Moulton attacked for praying in Assembly
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By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:39 AM CDT
MADISON — Addressing his colleagues in the Assembly chamber, Rep. Terry Moulton pleaded to Jesus.
“In your name, and by the power of your spirit, I come against the Evil One. And I ask that he be cast from this place, this day,’’ he said as the Assembly opened a floor session last July.
Citing such statements, a watchdog group asked Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch on Wednesday to stop the long-standing practice of opening sessions with a prayer.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation said its review of 16 prayers led by legislators in the past year found all but one of them were explicitly Christian. The group said some of the prayers appeared to denigrate other faiths while promoting Christianity, which it called a violation of the separation of church and state.
The foundation singled out the most statements by Moulton, a Chippewa Falls Republican who led prayers three times in the last year. In addition to what it called his exorcism of the Assembly, Moulton said the Bible had been proved historically accurate and nations that did not accept God “went into ruins and perished.’’
In an interview, Moulton stood by his statements and called the foundation “a very wacko group that is completely out of tune with mainstream America.’’ He acknowledged asking Jesus “to command that any satanic or evil forces be cast from the Assembly that day.’’
“I do not think that we have discriminated against anyone in the prayers,’’ he said.
“Legislators and clergy routinely invoke the Christian deity, Jesus Christ, as well as the Holy Spirit and Christian prophets and saints,’’ group co-presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote to Huebsch. “Many of these ‘prayers’ are nothing less than sermons meant to proselytize and advance the Christian faith to the Wisconsin general public.’’
The Assembly should end the “unnecessary, coercive and unconstitutional practice,’’ wrote Barker and Gaylor, whose group counts 12,000 atheists and agnostics as members and advocates for the separation of church and state.
A spokesman for Huebsch said he was reviewing the letter and had no immediate comment.
Assembly Chief Clerk Pat Fuller said the practice dates to Wisconsin’s first year of statehood in 1848, when the body passed a resolution appointing two members to officiate as chaplains and lead opening prayers.
Current Assembly rules require him to arrange a prayer before each floor session and Fuller said he does so by asking lawmakers to sign up themselves or their constituents to lead them.
“The Legislature as a separate branch of government can make its own rules,’’ he said. “The prayer is in the Assembly rules and I don’t believe it’s unconstitutional.’’
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld legislative prayer in 1983 but warned the prayers must not be intended to coerce listeners into adopting the speaker’s belief or favor one religion over another.
The Madison-based foundation said the Assembly’s prayers “flagrantly exceed’’ those constraints. Its review found 13 of the prayers invoked Jesus Christ, eight quoted the Bible and three mentioned the Holy Spirit.
In addition to its criticism of Moulton, the foundation also:
- Accused Rep. Eugene Hahn, R-Cambria, of urging his colleagues to turn against faiths other than Christianity.
“Those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts. And, if he doesn’t turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so we’ll know them by their limping,’’ he said, prompting lawmakers to burst into laughter. He added later: “Oh God, Our Judge, save us from holding a faith that cripples the future, and makes a better tomorrow an impossibility.’’
- Criticized Rep. Sheryl Albers, R-Reedsburg, for quoting a Bible verse that said laws were meant to allow individuals to lead godly lives. “So, man made laws, which are contrary to reason, become unjust. On that basis, laws we might make, if contrary to natural law, are a corruption of the law,’’ she said on Oct. 24.
Fuller said the Assembly has no written policy governing the content of the prayers.
That’s a contrast to the Senate, where prayers must be “nondenominational, nonsectarian and nonproselytizing’’ and cannot mention Christ or other gods, said Chief Clerk Rob Marchant.
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