and GOD and no one else matters.

Like it or not, I made no attack against you nor your beliefs, whatever they may be. I find your and TopQuarks indignation somewhat amusing, but that's all that it means to me. I don't 'have' to care.

I don't have to and as long as you live in America, neither do you. It's one of the benefits of living in The Republic.

[TopQuark]

I will help you send Shaq to Iraq and father if you'd do me a favor: read up on the thread; I can't start with you having spend our on it already. Get the context, you'll see that this not the issue.

[so_real]

Jewish culture is part of American culture, and we are not going away.

I, and I'm sure the majority of Christians out there, don't want you to go away. You are a covenanted people, I have utmost respect for you. I will die and encourage my nation to do the same in order to protect Jews foreign and domestic alike. God sent Jesus to the Jews, and the Jews rejected Him. The Gentiles (the dogs at the master's table) welcomed Him and were offered salvation for it. Were it not for that act of rejection, where would my Gentile salvation stem from? I owe your heritage for my eternal soul, and still God reaches out to you, his most beloved people. You have my gratitude beyond measure, but I will not let those of your heritage talk me into rejecting Jesus, or downplaying Jesus, or avoiding talking about Jesus in public just because that is the Jewish tradition. If you want tolerance for Jews, then offer tolerance for Christians who are greatful to have Jesus as Saviour.

[Bella_Bru]

I don't tend to think of the jews nor the catholics, nor the hindus, nor the buddists, nor the islamicists, nor the raelians, etc. ad nauseum when I make a statement here. I speak from the north american, south eastern, anglo-saxon, baptist Christian point of view. Mine own and none other. It's between me and GOD and no one else matters.

Ummm..Catholics ARE Christians.

[Rasputin_TheMadMonk]

Well TopQuark, excuse the hell out of me.

I didn't intend it as a demand, more a forceful request? If you took it that way, too bad.

So in closing :-P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Rasputin_TheMadMonk]

One last time,

The Catholics have a different viewpoint from mine own and I don't consider it in my posts. So please get off your soapbox.

[F16Fighter]

"Ummm..Catholics ARE Christians."

Ummm...Think by pinging Sinky you can stir the sh*t some more? LOL!

[so_real]

Mm. Let's see. Not everyone who lives in Israel is Jewish. Does that mean they are no longer to be considered a Jewish nation?

That made me smile. A very good point. I'll use that the next time someone tries to correct me about our nation.

[Bella_Bru]

No, but I know that sinkspur is Catholic.

[ET(end tyranny)]

C'mon Bella_Bru! Think before you type! JESUS is the One who *GAVE* us the Lord's Prayer when His disciples asked how they should pray to GOD. Can you understand now how idiotic your statement is?

You're not being fair to Bella_Bru. Someone posted that Christians pray ONLY to Jesus. What I think Bells was saying is that the Lord's Prayer is directed to God, not Jesus.

Now, having said that.. you said that Jesus gave the disciples the Lord's Prayer when they asked how they should pray to God. And the Lord's Prayer clearly is directed TO God. Not Jesus. So, Jesus says to pray TO GOD!

So how can it be that Christians are supposed to pray ONLT to Jesus????

[F16Fighter]

Yeah, right.

[Bella_Bru]

Well, if you are one of those folks that thinks it is ok to tell Catholics they are not Christians, then the Catholics around here should know.

Don't tell me you have never pinged anyone to a thread before.

[F16Fighter]

I know where you're coming from, Bella -- just like you know where I'm coming from.

[ET(end tyranny)]

You are a real Rasputin. (No, it's not a compliment).

LOL Rasputin was a pervert!

[LaineyDee]

Gets your dander up, doesn't it? *chuckle*