At Capitol Rally, House Members Call for "Prayer Wall" around America

[Rose Siding]

More than 40 members of Congress gathered on the Capitol lawn Wednesday and asked Americans to visit a Web site and sign up to pray for the country for five minutes each week.....The Web site, www.prayercaucus.org, displays an image of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Blocks of the wall are lit up to signify times of day with significant "prayer coverage."
...
Christine Paul, 55, who said she was a "traveling pastor" from Silver Spring, Md., nodded and clutched her hand to her heart.

"Yes, yes," she whispered. "That's it."

"This position, this job that I do, is much bigger than me," said Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho. "There's no way we can do this alone."

Paul lifted her hand in the air.

"Hallelujah," she said, lips quivering. "Bless the Lord."

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/21903/

Oh my. I'm all for prayer. Really. Because even though I'm in sort of an abusive relationship with the Almighty right now, it's helped me in some very rough times. So I'm all for it. Until government officials, who have authority over others involve themselves in exhorting citizens to it, and organizing it at revival meetings right outside the People's House.

"Lawmakers should stick to their constitutional duties and leave religious decisions to individuals," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "Congressional meddling in religion is an affront to the First Amendment principle of church-state separation. Religion is too important to become a political football." .....

James Madison, often referred to as the Father of the Constitution, noted in 1788, "There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion. Its least interference with it, would be a most flagrant usurpation."

"There are a host of political issues of utmost importance to Americans," said Lynn. "Rep. Forbes and other members of Congress should work on those and leave decisions about religion to the American people."

http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20070328184146876

Then there's THIS...

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...." -The book of Matthew

Here are comments from some of the Republican members involved in this nearly literal Hail Mary Pass-

"During these difficult times, we may forget what is truly important and with whom the ultimate power resides. The bi-partisan prayer caucus acts as a reminder for its members and our constituents that it is God who has given us all the gifts for which we now fight and who will bring about the eventual peace for which we fervently pray."
Posted by Colo. GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn

".....It is incumbent upon us, therefore, to remember to faithfully acknowledge and honor Him, seeking His wisdom, grace, and guidance — things all the more vital to us who have been given the tremendous honor of governing the nation our Founders envisioned as a City upon a Hill.

.....As Reagan said, a nation that forgets that it is a nation under God “will be a nation gone under.” Let us therefore remember that if we continue to lift our faces to the Giver of Liberty, to humble ourselves and to seek His favor and grace, He will keep His guiding hand upon us, and grant us those “blessings of Liberty” that encompass the very heart and spirit of America."
Posted by Ariz. GOP Rep. Trent Franks

"In the perilous and uncertain times in which we now live, the future of our nation hinges on God’s continued protection of our land and guidance of our leaders."
Posted by S.C. GOP Rep. Joe Wilson

"Today, as we humble ourselves before our Creator, we do so with a sense of grief for our country’s offenses against Him....I believe we must recover our sense of our duty to Him as the One to Whom we are all individually and collectively accountable."
Posted by Idaho GOP Rep. Bill Sali

I love that last one: God Save Us From The Democrats, Who Are NOT The Boss Of Us.

Overall, it's rather frightening to see so many Reps abdicating their own responsibility for war and America's lowered standing in the world.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. praise the lord, pass the kool-aid, snort.

and these folks really believe this furry tail stuff?

[tanyev]

2. Aw, they forgot this Reagan quote: "Tear down this wall!"

[atreides1]

3. Someone should tell that to the dead who fought and died

"...it is God who has given us all the gifts for which we now fight and who will bring about the eventual peace for which we fervently pray."

Then I guess we better remove all of those names off of the War Memorials we have in this country, because if what we have was given to us by God then he should get all of the credit.

After all he is known as a jealous God!!!!!

[saltpoint]

4. A prayer wall around America. This is very off-putting. I like the

Madison quotes you included.

I'm stickin' with Madison on this one, definitely.

[peekaloo]

5. Any trumpet players in the da house?

and will this wall have a dual purpose and keep foreigners out?

[CrazyOrangeCat]

15. indeed . . .

[Donnachaidh]

6. Don't wanna be an American Taliban!

Hats off to Green Day!

[hobbit709]

7. You can pray in one hand

and crap in the other. See which one overflows first.
"If you pray hard enough you can make water run uphill. How hard do you have to pray? Why hard enough to make water run uphill of course." LL

[sharp_stick]

8. I may puke n/t

[MaineDem]

9. Not everyone who talks religion is religious

As we know, sometimes it's all talk (like the all-hat-no-cattle President.)

And those who don't wear religion on their sleeves can be the most religious people around.

I don't see any need to be making a public spectacle of religion. This infuriates me. Let people pray/worship/believe all they want in private.

[Rose Siding]

11. I must agree.

Here, it seems they go *beyond* passing laws regarding the establishment of religion, all the way to actually establishing one. If asked, I'll bet most of them would agree that this is how a church is started.

[RestoreGore]

10. Thomas Jefferson said It best...

"The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man" (Letter to J. Moor, 1800).

"The clergy...believe that any portion of power confided to me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion" (Letter to Benjamin Rush, 1800).

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes" (Letter to von Humboldt, 1813).

"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own" (Letter to H. Spafford, 1814).

[asjr]

12. I am so offended by this ploy. If those people

wanted to be preachers they should have gone to divinity school. In days gone by they would have been great snake-oil sales people. The Constitution must be a work of fiction for them.

[Ron Green]

13. These are the Pharisees, right?

The one Jesus warned everybody about.

[Rose Siding]

14. Yes, that's right

(she said, risking the penalty for judging others)

[formercia]

16. Perhaps it should be called a Prayer Curtain

as in Iron Curtain.

or wall as in Berlin Wall....

[opihimoimoi]

17. We have been REDUCED to Praying for America??? What about more ASTUTE VOTING to reduce poor Govt?

Truly Baffling we keep resorting to Fantasy for solutions rather than working for them...

[donsu]

18. a prayer wall will have to compete with the yellow crime scene

tape that surrounds the US

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. A prayer wall asking for God's blessings while building a real wall to let people starve to death

and keep them downtrodden because they are "other".

I love it!!




Seriously, though - what the fuck is it with Repukes Christians and walls and weapons imagery?

[EC]

20. Maybe WE should start framing this conversation...

like telling these super-pious people that they don't respect their religion or have much faith, if they have to make it part of our government. Something like that...throw it back at them that they are cheapening and commercializing their faith...

[Gelliebeans]

21. I just have to say

this disturbs me. :scared: