Christian prayer at a meeting of the city council in Rancho Cordova, California

Add Rancho Cordova, a town of 60,000 souls in the greater Sacramento area, to the list of avowedly Christian cities -- the ones, that is, whose city councils routinely invoke the name of the Christian deity before beginning each public meeting.

The prayer at the meeting of May 3rd, 2010 was captured on video by this reporter. The speaker was introduced as "former pastor Bryce Cooley, from the Cordova Neighborhood Church." Mr. Cooley said:

"My God, we thank You for this week, we thank You for the weather we've been having, the rain, and just pray that You would turn it into beautiful green around Rancho Cordova, and that the sun would just, ah, just soak in, Lord. I just pray that You would be with the city officials, You would give them wisdom and discernment into how to best run this city; that they would listen with open ears to what everyone has to say; and that You would be with community leaders; that they would reach out to the youth; and that the youth would listen; and that we would all work together to form a strong community, under You. Thank You for this night; we pray that much is done, in Your Name. Amen."

"Yes, he is my son," Mayor Cooley explained, just after the video recorder was turned off -- "but that's not why we invited him to speak."

Of course not, Mr. Mayor. Total coincidence, I'm sure.

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News & Politics

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• church and state
• constitution
• prayer