[Reblogged from http://mk616.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/god-in-the-texas-house/]
A few days ago – May 3 – Ben Dailey, lead pastor of Calvary Church in Irving, Texas, delivered an invocation to the Texas House of Representatives (full journal of the day is here; invocation begins immediately after lists of present/absent representatives). Full video of the invocation:
I’m not a fan of official prayer in the state capitol, but that is not the purpose of this. The invocations are to be expected. To my knowledge, they occur in every legislature in the United States, at both the state and federal levels. I am by all means opposed to this, but really, the invocations are just irritating background noise when compared to the many other, more provocative things done by religious adherents in the US. We deal with the more important issues first.
Now, I would have simply tuned out this invocation, as I do with all the rest, but a particular line caught my attention.
I pray that you will give us thankful hearts for the many blessings you have given us and health and wholeness to those in our state who suffer with sickness and infirmity, shortage and lack. God, forgive us of our pride, prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, and unbelief. Give us an attitude of gratitude, love, forgiveness, and acceptance. [Emphasis added]
I have a serious problem with this. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds exactly like the kind of thing I’d expect to hear in a sermon. It’s very common for the clergy in this country (and especially in this state) to place non-belief right alongside intolerance and bigotry (never mind, of course, the fact that the religion the clergymen and women tend to represent has a much greater association with intolerance and bigotry, in a historical sense, than does non-belief). And of course that irritates me too, but it’s easy to disprove when dealing with a single believer, or even a small congregation. The biggest problem I have is that this was said on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives, and there was no objection. None whatsoever.
Never mind the fact that the pastor just put atheists and agnostics on the level of the Klan. Never mind the fact that with this statement Dailey has shown a complete lack of understanding of unbelief . It is the fact that the Texas state legislature can so easily and callously disregard an entire block of the population they supposedly represent that makes me truly upset.
But it gets worse. You would think that at least one media outlet would mention something about this. That there would be some level of concern somewhere.But instead, all media attention focused on the very end of the invocation, where the pastor asked god to help the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl this year. And I will admit, if this past season was any indication, the Cowboys could definitely use some help from on high. But this part of the invocation didn’t bother me. More than anything, it made me laugh a bit at the inanity of modern religion, which has apparently been relegated to begging the sky for forgiveness from abstract rules, and for victory in football. And while this is definitely interesting, I don’t see how this prayer for the Cowboys overshadows the much more glaring problem of total disregard for the irreligious population of Texas.
In his invocation Dailey asked god for forgiveness for prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry. The pastor may do well to work on overcoming his own prejudices. And the legislature could do well to stand up for the people they’re supposed to represent, even if their religious views aren’t exactly popular.
Reckon 