Looks like I’m grabbing a Snickers, because it doesn’t look like we’re going away from the topic of religion for a while.
Now to the new topic of the week: invocations at city council meetings. So long as the city is willing to be open to other faiths outside Christianity, I don't see anything wrong with opening with an invocation. It doesn't take up that much time in city council meetings and I can imagine the vetting process doesn't pull that many resources as Freedom From Religion claims.
That being said, the city only allows faith-based institutions within a 5-mile radius of the city to conduct invocations. The Crestview area — not necessarily in the city limits — lists over 50 Christian churches, 16 of which are Baptist. No mosques or synagogues exist north of Eglin Reservation.
As you will probably remember, Pensacola — a city housing many different non-Christian faiths — did, in fact, allow someone from a satanic establishment to lead an invocation. As expected, the invocation evoked deplorable behavior from those present in the building — not from Satanists, but from Christians who continually disrupted proceedings.
Here’s a much better example of acceptance of other faiths.
As a member of three chambers of commerce, I participate in every invocation — I’m not atheist or agnostic; I do have faith in Christ — and in one of those chambers, I stand next to a good friend who is Jewish.
More times than not, the prayer ends with the leader saying, “In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen,” in which my friend and I both repeat, “Amen.”
My friend doesn’t protest or get offended; after all, as private institutions, chambers of commerce are allowed to have invocations exclusive to any faith they choose. My friend, instead, joins his fellow business owners in fellowship in praying for the prosperity of their livelihoods.
So, to put out the fire of controversy set by Freedom From Religion, I challenge the Crestview City Council to forego the convenient policy of having only those institutions within a 5-mile radius of the city be represented.
Invite the rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Fort Walton Beach to lead in a Jewish prayer for an upcoming invocation.
Baby steps.
Johnny C. Alexander is a Crestview resident and freelance writer, photographer and videographer.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview City Council should change prayer policy