Tuesday, March 23, 2010

In God's Name We Pray

Richardson City Council member Amir Omar led the council in prayer before this week's city council meeting. He closed his prayer with, "In God's name we pray." Destiny Herndon (aka Lady__Madonna), who was in the audience, tweeted, "I heard at least 3 people whisper 'In JESUS' name' very indignantly after Amir's invocation."

How big a deal is this? Just how important is it that official prayer be to the God of your own personal belief? Because we don't all believe in the same god(s), how should it be determined in whose name we pray? Southern Baptist God regardless? Choice of the person chosen to lead? Majority rule? Rotation? And what about the atheists? Have we ever had an atheist chosen to lead a government body in prayer? What did he or she say? What was the response?

Personally, I'm willing to leave it up to the person chosen to lead and that honor should be rotated. By what logic do some argue indignantly that official prayer must be in Jesus' name?

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