Here comes that government religion thing again

I've been reading this week about a lawsuit filed against Parkersburg (W.Va.) City Council, contending that Council’s recitation of “The Lord's Prayer” before its meetings is unconstitutional.

I want to say first off that I don't care if you pray or not, and if you do, I don't care who or what you pray to. Pray to God, pray to Allah, pray to Vishnu, pray to a ham sandwich or pray to a ceramic cat. That's your right and your choice and I encourage you to follow your beliefs.

I ask only that you keep it to yourself.

As for me, I practice my own kind of religion. I try hard to follow a set of rules, principles, guidelines, policies and beliefs designed to make me a decent, honest, caring person who strives to do the right thing while respecting the rights of others to live their lives as they see fit. After all, isn’t that what religion is supposed to be?

Sometimes I make mistakes and I have done things I’d like to forget, but I’ll stack up my morality against anybody who attends a Donald Trump rally, chants “traitor” and “enemy of the people” at a news reporter and then turns around to grant a “mulligan” to their vacuous racist con man president every time he violates the law, ignores the Constitution or shatters one of their 10 Christian commandments.

But I digress.

Getting back to Parkersburg, I don't know why any government meeting has to start with a prayer. I suppose we’ve been doing that since the Puritans set up camp at Plymouth Rock in 1620 – or some other such event took place – and we continue to do it (mainly out of habit, I suspect) despite court rulings that suggest it violates the separation of church and state.

In my mind, any town council members are free to seek divine guidance if they think they need it before issuing building permits or authorizing a new sewer line or placing a 4-way stop sign at the intersection of 17^th and Main. I just want them to do it on their own time. Otherwise, by asking meeting attendees to stand while they recite, “Our father, who art in Heaven…,” they legitimize the people who are standing while singling out for ridicule any people who don't believe as they do and choose to remain in their seats.

Take a knee, anyone?

If government officials feel the need to stand up before a meeting, let them do it out in the corridor. They can stand, stretch, jump, jog in place or perform the “downward facing dog,” for all I care. Then come inside, rap the gavel and get on with the people’s business. That would be all of the people, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans and Atheists alike.

That way, no one gets to stand up with the “chosen” who pray to a Christian god and no one gets left behind while holding tight to their own personal beliefs.