Let. Us. Pray.

[cali]

When the history books sort it all out for us, the unlikely hero of the government shutdown of 2013 may well be the Senate chaplain, former Navy Rear Adm. Barry C. Black. Amid all the crazy chest thumping up at the Capitol these past few weeks, Black has been preaching truth to power. In one-minute increments of prayer before Senate sessions, he’s been unloading fistfuls of rhetorical whoop-ass upon the folks who have cavalierly broken the government the way little boys burn ants. Black, who has been chaplain for the past decade, has used the crisis of the shutdown to say to the government what the rest of us have long been thinking: “Save us from the madness," he begged God in one prayer. “Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable,” in another. Last week, after hearing of the delay of benefits for military families, Black prayed, “It’s time for our lawmakers to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” before asking God to “cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness.”



I suppose one could call it prayer when a chaplain asks God to “Remove from them that stubborn pride, which imagines itself to be beyond criticism. Forgive them for the blunders they have committed.” Or one could just call it a public paddling. Black is careful to be nonpartisan. And yet there can be no doubt that the substance of his remarks are political—and provocative. During the shutdown he has advocated for restoring pay to the Capitol police and giving benefits to the families of service members. As he told the New York Times, “I see us playing a very dangerous game. It’s like the showdown at the O.K. Corral. Who’s going to blink first? So I can’t help but have some of this spill over into my prayer. Because you’re hoping that something will get through and that cooler heads will prevail.”

And that’s why everyone’s gone crazy for Black. (Watch CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield swoon here.) After Saturday Night Live delivered a pitch-perfect sendup of Black’s morning prayers this past weekend—“Lord, bless and forgive these braying jackasses, lest they do something that makes people want to pin them on the floor, shove a sweaty sock in their mouths, and then whoop ’em up and down with a pillowcase full of Skittles”—one thing was abundantly clear: Black, who is, by the way, working for free these past few weeks—is quite obviously the last sane man in Washington.

But perhaps that’s not something folks on the left should be feeling perfectly sanguine about. Consider that all of this brutal honesty in government is coming from a man of the cloth. In the form of a supplication to God. Consider, also, that it’s his very moral authority, as a spiritual leader, that is leading officeholders to listen closely to him and think carefully about his arguments. Black recently explained that “I've had senators say to me frequently, ‘Keep the prayer pressure on.’ One senator came to me and said, ‘Chaplain, I hope our lawmakers are listening, because I've been following your prayers very, very closely ... and they are really making a difference in my reflections.’ ”

Progressives like what Black is saying because he is currently shaming the heck out of intransigent Republicans. But what if he were talking about the sanctity of life on the Senate floor? Or gently urging the moral value of school prayer? The left would be frantic, just as we get frantic when half the members of the Supreme Court, President Obama’s Cabinet, and members of Congress attend the Red Mass each year, on the Sunday before the court term opens in October.

<snip>

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/10/senate_chaplain_barry_black_s_remarkable_popularity_highlights_the_problem.html

[Laelth]

1. Interesting. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[IdaBriggs]

2. The non-partisan nature of his prayers saves the situation for me.

I like that he is reminding them of their roles as leaders, and the responsibilities to the "real" people of this country.

I have no problem with prayers for wisdom, less hubris, and compassion.

That being said, I understand the "potential concern" if the prayers get into controversial / tackle non-bipartisan issues, but he currently seems to have used his responsibility appropriately, and for that I am grateful.

[Demo_Chris]

3. Appealing to irrational superstitions in a plea for reason. What could possibly go wrong?

Rather than pandering to this garbage, a better way is to put it into the trash. It's time we grow up.

[cali]

4. I'm with you on this. he may be the greatest guy on the planet

but I'm wary of the injection of religion into our process.

[Demo_Chris]

5. Reread what you just wrote :) nt.

[cali]

7. oops and thanks for pointing that out. More coffee. immediately.

[Douglas Carpenter]

6. very interesting

[LWolf]

8. Nobody should be giving public prayers

on the Senate floor. If the Senate wants to recognize faith, a moment of silence will do.

That said, Black is obviously a smart man who's using his religious credentials to push a political viewpoint...a very dangerous thing to do.

The fact that he's saying the right things is mostly beside the point.

Mostly. Because many of the most intransigent politicians holding the nation hostage are ALSO supporters and promoters of the religious right. Using their own faith, faux and real, to slap them down might be the most effective response we've got.