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THE MURRAY CITY OPENING PRAYER by Tom Snyder
OUR MOTHER, who art in heaven (if indeed there is a heaven and if there is a god that takes a woman's form) hallowed be thy name, we ask for thy blessing for and guidance of those that will participate in this meeting and for those mortals that govern the state of Utah;
We fervently ask that you guide the leaders of this city, Salt Lake County and the state of Utah so that they may see the wisdom of separating church and state and so that they will never again perform demeaning religious ceremonies as part of official government functions;
We pray that you prevent self-righteous politicians from mis-using the name of God in conducting government meetings; and, that you lead them away from the hypocritical and blasphemous deception of the public, attempting to make the people believe that bureaucrats' decisions and actions have thy stamp of approval if prayers are offered at the beginning of government meetings;
We ask that you grant Utah's leaders and politicians enough courage and discernment to understand that religion is a private matter between every individual and his or her deity; we beseech thee to educate government leaders that religious beliefs should not be broadcast and revealed for the purpose of impressing others; we pray that you strike down those that mis-use your name and those that cheapen the institution of prayer by using it for their own selfish political gains;
We ask that the people of the state of Utah will some day learn the wisdom of the separation of church and state; we ask that you will teach the people of Utah that government should not participate in religion; we pray that you smite those government officials that would attempt to censor or control prayers made by anyone to you or to any other of our gods;
We ask that you deliver us from the evil of forced religious worship now sought to be imposed upon the people of the state of Utah by the actions of misguided, weak and stupid politicians, who abuse power in their own self-righteousness.All of this we ask in thy name and in the name of thy son (if in fact you had a son that visited Earth) for the eternal betterment of all of us who populate the great state of Utah. - Amen.
Times of India
15 Feb 2008 New York
You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8vENZwp1rk
The senate of Utah, a US state dominated by Mormons, was opened for
the first time with a Hindu prayer involving the chanting of Sanskrit mantras.
Rajan Zed, a prominent Hindu chaplain who has earlier read prayers in the US
senate and state senates, read the opening prayer Wednesday from ancient
scriptures before the Utah senate in Salt Lake City. After first delivering the
prayer in Sanskrit, he read its English translation.
Utah is the world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, better known as Mormonism, founded in 1830.
Mormons, known to be orthodox and conservative, account for over 60 per cent of
the state's population of about 2.5 million.
Zed sprinkled holy water from the Ganges on the podium before starting the p
rayer. He recited from the Rig-Veda, besides lines from Upanishads and the Gita.
He started and ended the prayer with "Om", the Hindu mystical syllable.
Zed presented a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to senate president John L. Valentine
who thanked him for the historic prayer.
Senate majority leader Curtis S. Bramble said that the theme of the prayer was
peace and he put forth a resolution to include the prayer in the Senate Journal,
which was unanimously passed.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/msid-2786115,prtpage-1.cms