The "Department of Prayer Approval" Disapproved of Mike Johnson

Christian prayers are critiqued by other Christians and if you are going to pray in public expect others to say you don't do it properly. House of Representatives Speaker, Mike Johnson, wanted to gain political points and announced he would pray Thomas Jefferson's prayer. The words Republicans tend to claim were in the prayer are

"Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from evil in every way.”

Johnson was on a roll and said Jefferson repeated this prayer daily. A Representative from California asked Mike Johnson to stop making things up. This is because there is no record of anyone recalling Jefferson reciting the prayer. Scholars say it is unlike anything else Jefferson wrote and remains highly doubtful he wrote or recited the prayer.

The prayer began circulating long after Jefferson was dead and there is no record of where it was found. A practice of reading the prayer and attributing it to Jefferson started long after he had died. There is a pattern of attributing a secret Christian life to prominent atheists. For example, a person or two in the hospital where famous atheist, Christopher Hitchens, died said he "came to Jesus" just before he died. Relatives said they were with him every moment of his final days and this did not happen.

One strong belief of Thomas Jefferson was that faith was a personal and private matter. He had a long career in front of the public and there is no record of him ever going off on his own religious beliefs or advising others about such matters. 

It would not hurt Mike Johnson to remind himself of the Commandment, "Thos shalt not lie."

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