On the Tenth Day the Missouri Legislature Created Prayer
Categories: Politics
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| We're guessing that this isn't the kind of prayer Missouri legislators want to guarantee. |
Yes, yesterday the Missouri Legislature passed another proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution. If passed by Missouri voters in 2012, the amendment would guarantee the right to pray openly in public, including inside the state Capitol.
State Rep. Mike McGhee (R-Odessa) has been pushing a similar bill for five years, but it's died each year in the Senate. This year, no senators voted against the bill -- partly out of exhaustion with the issue and partly because they didn't see it changing anything.
The Missouri Constitution already guarantees individuals the right to worship God according to their own consciences. "This was such a meaningless amendment, we just didn't feel like we needed to put forth the effort to stop it this year," Sen. Jolie Justus (D - Kansas City) told the Post-Dispatch yesterday.
McGhee, meanwhile, says the amendment would guarantee such liberties. "If voters approve this, it will send a message that the citizens of the state believe it's OK to read a Bible in study hall," McGhee told the Post-Dispatch. "That it's OK to pray briefly before a City Council meeting. That's what we were trying to do by bringing this amendment forward."
We'll see if McGhee continues to whistle that tune when -- following passage of the amendment -- a practicing Muslim dares to get on his knees inside the state Capitol and pray in the direction of Mecca.
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