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Prayers before Coeur d’Alene City Council meetings could be seeing their final Amen. The city, which recently took over scheduling pastors to give brief invocations, might end the decades-long practice. It has long been handled by Pastor Paul Van Noy of the Kootenai County Ministerial Association, a Christian organization. Mayor Jim Hammond said the city was given information by Van Noy stating it could be opening itself up to legal liabilities should it deny a person who wants to give the invocation. Hammond said that when the city recently took on scheduling of invocation pastors, it did so to give...

A group of leftist activists wearing pink pussy hats disrupted a Christian opening prayer at Rep. Jack Bergman’s (R-MI) Thursday evening town hall in Gaylord, Michigan, shouting, “Separation of church and state!” as other constituents stood with their heads bowed in respect. Dr. Derek Hagland, the assistant pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Michigan’s First District, had just taken the stage to recite an invocation when activists began chanting, “Separation of church and state!” to disrupt him: “This guy was giving invocation,” Rep. Bergman’s communication director Farahn Morgan told Breitbart News. “He was not necessarily party affiliated in any way....

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DES MOINES — What would Jesus do? If he were a member of the Iowa Legislature, Rep. Rob Taylor believes he would peacefully protest the morning prayer by a Wiccan priestess. So the West Des Moines Republican turned his back Thursday and prayed silently as Cedar Rapids Cabot witch Deborah Maynard appealed to “god, goddess, universe, that which is greater than ourselves.” Many of his colleagues chose not to attend the daily prayer. But Taylor said that after praying over it, he decided the appropriate response would be to “be in the presence of a prayer, but peacefully protest.” Despite...

Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, will deliver the invocation at President Barack Obama's second public inauguration on Jan. 21, event organizers announced Tuesday. Evers-Williams, 79, will reportedly be the first woman and non-clergy member to deliver one of the most public prayers in America's political history. "I am humbled to have been asked to deliver the invocation for the 57th inauguration of the President of the United States -- especially in light of this historical time in America when we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement," Evers-Williams said in a statement released...

As protesters chanted against an anti-gay marriage amendment outside the House chamber Friday morning, controversial pastor Bradlee Dean took to the House rostrum to give the prayer for the day. According to those present, Dean, who has suggested he approves of the death penalty for gay people on a radio show, was accusatory toward Democrats and insulting to people who do not believe in Jesus. "I know this is a non-denominational prayer in this Chamber and it’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans. Or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or...

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Tonight at 9 ET on The Andrea Shea King Show on Blog Talk Radio What's YOUR opinion? Should Pastor Rick Warren have accepted the invitation from Obama to offer the inaugural invocation? Pastor Rick Warren might be a man filled with spiritual wisdom, but in this case, he's made a huge miscalculation and a serious mistake. Under fire for opposing gay marriage, the influential evangelical pastor defended his decision to accept President-elect Barack Obama's invitation to give the invocation at the Jan. 20 inauguration. In a keynote speech he delivered at the Muslim Public Affairs Council's annual convention in...

Choices Rick Warren 65% Liberal Critics 19% Can't decide 16% votes 6,480

On the surface, something about Barack Obama picking Rick Warren to give his inauguration invocation seemed fishy. I mean, Warren was the man responsible for one of Obama's few (and perhaps biggest) campaign faux pas, when he made Barack look silly last summer trying to answer the question "When does life begin?" But then I realized that Barack, brilliant politician that he is, was using his special reverse "If I can't beat him, join ME!" psychology, already duping Warren and many of his on-the-surface Christians into his camp for the next election. However, while I predict this pick for Obama...

Pro-life pastor Rick Warren will give the invocation at President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration. It makes a whole lot of sense. Even though Warren and Obama disagree on the life issue, they do see eye to eye on many social justice issues. This move is also classic Obama because it is a signal to religious conservatives that he’s willing to bring in both sides to the faith discussion in this country. Obama has never shied away from that. The benediction will be led by Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery. The Civil Rights leader seems to be the perfect pick on such...

'New' Litany of the Saints from the Papal Funeral Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro eo Sancta Maria, Mater Ecclesiæ, ora pro eo Sancta Maria, Salus populi Romani, ora pro eo Sancti Michael, Gabriel et Raphael, orate pro eo Omnes sancti Angeli, orate pro eo Sancte Ioseph, ora pro eo Sancte Ioannes Baptista, ora pro eo Omnes Sancti Patriarchæ et Prophetæ, orate pro eo Sancti Petre et Paule, orate pro eo Sancte Andrea, ora pro eo Sancti Ioannes et Iacobe, orate pro eo Sancte Thoma, ora pro eo Sancte Matthæe, ora pro eo Sancte Matthia, ora pro eo Sancte Luca,...

Three Tampa City Council Members Walk Out on Atheist's Invocation The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Three Tampa city council members walked out of chambers rather than listen to an atheist give the opening invocation. Council members Kevin White, Mary Alvarez and Rose Ferlita left their seats Thursday rather than listen to Michael R. Harvey, a member of Atheists of Florida who had been invited by council member John Dingfelder to offer the invocation. Even before Harvey spoke, White was pushing to cancel the invocation. These are sacred moments that refer to a supreme being, White said, and this...

Posted on Sat, Mar. 22, 2003 Atheist to deliver council invocation Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Charleston City Council will open its meeting next week with an invocation by an atheist. Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, asked Councilman Kwadjo Campbell for the opportunity to give the invocation so he could introduce diversity to council meetings. He will give the invocation Tuesday. "The definition of an invocation is 'to call for with fervent desire,' " he said. "What I expect to happen is giving advice to other human beings." Silverman, a mathematics instructor at the...

RNC asks Lieberman to weigh in on remarks critical of Rowland August 20, 2002, 7:27 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- Controversy over a Connecticut Democrat's characterization of Gov. John G. Rowland as a "snake" and the "Prince of Darkness" spilled into the national political arena Tuesday, with the Republican National Committee asking Sen. Joseph Lieberman to weigh in. "I hope that Senator Lieberman will join me in publicly rebuking these offensive statements," Racicot said. "This is a disservice to both the political process and religious expression." Lieberman responded with a brief statement in which he condemned the remarks as "offensive and...