Prayer and Politics

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 20, 1913

Prayer and Politics

If the establishment of chaplaincies in the halls of legislation is out of place, doubly so is the weaving of political speeches into such prayers. For doing this, the lieutenant-governor of Indiana called a Baptist clergyman sharply to time in the Indiana Senate on February 20, and cut short the prayer which the clergyman was making, by ordering the reading of the journal. A little previous to this, however, a Catholic clergyman, in the same chamber, took occasion to thank God for a Democratic victory, for thirteen Democratic representatives, lieutenant-governor, speaker of the House, a Democratic governor, two United States Senators, a Democratic Congress, and for Woodrow Wilson. In concluding his prayer, the Catholic clergyman wove in considerable Roman Catholic dogma, and

closed his prayer by placing the Indiana Legislature under the special protection of the Virgin Mary. The lieutenant-governor did not interfere with this prayer in any way. The New York Weekly Witness, commenting upon the last occurrence, says:—

The action of the lieutenant-governor of Indiana in stopping a minister's prayer and rebuking him publicly, calls attention in a very emphatic way to a practise that needs to be sharply condemned, and prohibited; namely, the practise of making speeches in the form of prayer. . . .

Neither politics nor religious controversy, nor any economic question as to which the opinions of the audience may be divided, is a suitable subject for public prayer.