PASTOR YANKED FROM CAPITOL OVER “JESUS” PRAYER
A North Carolina pastor was relieved of his duties as an honorary chaplain of the state house of representatives after he closed a prayer by invoking the name of Jesus.
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“I got fired,” said Ron Baity, pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. He had been invited to lead prayer for an entire week but his tenure was cut short when he refused to remove the name Jesus from his invocation.
Baity’s troubles began during the week of May 31. He said a House clerk asked to see his prayer. The invocation including prayers for our military, state lawmakers and a petition to God asking him to bless North Carolina.”
“When I handed it to the lady, I watched her eyes and they immediately went right to the bottom of the page and the word Jesus,” he told FOX News Radio. “She said ‘We would prefer that you not use the name Jesus. We have some people here that can be offended.’”
When Baity protested, she brought the matter to the attention of HOUSE SPEAKER JOE HACKNEY.
“I told her I was highly offended when she asked me not to pray in the name of Jesus because that does constitute my faith,” Baity said. “My faith requires that I pray in His name. The Bible is very clear.”
When the clerk returned, Baity said he was told that he would be allowed to deliver the day’s prayer – but after that – his services would no longer be needed.
Hackney, a Democrat, and House Republican Leader Paul Stam released a joint statement to FOX News Radio:
“It has been our practice in the North Carolina House of Representatives for many years to request, but not require, that our guest chaplains deliver a nonsectarian prayer. This is intended as a show of respect for all the religions practiced by the members of the House and the people we represent.”
“In this instance, we allowed Pastor Baity to deliver his prayer, without interference, even though it was sectarian in nature. Nonetheless, we will review our procedures and guidelines concerning guest chaplains, and we will make sure we abide by applicable constitutional procedures. The House will adjourn within the next few days, but the results of this review will be publicly available whenever it is complete.”
Baity said he’s not happy with the way he was treated.
“When the state tells you how to pray, that you cannot use the name of Jesus – that’s mandating a state religion,” he said. “They talk about not offending other people but at the same time, if they are telling me how to pray – that’s the very thing our forefathers left England for.”
The Christian Law Association helped Baity draft a letter asking for an apology and an opportunity to return to the state capitol and finish his tenure.
“The First Amendment promises all Americans the free exercise of their religion, which includes the right to pray as their faith requires, even when they are invited to open state legislative sessions with prayer,” attorney David Gibbs told WXII-TV. “We trust that the North Carolina House of Representatives will realize its mistake and will offer Pastor Baity another opportunity to pray without requiring him to use a prayer that is mandated by government.”
Baity said he is still stunned by what happened.
“You would expect this somewhere else – Cuba, Saudi Arabia,” he told FOX News Radio. “You would never anticipate this happening in the United States of America.”
In a word – the pastor said – the decision is “anti-Christian.”
Todd Starnes is a FOX News Radio reporter and author.
First off, "we allowed Paster Baity to deliver his prayer without interference . . ." Speaker Hackney, you had no choice. Refer to the FIRST AMENDMENT, you know that pesky one up top there that guarantees EVERYONE freedom of speech, expression, and religion?
"We will review our procedures and guidelines concerning guest chaplains, and we will make sure we abide by applicable constitutional procedures." With all due respect, Mr. Hackney, I doubt that. If you did, then there would have been no problem to start with and the clerk that started it would have been sent U.S. Constitution class 101. Of course, we all know how this "review" of "procedures" will go. Especially considering that Mr. Hackney is big buddies with none other than . . . Barack Obama.
4 comments:
I'm hoping that the November elections will send a clear message to these idiots and maybe we'll be fortunate to hear them asking Jesus for help in finding a new job.
Jimmy
Dirk, thank you for posting this. This kind of thing is becoming more common and is infuriating, but not surprising in the least. It ties into something which I am going to be posting in a few minutes on my blog. I'm not trying to "toot my own" on yours- but people need to understand how we have come to all of this. This is definitly NOT the way America was meant to be- and NOT the way it was founded.
Thank you so much for posting this, God bless!
This is the normal actions of the left, the Constitution only says what they want it to say. It seems the left forgets exactly why this country was formed and the 1st amendment is quite clear and the Rev. is right in his contention the state is mandating a religion.
It's like that even in our churches these days where everyone wants to be tolerant. They call that progress. It isn't Christian though. If tolerance was Jesus' way He wouldn't have been so passionate to allow Himself to be sacrificed in my place. He actively did something about my situation and did not TOLERATE my choice to remain in it. I was given an option out. Christianity is supposed to be INTOLERANT and role model Jesus' ways.
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