One Nation Under God

In January 1996, a minister named Joe Wright from the Central Christian Church of Wichita Kansas was asked to open the new session of the State Senate with prayer.

This is the prayer that he gave~


Heavenly Father
We come before You today to ask
Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says
"Woe to those who call evil good"
but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word
and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children
and called it self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politic savvy.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and
called it ambition.

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 and see if there be some wicked way in 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 Kansas, and who have been ordained
by You to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their
decisions direct us to the center of your will.
I ask it in the name of your son, the living Savior,
Jesus Christ
Amen.

The minister left the room...not knowing the wake he left behind.

One legislator walked out during this prayer in protest.
Others were angry and called the minister "intolerant".

Aren't you sick of that word!?


He later said~
I certainly did not mean to be offensive to individuals but I don't apologize for the truth.

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.



This prayer was given 10 years ago.
I don't see that we have improved our condition much
in those 10 years.

Christian beliefs are still the majority in the United States.

It's time to get specific about sin.

It's time to get angry about sin.

It's time that we stop standing quietly by and letting the
minority rule.

It's time to let our leaders know what we stand for.


We need to make calls.

We need to offer prayers.

We need to let our light shine.