Lawmaker prayer group focuses on religious freedom

With their heads bowed, a small group of state lawmakers stood in a loose circle in the middle of a legislative committee room as their colleague, Rep. Mark Pody, led them in prayer.

"We want to invite the holy spirit here, father, to the Capitol. On the floor today, that the words that are said, father, that there's no mean-spiritedness. Father, that we could just focus on you," said Pody, a Wilson County Republican.

Those who gathered on a recent Thursday morning in Legislative Plaza are members of a relatively new prayer group for lawmakers, the Tennessee Legislative Prayer Caucus. It's focused on preserving religious liberty and upholding the country's Judeo-Christian values, its website says.

Pody alluded to that purpose as he continued his prayer.

"Father, across this great nation, Lord, there is, your word's coming under attack as it has throughout the centuries. We just pray for a rising up and revival across this country."

It's about prayer, not partisanship or advocating for legislation, Pody said. The prayer group is open to all lawmakers regardless of party, he said. In addition to Pody, the group's leadership includes at least three more Republicans and one Democrat.

"We're just going to stay focused on prayer in general and our religious freedom that way," Pody said.

The prayer group started quietly about halfway through last year's legislative session with just a few lawmakers, but they decided to expand it this year and raised its public profile, hoping more legislators would attend their weekly meetings, Pody said.

They welcomed country music artist Ricky Skaggs for the first meeting of the new legislative session in January. While the star power helped draw a standing-room only crowd, Pody said they will try to keep the prayer group for lawmakers only.

Prayer at the Capitol

While weekly attendance varies, nearly 30 lawmakers, largely Republicans, are listed as members on the prayer caucus' website. Rep. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville, is among them. She did not attend the Feb. 9 prayer caucus, but said in a telephone interview that she joined the group because she believes prayer has a role in solving issues facing Tennesseans, including poverty and criminal justice problems.

“I recognize in order for us to make a difference in Tennessean’s lives, really affect real change in the quality of life, it’s going to take prayer and it’s going to take all of us working together,” Gilmore said. “God is not partisan.”

The prayer caucus isn’t the only prayer or devotional group at the state Capitol. And lawmakers are within their rights to use prayer groups to exercise their freedom of religion, said Kent Syler, a political science professor at Middle Tennessee State University.

“It becomes a problem if they start to try to blur the line between church and state and it also becomes a problem if they seek to use their office to promote one religion over another,” Syler said.

Pody, and other members of the caucus, have said that’s not the intention of the prayer group.

But Cody made clear that he doesn't set aside his Christian beliefs while performing his duties as a lawmaker, and he said his constituents are well aware of that. He's sponsored bills on religion-tinged issues, including legislation that would define marriage as strictly between one man and one woman.

"There is no separation for me. Everything I do is going to be based on scripture. How I vote is going to be based on my biblical values as well as the Constitution, but I believe that my biblical values are the first things that I would turn to," Pody said.

National connection

The group is tied to the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit that describes itself as neither partisan nor political. The foundation's website says it protects religious freedom and challenges "anti-faith trends impacting legislative, legal and cultural issues" through a national network of citizens and leaders.

The foundation's platform focuses on conservative religious issues, including keeping prayer in public schools and advocating for states to pass their own religious freedom restoration acts. It also is a big advocate for the national "In God We Trust" motto. Lea Carawan, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation's executive director, was not available for comment.

"When you look at the Congressional Prayer Caucus' website there is certainly a theme of Christianity under attack," Syler said.

One of the foundation's initiatives is to establish state legislative prayer caucuses, which are modeled after the Congressional Prayer Caucus formed in 2005. Lawmakers in more than 20 states have formed prayer caucuses, the foundation's website says. Secular groups, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association, have voiced opposition to the national and state caucuses in the past.

Pody said the national foundation reached out to him to start the prayer group at the state house. He thinks the national network is a plus for the state prayer group, and he used the preservation of "In God We Trust" as an example.

"Across the nation, it seems that people are saying we can't even have the word God in anything we're doing in our government buildings," Pody said. "It is on our money, 'In God We Trust.' It is passed at the capitol in Washington both the house and the senate, reaffirming that 'In God We Trust' is our national motto. We want to make sure we keep that in each of the states as well."

State lawmakers often communicate with legislators in other states, Syler said. Frequently, policies or other mechanisms on a wide variety of issues are tried in one state and then introduced in Tennessee, he said.

“The wider spread the prayer caucuses are the more impact they can have on both the desire to get like-minded legislators together to exercise their religious freedoms and it can also help them push an agenda more effectively should they go down that path,” Syler said.

The small group that gathered for the prayer group’ s Feb. 9 meeting prayed together for about 10 minutes. A chorus of "amen" followed a brief silence. But before the lawmakers rushed off to tackle the day’s business, Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver led them through a few bars of a well-known hymn.

“Then sings my soul my savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great though art."

Reach Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com or 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.