The prayer proposal being considered at tonights Washougals City Council meeting has brought about a strong spiritual experience for me. It may seem, therefore, a bit of a paradox that I have decided to vote against having prayer as a formal part of the agenda. Ill explain why my struggle with this has brought me closer to God--firm in my conviction that this proposal should not go forward and even firmer in my Christian faith. The council will decide whether to put prayer on the agenda at our city council meetings. The Supreme Court recently in the Town of Greece case concluded this practice was constitutionally permissable and does not violate the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment Establishment Clause. I have struggled with this for both secular and ecclesiastical reasons. As a Christian, I find it difficult to pray when the prayer is not to the God described in the creeds of the historic Christian Church. I have participated in Jewish prayers too but thats an acknowledgement of the connection I see between the two faiths. When the prayer is not led by a Christian (or perhaps a person of the Jewish faith), I cant pray--I stare off into space and dont want to appear to be praying yet be respectful. My view on this is not to be critical of other religions. This is my faith, my journey, my path to salvation. My faith is not that of all the residents of Washougal I am supposed to represent. I make no judgments of others faiths. That is for God. I am not a Roman Catholic though I agree with the church on many doctrinal points. To my understanding, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that prayer is worship [LG 51 and LG 67]. I agree. This rule change will lead to a situation where I would appear to be joining in a prayer led by a non-Christian. I would appear to be worshiping a non- Christian God. That is something I will not to do. In this sense, this rule change imposes on my own religious beliefs and practices. I understand that I could leave the room or look at my city-issued iPad while a non-Christian prayer is being said. But that would be disrespectful. I wont leave the room for only non-Christian prayers. I would have to do this for Christian prayer as well. This would make it look like I disapproved of worshiping the Christian God, even one led by an Anglican Priest, the Christian tradition I adhere to. So why would I even consider supporting this proposal? There are two reasons. First, opposing it would make it look like I disapproved of religion. I do not. I attended a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church yesterday because there was no Anglican Church where I was and I considered that the closest to my views. Im a believer, concerned about my immortal soul, and take religion generally and my Christian faith specifically very seriously. Second, when the idea of prayer was first floated last year my coolness to the idea resulted in an e-mail from a constituent that said I was preventing others from praying at council meetings. That troubled me. I have zero interest in imposing my religion on anyone. Likewise I have zero interest in preventing others who wish to pray from praying. There is a tension inherent in holding public office between voting your own personal views and voting as a representative of your constiruents preferences. I come down more as a representative and am less intetested in using this office to advance my personal views on non-core municipal functions. My constituents, though, are divided on prayer at council meetings. If my individual constituents and council collegues want to pray, I am not going to do anything to prevent them from doing that. These competing considerations troubled me so much, that I didnt get much sleep last night. I woke up a little after midnight and prayed about it. I received guidance. God knows my heart. He said dont be so concerned about appearance but he encouraged me to work-in a statement about my faith tonight. I hope I did that. Then he said, how are you preventing anyone from praying if you vote against this? Does it have to be a part of the agenda? Does it have to be such a symbolic gesture? Im interested in peoples hearts and not symbolism. Why dont you make clear that if anyone wants to take a minute or two to pray, they are welcome to. Thats more meaningful to me. So I am going to vote no on this proposal. At various times I was yes or planned to abstain. But it has to be no. If the proposal to formally add prayer to the agenda fails, however, I will move to add to our rules a statement that a prayer, spiritual reflection, or moment of silence are appropriate during public comment from the podium. Elected City officials may do so as well from the podium. But the city government staff should not coordinate prayers except as individuals on their own time. One thing should be clear from this: I am not against prayer. In fact I ask for some for me. Im going in for a round of medical tests this week. There is nothing to indicate a problem (or worsening problem), but it still causes anxiety. So I ask for that. But not as a part of the City Council agenda.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 17:41:27 +0000
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