Troy Moon

tmoon@pnj.com

Sure, I'm agnostic, but for the past 10 years or so, I've prayed every single night. Why is an agnostic praying? It keeps me centered, focused. It reminds me of the moral code I'd like to follow, but fall short of all the time. Every night — two "Our Fathers," one "Hail Mary," then a few minutes of my own private prayers.

Uh oh, maybe I shouldn't have broadcast that. Being a former altar boy, I forget that most Christians don't include "Hail Mary" among their prayers. The anti-papists among us — and they are out there — bristle at any notion of prayer going to any being not included in the Trinity. That's the danger of public prayer. Not everyone believes the same thing. And when we do pray in public, it leads to fights. Yay God!

Look at what's happening with the Escambia County Commission and School Board.

Both bodies allow for invocations before their meetings, and last week at an Escambia County Commission meeting, David Suhor, a self-described agnostic pagan pantheist (!!!), was given the opportunity, as legally required, to open the meeting with a pagan prayer. He sang the prayer, which included references to the "flaming spirit of life" and "guardians of the watchtower." There also was a lot of dramatic hand-dancing. I liked it. (But I'm also a heathen agnostic.)

Commissioner Wilson Robertson walked out, telling media outlets that he's not "going to have a pagan or satanic minister pray for me."

But at least the Commission gave Suhor an equal shot. School Board member Jeff Bergosh has been sparring with Suhor on blogs about Suhor's request to deliver an invocation before a meeting. (Why are invocations good for the school board, but not the schools?)

Bergosh told Suhor that he would "never" allow a satanic prayer. "Never. I chose the people who represent me." (That's after Suhor threatened to upgrade from hand-dancing, pagan prayers to full-on satanic prayers if he is not given a timely chance to lead the invocation.)

Apparently, this provision that allows for prayer before meetings only applies to certain prayers and certain religions.

Invocations won't end for Escambia school board

Maybe we need our elected officials to put out a list of prayers and religions they agree with, so people aren't confused about what kind of prayers are allowed. I mean, how are people going to know what prayers folks like Robertson and Bergosh think are stupid or just plain wrong?

You know, something like this:

Prayers Allowed: Prayers about Jesus are great! Christian prayers are good! Even the Catholics can lead prayer, as long as they don't bring any of that "Hail Mary" stuff to the table. Jewish prayers are OK, as long as it doesn't happen too often.

What's not allowed: Everything else.

Basically, that's what they want, right? They don't want freedom of religion. They want freedom to hold one religion above another. That's not their place. That's not what they were elected for. And they represent everyone, even the people from the faiths they think are stupid.

It's that kind of close-mindedness and intolerance that turned many of us away from the church to begin with. It's why some of us pray at home, far away from the narrow-minded folks who use their faith as a weapon against all others.

But we're nearing that one time of year when many among us, no matter the faith, bond together in a singular prayer:

Hail Santa! (Just don't rearrange the letters in the big guy's name unless you want Robertson and Bergosh to denounce your beliefs, which are far less valid than their own.)