Bring prayer back to City Council

I will be graduating from SMU’s business school next month and plan to continue my studies abroad next fall at a Bible school in Austria. Yet, before I go I would like to do something for my community here in Dallas.

I was watching the news a couple days ago when I heard reporters asking President Bush for a comment on the recovered prisoners of war.

The president responded with inspiring words. He spoke of the power of prayer and the dedicated people who prayed for these soldiers to come to safety. He continued to talk about how thankful he was for the millions of people who pray for his administration, and how their prayers have influenced his life.

I felt so thankful to live in a land where the public had the right to exercise its religion. I felt gracious that the citizens of the United States were using the freedom that so many of our friends and love ones have died for. I felt blessed to live in a country built by our forefathers who fled a state controlled religion to establish a country as great as the one I live in, a country that’s constitution prohibits the government’s ability to control its citizen’s religious beliefs and practices.

Nonetheless, I was informed recently that prayer was taken off the agenda at the Dallas City Council meetings.

I was first outraged that the Dallas religious community – myself included – did nothing to protest or prevent this from occurring. Yet, I soon realized that the reason for the lack of action was probably not do to apathy but a lack of information.

I don’t think that the average Dallas resident knows that this has even happened.

Doing research on Laura Miller I soon became confused as I realized that she had to be an advocate of public prayer as she allowed her niece to pray before the council in the past, and had also pushed for a Wicca leader to give an invocation before a meeting.

Wicca is a neo-pagan tradition also known as witchcraft, which celebrates nature as the embodiment of divinity

However, it seems as if Mrs. Miller didn’t really recognize or appreciate the diversity of the Dallas community and the various faiths that our population represents as she had this to say about prayers invoking the name of Jesus Christ:

This is from The Dallas Morning News: “Every week that I have been here we talk about Jesus Christ, and I flinch.”

She continued to say, “We are at city hall, why are we hearing about Jesus Christ?”

For a public figure that should know that all religions recognized by the United States government have a right to be practiced and represented in a public forum, Laura Miller not only seems to be offended and opposed to prayers invoking the name of Jesus Christ, she also seems to be against certain rights that places of worship have acquired, as she testified before the House State Affairs Committee against the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1999. The senate unanimously approved this act, which further secured the free exercise of religion.

In conclusion, I want Dallas to know that during Laura Miller’s time in office she has either caused or allowed this atrocity to occur.

I want to remind the public that in 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that opening legislative sessions with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country, and that invoking divine guidance is constitutionally permissible.

I want to challenge the leaders of the Dallas religious community of all faiths to stand up with their congregations and fight for the reinstatement of prayer before the Dallas City Council Meetings.

I want to challenge the residents of Dallas to make their voice heard on May 3.

I want to plea with Mrs. Miller to reconsider her negativity towards Christianity.