Last week fellow Baptist blogger Bruce Prescott, Executive-Director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, wrote about the latest prayer controversy. On Thursday (Feb. 11), the Rev. Scott H. Jones, pastor of Cathedral of Hope in Oklahoma City, offered the opening invocation at the Oklahoma State House of Representatives. Jones had been invited to deliver the prayer and serve as chaplain for the day by Rep. Al McAffrey (D-Oklahoma City).
Here is a snippet from Jones’ prayer:
We call upon this good news
In this year of the Lord’s favor.
Might a few drops of Your favor fall upon us today
Giving these elected representatives of your people
Courage and wisdom
That they might be instruments of your peace
Sowing love where there is hatred,
Pardon, where there is injury,
Union, in place of discord,
Faith, instead doubt,Hope, not despair,
Light to cast away the darkness
And where there is sadness, joy.
When Rep. McAffrey moved that the invocation be recorded in the House Journal, Rep. John Wright objected and demanded a recorded vote. 64 voted to include the prayer and 20 legislators voted NO while “another 16 for the door to keep from voting.”
Apparently, one-fifth of the Oklahoma State House voted to buck tradition and exclude Scott Jones’ invocation because he is gay. Here is Rep. McAffrey:
“The Oklahoman” newspaper quoted McAffrey on Wednesday, saying that “because most of Scott’s congregation are gay people and Scott is gay himself, I’m sure that’s the reason why there were negative votes on it.”
Rep. John Wright who made the unprecedented motion and voted to exclude the prayer from the House Journal had this to say:
Wright said his motion was “not meant to be derogatory nor divisive nor in any way trying to cause diminishment of someone’s sense of self-worth.”
“My actions were motivated by the faith, so now if you want to take it and cause the public to be inflamed about it, well, that’s at your feet,” Wright said.
In an Oklahoma House where one state representative described homosexuality as “the biggest threat to our nation..even more so than terrorism and Islam,” this is not too surprising.
Such explicit religiously-motivated discrimination is entirely unacceptable. If the elected officials of Oklahoma are not capable of showing a little tolerance and respect for religious diversity, they should forgo the tradition of opening the day with prayer.
A couple of Oklahoma ministers weighed in below:
“Refusing to record the words of a person who prayed for the well-being of all in the room simply because you don’t agree with who he loves is frankly ridiculous,” said the Rev. Chris Moore of Norman United Church of Christ during a state Capitol news conference. “Do this in your own house of worship if you must, but do not do it here. … The idea that we will somehow censor our prayer givers, that we will hear some and not others … is absurd and sad.”
“Once we start making decisions about whose prayer is acceptable and by implication who is acceptable, where do we draw the line?” asked Russell Fox, rabbi at Emmanuel Synagogue, 900 NW 47.
Related posts:
- The Dishonest Oklahoma Baptist Messenger Makes Headlines State Rep. Sally Kern (R-OK) is one of those kooky...
- New House Majority Leader is a Baptist This is the face of the 2nd most powerful man...
- Two Rivers Baptist Fails To Oust Members Back in early October, Rev. Jerry Sutton - a former...
- Southern Baptist Pastor Prayed For Death Of Rep. John Murtha Wiley Drake is back in the news…. From The Orange...
- 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress… The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and Five to...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
I’m shocked - SHOCKED - that the members of the Oklahoma legislature wouldn’t recognize that at least half the words in that prayer are from the Prayer of St. Francis, which predate the existence of Oklahoma by, oh, 700 years or so.
There’s a reason I avoid crossing the Red River.