Having Filled All Potholes, Meade County Commission Adds Official Prayer to Meetings

The "Meade County Town Hall," a Facebook page started by Meade County Commissioner Alan Aker, reports that the Meade County Commission voted 4 to 1 yesterday to add a prayer to the beginning of each meeting. No evidence was presented that the commission is not handling county business effectively under current prayerless practice, and no evidence was presented that prayers will enhance the commission's performance.

Commissioner Alan Aker emphasized that the commission isn't really doing Meade County's business here. He just wants to jump on the Rapid City piety bandwagon:

Commission Alan Aker seconded the motion. “I like to give a neighboring city a little support. I think they are being bullied (Rapid City Common Council). If you sue one of us; you have to sue all of us,” he said... ["Prayer Will Be Added to County Commission Meetings," Facebook: Meade County Town Hall, 2013.03.05].

Commissioner Galen Niederwerder didn't get the ball rolling on this unconstitutional time-waster to solve real problems. He did this for the same reason the Rapid City City Council and other elected officials grandstand their piety: to give their apparently insecure faith an official government stamp of approval... and maybe to poke their fingers in the eyes of us secularists whom they wrongly blame for their ills.

Commissioner Niederwerder's comments yesterday prove he really doesn't understand what he's doing. Consider these comments:

...Niederwerder emphasized, “I’m not trying to impose my beliefs on anyone else or whatever God they believe in, I’m not trying to exclude anybody.”

...Niederwerder said a brief prayer should be led by a commissioner. “This is not for outside groups or a designated chaplin,” he emphasized.

...Niederwerder responded, “I’m afraid it would be a free-for-all if we allowed others. It should be very brief and should be a commissioner...” [FB:MCTH, 2013.03.05].

Sorry, Galen: when you declare that you five elected officials will choose the words and lead the prayer, when you don't invite members of faiths other than your own to seek wisdom and guidance for public officials, you are excluding people. Niederwerder is so used to being in his comfortable religious majority that he doesn't realize how his actions exclude those outside his Christian soup.

Some neighbors stood up to this pietistic bullying. Marvin Kammerer, a Catholic and known hell-raiser, told the commission to get back to work:

“I’m against it. Prayer hasn’t worked out too well for Congress. And I wonder if one of my Native American friends asks to bring in a drum, a Buddhist wants part of the action or an Islamic person does, what would happen.”

“This is a secular institution. Prayer belongs in your home not here. We all do our own prayer. Don’t step over the line and let’s not clutter the agenda up with things that might cause potential problems. Religion is a private thing. It’s a struggle, don’t bring it here” [Marvin Kammerer, quoted in FB:MCTH, 2013.03.05].

Sturgis businessman Charlie Wheeler told commissioners he prayed for guidance on the way to the meeting. The Lord apparently told Wheeler that commission prayers are a bad idea:

I ask you to make a compromise with a moment of silence. If it’s only the commission involved in the prayer, why can’t you do it like you do in ex session, in private? My fear is that you never know who you are going to get to lead the prayer or get elected. I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal savior but it’s going too far to force people to listen or participate in something like this. I could be labeled as not being a true believer because I don’t agree with this but as a taxpayer; I see it as another opportunity for the taxpayer paying for a lawsuit that is not really necessary [Charlie Wheeler, quoted in FB:MCTH, 2013.03.05].

But despite the good counsel of good Christians, the Meade County Commission will proceed with commissioners claiming to be holier than thou at the beginning of their meetings.