The Prayer Delivered by Rev. Joe Wright 
before the Kansas House of Representatives
January  23, 1996

TRUTH-SEPARATION-OF-STATE-FROM-CHURCH-TRUTH

We've lost our spiritual equilibrium. We have inverted our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We've exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We've neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, oh, God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by you to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of your will. And, as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

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Rep. Anthony Powell, a Wichita Republican, invited the Senior Pastor from his church, the 2,500-member Central Christian Church in Wichita, to serve as the House's guest chaplain, offering the opening prayer at a session of the Kansas House of Representatives.   Rev. Joe Wright composed a prayer, reading it at the opening of the legislature on January 23.   Having departed he receive a call on his car phone from his secretary asking him what he had done. He was unaware of the ensuing controversy he had caused.  One Democrat member walked out in protest, and three speeches criticizing the prayer were delivered by three other democrats, and one more claimed it a "message of intolerance".  Tom Sawyer, House Minority Leader (also a Democrat) asserted that the prayer "reflects the extreme, radical views that continue to dominate the House Republican agenda since right-wing extremists seized control of the House Republican caucus last year." 

Rev. Wright had been invited to serve as the House's guest chaplain by who was also a member of Wright's church. Accordingly, Rev. Wright composed a prayer, read it at the opening of the legislature on January 23, and departed, unaware of the ruckus he had created until his church secretary called him on his car phone to ask him what he had done.   Rep. Powell, who had invited Wright, claimed that House Democrats were simply trying to make political points and that he supported the concerns the prayers addressed.

"I certainly did not mean to be offensive to individuals, but I don't apologize for the truth.", said Rev. Wright.  Over 6.500 telephone calls from across the nation and abroad were received by Rev. Wright's staff.  He had appeared on or been the subject of  many radio, TV and newspaper reports shows.  The following month the controversy was renewed when the chaplain coordinator in the Nebraska legislature read Wright's prayer.   Rev. Joe Wright stated, "I thought I might get a call from an angry congressman or two, but I was talking to God, not them. The whole point was to say that we all have sins that we need to repent -- all of us . . . The problem, I guess, is that you're not supposed to get too specific when you're talking about sin."

In this day of political correctness you can exercise your freedom of speech offending Christians but Christians may not express their views as it may offend others. Democrats in trying to point out injustice in others reveal their true colors showing their own intolerance of others. 

Link :  Rev. Joe Wright                                  Source :   Urban Legends