A local Baptist pastor was invited to offer the NC legislature prayer for a week.  He was told what the approved method of prayer was (in a nutshell, non-sectarian) and that if he didn't adhere to those standards he would be uninvited to pray.  He refused to adhere to those terms, which is his right, and the legislature uninvited him, which is its right.  Now the pastor wants an apology and the opportunity to open a legislative session with a prayer in the manner he sees fit. A quote from the story:

"I was made to feel like a second-class North Carolinian when I was told that my services would no longer be needed if I could not offer the opening prayer in the manner prescribed by the House of Representatives, rather that in the manner my biblical faith requires," Baity said.

I guaran-damn-tee you that he's on the side of the sectarian prayer advocates in the case being fought here in Forsyth County.  To refresh your memory the pro-sectarian prayer folks are saying that they should be able to pray in whatever manner they wish, much like the pastor is arguing here.  The anti-sectarian prayer folks are saying, no, you can't because then the government is put in the position of endorsing a specific religion.  

Here's the irony to me: what the pastor is saying, that he's being made to feel like a second class citizen, is exactly how people who don't want to be forced to hear sectarian prayer at a government meeting feel when a clergyman is invited to give a sectarian prayer to open the meeting.  

Walk a mile…