Happy Unconstitutional Prayer Day!

I couldn't resist this lovely shot this morning with the (not quite yet) flowering crabs in the foreground.

The House was supposed to convene this morning at 10:00 but by 10:25 the DFL still hadn't finished caucusing, so I had to leave because the parking meter was running out. Oh well, I wound up seeing many of them later while I was in front of the Senate. When the House recesses, many representatives file by down the Senate stairs.

Outside the Capitol today, the UNCONSTITUTIONAL (my opinion), "National Prayer Day" was being observed while a "Day Of Reason" was being observed in the rotunda by the Minnesota Atheists. The difference? One is officially proclaimed by the federal government...guess which one. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says, "CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." It doesn't say "a" religion, but "religion," meaning ANYTHING having to do with religion. That means the PEOPLE are free to pray 'til hell won't have it, but the government is not. National Prayer Day is the result of Congress making a law respecting an establishment of religion...establishing a day of religious ritual. It's wrong and illegal and the founding fathers that bent over backwards to keep religion out of the Constitution are turning in their graves.

There are far more agregious breaches of church state separation these days, like the daily religious rituals that open sessions of the House and Senate, this is just the outrage du jour.

DFL Representative, Joe Atkins thanked me for being there today.

"What does the sign say?"

On Wednesday, shortly after I got set up in front of the Senate the House chaplain came smiling up the stairs toward me while unfolding a piece of paper. From previous experience I sensed this was a prayer he'd written that included something of interest to me...and I was right. He told me that he was substituting for the Senate chaplain and pointed out that his prayer included a reference to the children, spouses and "partners" of (I think) Senators. I said to him, "You're getting bolder. I like it." He seemed excited as he left to go into the chamber. I watched him deliver his invocation on the television set up near the Senate entrance. Later, when I was in front of the House, he came up to me all smiley like a kid that had just pulled off a prank. I told him I saw his prayer on television. He said he didn't think "some of them" would like his inclusion of partners very much. I told him I didn't think anybody would bother him.

There was a high school group from the Marshall area that hustled up the Senate stairs as one tall, kind of burly girl approached and shook my hand, then hugged me, thanking me for being there. She was great.

Many groups of Head Start kids were at the Capitol as well. The little peanuts were everywhere. One group, each little one clinging to the hand of their adult guides, laboriously climbed the Senate stairs. As the last one passed, he said to the man whose hand he was holding, "What does the sign say?" (It was "Gay Marriage Is Good Marriage...") The man said, "Do you really want me to tell ya? I'll tell ya." We both laughed as they turned the corner. I don't know if he told him or not.

While I was in front of the House, a little boy holding the hand of an older woman passed by, looking up at the huge, nude paintings on the walls of the rotunda. He jerked the woman's hand and exclaimed, "Hey, wait Gramma!" Transfixed on the paintings, he dragged her into the rotunda as she smiled rather sheepishly.