How Much God Do You Need?

A Lot. You Need a Good Amount of God at the very least

File: Christ Appearing to Mary.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Goodness, there is so much exciting religious news out there. First of all, a famous evangelical did something bad. Second of all, the Episcopal Church will no longer be working with the American government on the subject of refugees, because apparently, Mr. Trump is accepting South Africans of the improper color into the United States, and TEC doesn’t want to be complicit in such madness. Third of all, Matt Walsh, being excited about the new pope, took many thousands of words to Catholic Splain the Anglican Communion, which is pretty funny. Fourth of all, the new pope, who said very prescient things about the media back in 2012, maneuvered his way around a large l.g.b.t.q. flag in a long line of people with whom he was shaking hands, in a way that I thought most ingenious and heartening. And finally, we come to the subject of our little time together today, which is that a very nice looking person cannot bear—at all—the idea that a prayer would be offered at the beginning of a public meeting. In this case, I implore you to go watch it before coming back here. It’s not very long, and I can’t perform her sense of grieved outrage nearly as well as she can. Seriously, watch it and then come back for my transcription below:

If you put prayer at the beginning of this meeting, I don't think that's a welcoming sign to, um, the people that are in this room tonight. How much prayer do you need? How much God do you need? We say "under God." We say it. We say it. Why do we need to say more? This, to me, is very disturbing. If I tell you I'm offended, I'm offended. I just don't understand why you're comfortable excluding people. Not everyone who is in this room tonight is Christian. And guess what! If you do this, we're gonna have legal challenges. And guess what, it goes all the way to the Supreme Court, because it's in the Constitution. I don't know why you need prayer, to, um, take this job seriously. But don't say this is going to unify, when I'm telling you it will not. Why do you need this?

Since she’s asked so many sensible questions, I thought I would go ahead and answer them. And if anyone knows her, perhaps you can pass this along, because I would hate for her to go blundering along in such ignorance. For, as everyone says, if you know better, you will probably do better… that’s just a little joke, I tell it every time.

It’s Tuesday, so let’s number her thoughts the better to provide the answers she craves:

1. If you put prayer at the beginning of the meeting, you will be unwelcoming.

2. How much prayer do you need?

3. How much God do you need?

4. Why do we need to say more than “under God?”

5. She is disturbed and offended.

6. Why are you comfortable excluding people?

7. Not everyone is a Christian.

8. There will be legal challenges because of the Constitution.

9. Why do you need prayer to take the job seriously?

10. She *said* it wouldn’t unify, and therefore, why do you need it?

If we wanted to boil it down even further, we might say that to acknowledge the existence of God, and to act like he is a Person with thoughts and feelings regarding the business being conducted, for her, is exclusive and offensive. You, whoever you are, who wants to pray in public, should examine yourself to see what’s wrong with you that you would be willing to offend other people. Having numbered her thoughts, I will now number my own.

1.

Is being a Christian who publicly acknowledges God unwelcoming? The answer is a little bit more winsomely nuanced and complex than a mere yes or no. In many situations, having the courage to pray opens up the spiritual airways of people who feel oppressed and anxious. I’m finding that offering to pray for people—especially strangers—is an emotionally uncluttered and gracious act of hospitality.

Is that so for an occasion like a school board meeting? Of course, offering prayer would likely not be perceived that way by people who are very anxious in themselves, who are insecure, who have deeply imbibed the gospel of the moment, which is that to exclude anyone except Christians is an act of the greatest unkindness. And certainly, a school board meeting is probably not the venue to litigate the philosophical idiocy at the heart of something like blind tolerance.