The God Machine had to work overtime this week to manage all the fascinating faith-related news items coming its way, so let’s dig in. First, Alabama is in the midst of an awful drought, so Gov. Bob Riley (R) has decided to, well, just take a look.
With the state’s weather forecasters not delivering much-needed rain, Gov. Bob Riley on Thursday turned to a higher power. The governor issued a proclamation calling for a week of prayer for rain, beginning Saturday.
Riley encouraged Alabamians to pray “individually and in their houses of worship.”
“Throughout our history, Alabamians have turned in prayer to God to humbly ask for his blessings and to hold us steady during times of difficulty,” Riley said. “This drought is without question a time of great difficulty.”
Roger McNeil, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, noted that the state should see scattered showers over the weekend, but it won’t affect the drought. Asked if he believes prayer can make it rain, McNeil declined to say.
Given Alabama’s general approach to such matters, that was probably a good idea.
Next up is a fascinating court case about a pastor who revealed a parishioner’s secrets to a congregation.
Saying it would be unconstitutional for judges to interfere in a church’s internal affairs, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a woman who was furious that her pastor told church elders and the congregation about her extramarital relationship.
The court’s 9-to-0 ruling reversed an appeals court’s finding that the woman, Peggy Penley, could sue the Rev. C. L. Westbrook Jr. for professional negligence because he was acting as her marital counselor and not as her pastor.
In the opinion, Justice Harriet O’Neill said it would be difficult to separate those roles and impossible for Mr. Westbrook to “adhere to the standards of one without violating the requirements of the other.” Allowing judges to wade into the dispute would violate the church’s First Amendment right to govern itself, Justice O’Neill added.
Penley and her ex-husband received counseling from Westbrook in 1998, in a church that required members to follow certain personal rules regarding private conduct. During the counseling, Penley confided in Westbrook about an affair she’d had. She was prepared to leave the church, but Westbrook, following what he said were church guidelines, told church elders about Penley’s adultery. A letter was distributed to the congregation urging church members to shun Penley, prompting a defamation lawsuit.
The court didn’t rule on the merits, instead deciding that it could not consider a case about internal church-governance. Still, it seems like a particularly nasty thing for a pastor to do, doesn’t it?
And finally, Congress starts its day, every day, with taxpayer-funded chaplains reciting a sparsely-attended prayer. The vast majority of the time, it’s a Christian prayer from a Christian minister. In two weeks, the Senate will break new ground for religious diversity.
On July 12, a milestone will be reached when the Senate hears a prayer offered by a Hindu religious leader. Rajan Zed, a Hindu chaplain, will read the prayer. It has been reported that this will be a first for the Senate.
As a Hindu news site reported, “Zed is still to finalize the exact prayer he will deliver, but he is thinking something from Rig Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, dated from around 1,500 BCE; besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He plans to start and end the prayer with ‘OM,’ the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work. Full text of the prayer will be included in the Congressional Record.”
Expect the Religious Right to go insane.
Yep. When the religious right talks about faith in the public square, they’re talking about their faith.
Expect this to cause quite a bit of rumbling from Dobson & Co.