You may recall
last week's brouhaha when an Indiana judge ordered two Wiccan parents not to expose their child to "non-mainstream religion."
Well, we have another salvo in Indiana's struggles against Christian wingnuttery. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union has sued the Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives asking that an injunction be issued preventing the Speaker from permitting sectarian prayer to be sponsored by and delivered at the Indiana House of Representatives.
According to the Indianapolis Star report:
One striking example took place April 5, the ICLU says, when the Rev. Clarence Brown of Second Baptist Church, of Bedford, encouraged lawmakers to stand and clap as he sang "Just a Little Walk with Jesus."
You know this thing is not going to get accurate coverage. Take the Star's Headline "ICLU sues over prayers read at Statehouse" -- at first blush it looks like the ICLU is against any praying at the Statehouse. Well, no, and if you read into the article, they tell you the truth. But the headline sets the tone. What the ICLU is, in fact, suing over are prayers specifically invoking Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as official business of the Indiana House of Representatives.
Next, look at the quotes that get to go relatively unscathed:
Micah Clark, director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said it was ironic that a group that so strongly supports freedom would seek to stifle speech from Christians.
"Once again, people who preach about tolerance so much are appearing intolerant of people of devout faith," Clark said. "This is a tradition that has gone on for many years, and I think it has the broad support of most Hoosiers."
There is no indication that Clark revised his response when advised that the lawsuit did not involve expressions of faith by individuals in the private sector. And, indeed, it did not involve expressions of faith generally, but only prayers to Jesus Christ as part of the official business of the House of Representatives. But, then the Star reports that Mr. Clark is linked up with James Dobson's Focus on the Family. (You might recall Dobson as the fellow who compared the Supreme Court to the Ku Klux Klan and has Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in his pocket, egging him on to end the filibuster to enable placement of judges on the bench who are religiously acceptable to Mr. Dobson.)
According to the ICLU's Complaint (pdf), a clergy person who performs the prayer receives, at taxpayer expense, a photo of the clergy member with the Speaker as well as letter(s) of thanks from various House members. During the 2005 legislative session there were prayers offered from the Speaker's stand with the approval of the Speaker that were clearly sectarian in nature and which advanced Christianity. The Complaint lists a number of such occasions, including:
"We thank you for the privilege of coming together today in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1/11/05 Rev. David Leader);
"This we ask in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, our Savior." (2/7/05 Rev. Samuel Bush.)
"We ask all of this in Christ's name." (2/8/05 Representative Eric Turner.)
"We thank you O Lord that you are our savior and soon coming King." (4/6/05 Representative Jackie Warlowski);
"It is in Christ's name we pray." (4/13/05 Pastor Shan Retherford.)
"To our Lord and Savior. . . We ask this in your son's name, whom is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, your son Jesus Christ, who gave us the most precious gift of all, to die on the cross for our sins." (4/18/05 Representative David Frizzell.)
"I appeal to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; As a minister of the Gospel, I exercise my right to declare this room a hallowed place and I invite into this place, into the decisions that will be made today, to each person the mighty holy spirit of Christ; I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our savior and Lord." (4/29/05 Rev. Lloyd Descario.)
Keep in mind, these aren't from a church service or a Bible study or even from a citizen proclaiming his faith from the steps of the State House. These are speeches made by clergy members invited by the Speaker of Indiana's House of Representatives and given from the podium of the Speaker of the House.
The plaintiffs are: 1) a Quaker lobbyist who has stopped lobbying while the practice continues and who believes that the prayers favor one form of religious belief over another and who believes that it is wrong for taxpayers to fund and to thank the clergy members for committing a Constitutional violation; 2) a Methodist minister who believes that allowing sectarian prayers is an affront to Indiana's citizens and raises questions about the State's respect for the religious beliefs of all Hoosiers' religious beliefs; and 3) two Christian taxpayers and Indiana citizens who believe that sectarian prayer discourages diversity and imposes Christianity on non-Christians.