PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE SPEAKER ( DEM -keith r. mccall ) BANS "JESUS CHRIST " from prayers.then enforces it. another anti christian America hating democrat ???
BREAKING NEWS: Pennsylvania House Speaker bans Jesus Christ from prayers. Heroic Pastor Censored. California City also debates vote to ban Jesus from prayers. "California, Stand Up For Jesus!" ... BREAKING NEWS: Pennsylvania House Speaker bans Jesus Christ from prayers. Heroic Pastor Censored. California City also debates vote to ban Jesus from prayers. "California, Stand Up For Jesus!" State-wide Prayer Rally 5 Aug, 6pm in Lodi, CA.
The right to pray publicly "in Jesus name" is under new attack in Pennsylvania and again in California. Please let me explain to you exactly what terrible events just transpired...
The Democrat Speaker of the Pennsylvania House Keith R. McCall has just issued (and enforced) a policy which bans the name of Jesus Christ as illegal speech that may not be uttered during voluntary prayers spoken before the Pennsylvania state legislature.
Pastor Gerry Stoltzfoos of Freedom Valley Worship Center in Adams County, PA had been invited to pray the invocation at the State-House on June 30th, but McCall's office insisted on previewing and censoring a written copy of the prayer beforehand.
"I wrote the prayer and sent it to them and they sent back a very short rejection notice," Pastor Stoltzfoos told reporters from One News Now. "So I wrote back, 'I'm curious as to why.' And they said it had an offensive word. 'Can you tell me what the word was?' And they came back and said 'Jesus.'" Stoltzfoos says he prays in Jesus' name because Jesus instructed him to do so in the Bible. In John 14, 15, and 16, Jesus said three times, "the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." Colossians 3:17 says, "whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus."
McCall's office then refused to allow Stoltzfoos to say the prayer before the legislature. The Democrat's staff told the pastor that Speaker McCall was afraid of lawsuit by atheist groups.
MCCALL'S SPOKESMAN MISQUOTES THE LAW:
Penn. Speaker McCall spokesman Bob Caton told the York Daily Record (after silencing Pastor Stoltzfoos from saying "Jesus"), "It is not an attempt to silence religious leaders, but rather an effort to prevent taxpayers from having to foot the bill of a lawsuit if someone objects to a prayer's contents and chooses to sue the state." He did not admit that if atheist groups sue, the Alliance Defense Fund has offered pro-bono legal defense of Christian prayers before any legislature, at zero tax-payer expense.
"Unfortunately, it's because states like Indiana and Ohio have been sued," Caton misled. "We've followed the example that unfortunately was set in other places. We're bringing Pennsylvania's practices in line with what other states have done."
Actually, Indiana and Ohio have done the opposite. When sued by atheists to ban Jesus prayers, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals bravely ruled to reverse an anti-Jesus ban, and restored pastors right to pray "in Jesus name" in the Indiana legislature. (I know, because my lawyers and I personally advised the Indiana Attorney General who successfully appealed Hinrichs v. Bosma and WE WON a 2-1 appeals court ruling reversing the anti-Jesus policy).
And when the Ohio Speaker Jon Husted had temporarily mollified Democrat complainers by issuing an anti-Jesus prayer policy in 2007, I flew to Ohio and helped the Ohio Christian Alliance mobilize pastors to phone their legislators. So many citizens called to demand free speech, that Speaker Husted bravely reversed his temporary ban, restoring the rights of pastors to pray "in Jesus name" in the Ohio State House. Now in Pennsylvania, Speaker McCall is doing the opposite of what other states and courts have directed.
CHAPLAIN KLINGENSCHMITT FIGHTS "AU" IN PENNSYLVANIA
In 2007, the anti-Christian group Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) wrote a threatening letter to four key leaders of the Pennsylvania Senate, demanding they stop and censor pastors from speaking the word "Jesus" in their public prayers. They complained that 25% of the invited pastors used "sectarian language" in prayers before the PA Senate, and threatened a lawsuit if any Jesus prayers were permitted.
When I heard of this in 2007, I immediately wrote my own letter to those same four key Pennsylvania Senators, citing three national polls indicating that 76%, 85%, and 94% of voting citizens support all pastors rights to pray according to conscience, even if they pray "in Jesus name" in a public setting. When the Senators realized they could be voted out of office by pro-Jesus voters, they found their nerve and stood firm to allow Jesus prayers in the Pennsylvania Senate. In fact, PA State Senator Rich Alloway (R-Pennsylvania) heard the story and has already invited Stoltzfoos to pray before the state Senate on July 29th, 2009.
Not all current members of the PA House fear the atheist complainers. State Rep. Dan Moul (R-Adams County) told the York Daily Record that he objects to McCall's prayer policy. "I personally don't think it's reasonable because our country was founded on Christian-Judeo beliefs. That's who started our government," Moul said. "We should never be ashamed to speak about our Christian beliefs. That's what our prayers are for."
Moul supports a reasonable policy that allows rotating clergy from diverse groups to pray as guest chaplains according to their own faith. "Legislators have the ability to leave the floor if they find the content of prayers offensive," he said. "I am extraordinarily tired of the vast majority changing our way of life to accommodate a few," Moul said. As for the argument that the state could face lawsuits, Moul said simply: "Let 'em sue us." Other Reps and Senators remain undecided, so....
CALIFORNIA CITY WILL VOTE WHETHER TO BAN JESUS PRAYERS
On August 5th, 2009, the city council of Lodi, California will debate and possibly vote to ban the name of Jesus from public prayers offered by guest pastors invited to pray the invocation. Under threat of lawsuit by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, Lodi Mayor Larry D. Hansen said he is considering changing the Lodi city council prayer policy (which has traditionally allowed the word "Jesus" to be spoken in 39 of the last 55 prayers) to instead censor all prayers into a moment of silence, rather than allow diversity of free speech.
Dr. James Dobson already advertised our 5 August rally to his entire Citizenlink Newsletter email list. And the Alliance Defense Fund has already taken up our cause in Lodi, by offering pro-bono legal aide, and suggesting a new pro-Jesus prayer policy they will defend, if the city council votes to continue permitting Jesus prayers rotating among other diverse prayers. But if Christians don't show up in force, the city council may wrongly conclude we don't care, and vote to cave in to atheist threats, and censor and enforce atheistic silence upon ALL forms of prayer, especially prayers offered "in Jesus name."
Banned Jesus ?
Some folk will be trying to do a lot of splaining after it's too late.
Like one ole preacher I know says "Their going to bust hell wide open . . .Like a bullet . . .Like a Scud missile . . .Kicking and screaming in oceans and rivers of liquid boiling fire."
