In a grotesque display unbefitting of a governmental or similarly secular body anywhere, the Indiana legislature erupted into the song, "Take A Little Walk With Jesus," at the prompting of a private citizen who had just led the body in prayer, Clarence Brown.
From the Washington Post story:
Brown, 51, is an evangelical Christian layman who works in an auto parts factory 70 miles south of Indianapolis. Invited to give a prayer to open the April 5 House session, Brown said he was thinking about the separation of church and state as he drove to the state Capitol.
He said he talked with God during the ride and decided to speak up for the man he considers his savior. "I wanted to share the word. That's what I'm supposed to do," Brown said. "I have to do what Jesus Christ says for me to do as a witness."
Brown's prayer included thanks to God "for our lord and savior Jesus Christ, who died that we might have the right to come together in love." When the prayer was finished, [Indiana House Speaker Brian] Bosma announced that Brown would "bless us with a song."
Notice that Brown's thinking about the separation of Church and State led him to decide that leading religious worship in the public chambers of a legislative body was right and necessary. Such thinking is a transmittable symptom of a particularly debilitating pox afflicting America today: Christian religious supremacism. It is an insidious bug that's been allowed to spread for at least 30 years, and its architecture consists of:
1. a dominionistic sense of entitlement (a conviction that Christians by virtue of the supreme cosmic lordship of their god, Jesus the Christ, have authority over all things including the natural world and any government), and
2. a revisionist, Christianized American history in which the United States was created to be an officially Christian nation (both its culture and government) by men inspired not by Enlightenment principles emerging from an increasingly secularized and scientific world, but by religious chauvinism.
Fortunately, it's not just viruses that spread, but antigens: the tale of the worshiping legislature came to my attention thanks to a diary by my friend Frederick Clarkson. His diary is entitled "Do Jews Matter?" It was posted here, and it's subject matter is the report of a rabbi concerning his meeting with Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma on February 14--the Indianapolis JCRC's Jewish Lobby Day. (Clarkson first encountered the rabbi's message here, which led me here, which side-tracked me here, and thus to the Post article.)
The virulence of the above-mentioned religious supremacism is most subtly demonstrated in the words of Bosma as related in the rabbi's account, itself in a proper religious context (i.e. at a religious gathering not on government property!) on the evening of February 17:
Last Tuesday, the Indianapolis JCRC's Jewish Lobby Day was held. Around 40 Jews from around the State of Indiana came to Indianapolis to lobby our state senators and representatives on a number of issues.
The day ended with a private meeting with Speaker of the House Bosma meeting our group in the beautiful House chambers. We asked questions about full day kindergarten, about the clinics, and a young member of the delegation asked about providing sexuality education in public schools that is more than abstinence based. He responded to everything we asked. Sometimes we liked what he said and sometimes we didn't.
Speaker Bosma wondered why we hadn't discussed the controversy surrounding the issue of prayer in House chambers. He told us his version of what happened and what he believes, and a passionate exchange took place. The end of this exchange left us, the Jewish delegation, in shock. Speaker Bosma, defending the prayer issue, asked, "How many Jews are there in Indiana? About 2%? There are at least 80% Christians in Indiana."
The implication of this statement was that our minority community doesn't and shouldn't have any say or any voice. It is about the majority and what the majority wants. The jaws of the delegation dropped to the floor. We were speechless. Everything we believed about this country had just been trampled. Gone was the belief of the constitutional protection of minorities. Gone was not feeling marginalized. Gone was the belief we were not strangers in this country. I am sure that Speaker Bosma is a fine man, but in that moment, for the first time in my life as a citizen of this country, I was scared. It is what I now call the 2% solution (and Jews are much less than 2% of this state) that if you are only 2% don't even bother to speak up as the "Tyranny of the majority" will prevail.
I am sorry to bring such a depressing message as we prepare for Shabbat, but it needs to be said and addressed. I have been reminded about why we need to be vigilant. So I come to you on this Friday, February 17, 2006, to ask you to use this Shabbat to think about joining me and others at times to raise our voices. We might not agree on all the issues, but we agree that as Jewish residents of this State we should have a voice. 2% or less shouldn't matter. It is not about the majority. It is about us.
As you light your Shabbat candles this evening, light one for this great nation that has allowed us to grow and prosper and worship as Jews without restrictions. Light the other as beacon to our elected officials who if they follow the light will understand that leadership comes with responsibility to all, to be inclusive of all, and to help those who need the most help.
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[UPDATE: Speaker Bosma has apologized for his remarks to the JCRC.]
