FIRED FOR JESUS, North Carolina Statehouse Boots Pastor for Christian Prayer- Category:Christian_Conservative_News
FIRED FOR JESUS, North Carolina Statehouse Boots Pastor for Christian Prayer
When the North Carolina state legislature invited Pastor Ron Baity to conduct opening prayers at the House for one week, he was happy to oblige. What he didn’t expect was a government prescreening of his first day’s prayer that would lead to his dismissal, because he intended to finish with the words, “ . . . in Jesus’ name.”
If there is anyone familiar with Pastor Baity’s perplexing dismissal, it’s former U.S. Navy Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, who faced the same brand of political-correctness-driven government censorship in the military, where he was directly told he could no longer publicly pray in Jesus’ name.
In news breaking this week, Baity chose not to oblige the NC statehouse a second time when they asked him to remove the reference to Jesus, and was, therefore, asked to not return for prayer the rest of the week. Back in 2006, Klingenschmitt didn’t back down either and, while he put his career and pension on the line, he managed to generate enough public support to persuade the U.S. Congress to reverse the military restriction.
Now, Klingenschmitt is battling again for his friend in North Carolina, just like he did by leading petition drives that helped reverse Jesus-prayer bans in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Oregon, California, Ohio, Indiana, and Virginia. On his website at—you guessed it—PrayInJesusName.org, Klingenschmitt has posted Baity’s story, along with an online petition demanding the NC statehouse lift its ban on use of the word “Jesus” in its prayers and reinstate Baity’s invitation. He is already sending 140,000+ fax petitions to North Carolina legislators this week.
“Jesus is not an illegal word, the Bible is not a banned book, and evangelistic speech is not a crime,” writes Klingenschmitt. Meanwhile, Pastor Baity has acquired an attorney to pursue an apology and reinstatement from the NC government, citing that separation of church and state does not translate into violating the 1st Amendment freedom of speech.
“The First Amendment promises all Americans the free exercise of their religion, which includes the right to pray as their faith requires, even when they are invited to open state legislative sessions with prayer,” Baity’s attorney said. “(And) there is no authority in American history, tradition or Supreme Court precedent that requires a legislature to censor a private citizen’s prayers in order to participate in a benefit or privilege that is offered to other citizens of the state.”
Can the government ban the word “Jesus” as illegal speech? For a breaking news viewpoint on this 1st Amendment battle that is truly unique based on firsthand experience, call Special Guests. What must be done to reverse this ban in North Carolina? Is secular state censorship trending up or down right now? Is America losing its Judeo Christian heritage?
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