Praying in the State House
2010-07-19 - by
Back in May the State House invited Reverend Ron Baity down to Raleigh (from his Baptist Church in Winston-Salem) to be Chaplain for a week but when the minister got up and ended his first prayer with “In Jesus name” House Speaker Jack Hackney promptly fired him.
Because, Hackney says, by tradition prayers in the House don’t end with ‘In Jesus name’ – because it may offend Buddhists and multi-culturalists and so on.
Of course the House policy on prayer promptly ended up on Fox News but Joe Hackney proved he’s not Speaker for nothing; – he promptly suckered House Republican Leader ‘Skip’ Stam into issuing a joint statement with him then gave it to Fox as a bi-partisan declaration saying non-sectarian prayers are in fact a long-standing tradition in the State Legislature.
In other words, instead of telling Hackney only an overly multi-cultural Democrat would object to a Baptist preacher praying to God ‘In Jesus name,’ Stam unwittingly took part ownership of Hackney’s policy and Hackney slipped off the hook.
Now, as a result of this flap, there’s been a special House Commission appointed to review the policy and iron out the wrinkles and be sure all the praying done in the House from here on is Constitutional. Amen!
Praying in the State House
2010-07-19/
Back in May the State House invited Reverend Ron Baity down to Raleigh (from his Baptist Church in Winston-Salem) to be Chaplain for a week but when the minister got up and ended his first prayer with “In Jesus name” House Speaker Jack Hackney promptly fired him.
Because, Hackney says, by tradition prayers in the House don’t end with ‘In Jesus name’ – because it may offend Buddhists and multi-culturalists and so on.
Of course the House policy on prayer promptly ended up on Fox News but Joe Hackney proved he’s not Speaker for nothing; – he promptly suckered House Republican Leader ‘Skip’ Stam into issuing a joint statement with him then gave it to Fox as a bi-partisan declaration saying non-sectarian prayers are in fact a long-standing tradition in the State Legislature.
In other words, instead of telling Hackney only an overly multi-cultural Democrat would object to a Baptist preacher praying to God ‘In Jesus name,’ Stam unwittingly took part ownership of Hackney’s policy and Hackney slipped off the hook.
Now, as a result of this flap, there’s been a special House Commission appointed to review the policy and iron out the wrinkles and be sure all the praying done in the House from here on is Constitutional. Amen!