Christian Prayer Our Heritage
By Pastor H. Wayne Williams
Many clergy, when asked to open the legislative sessions in
prayer at our state Capitol, have ended their prayers in the name of Jesus
Christ. In the Jan. 8 Journal (Religion page), Mary Garrigan reported in her
article entitled, "A question of inclusion," that Rep. Stan Adelstein
is offended by this practice and has asked the clergy to stop using the name of
Jesus when they pray.
I believe Rep. Adelstein to be honest and sincere when
saying he feels excluded as a Jew. He is not asking that prayer be stopped, but
only that prayer in the name of Jesus Christ be stopped because it offends him
as a Jew. He feels "excluded" in what he calls the
"Christian-specific" prayers of Christian pastors.
These clergy have a foundation in historic civil law. The
First Virginia Charter (1606), The Second Virginia (1609) and The Third
Virginia Charter (1612), as well as The Mayflower Compact (1620), not only
endorsed Christianity but also The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
used the "Christian-specific" name of Jesus! It reads in part:
"... Enter into Combination and Confederation together, to maintain and
preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now
profess, as also, the discipline of the Churches, which according to the truth
of the said Gospel is now practiced amongst us."
The first Thanksgiving Proclamation (June 20, 1676) not only
called for the giving of thanks for the bountiful blessings in the colony, but
their prayers of thanksgiving would mention the "Christian-specific"
name of Jesus Christ: "Beseeching that being persuaded by the mercies of
God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and souls as a
living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ."
With the words, "Sundays excepted," in Article I
of the U.S. Constitution, the drafters did not establish a religion; they
merely acknowledged the day most Americans had set aside for worship and rest
since 1606. Christianity was the majority religion in 1787, and the
Constitution simply reflected the people's deeply held
"Christian-specific" day of worship and rest.
The U.S. Constitution concludes: "Done in Convention by
the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in
the Year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven."
Employing the phrase, "in the Year of our Lord," the drafters of the
Constitution wrote into the language of the Constitution itself a
"Christian-specific" term used by civil leaders for many years. 1787
was the year of the "Christian-specific" calendar. The
"Lord" of the Constitution was Jesus Christ, and that is very much
"Christian-specific"! Is the U.S. Constitution itself
"unconstitutional"?
In the 1892 U.S. Supreme Court case, The Church of the Holy
Trinity vs. United States, Justice David J. Brewer wrote: "No purpose of
action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national,
because this is a religious people ... This is a Christian nation." Here
is a "Christian-specific" term being used in a legal decision by the
highest court of the land!
The clergy in Pierre who pray "Christian-specific"
prayers are simply continuing something which has been practiced in the public
arena by the majority since 1606! Based on the "Free Exercise" clause
of the First Amendment, no Christian pastor can be prohibited by the power of
government from praying in the name of Jesus Christ, any more than a Jew can be
prohibited to pray in the name of Jehovah, or a Muslim prohibited to pray in
the name of Allah, or a Buddhist prohibited to pray in the name of Buddha, or
any atheist to pray in his own name!
Rep. Adelstein would not surrender any part of his Judaism
to avoid offending Christians, nor should he! In like fashion, he should not
expect Christian clergy to surrender their "Christian-specific"
prayers so that he does not feel uncomfortable when they pray.
In today's world, Jews need the prayers of Christians, and Christians need the prayers of Jews, and the state Legislature certainly needs the prayers of both! Let us get on with our praying!