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March 15, 2011

AP: State senator wants Jesus out of Senate prayers

by Staff
The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)— A state senator who is Jewish said Tuesday she was "highly uncomfortable" while a visiting Baptist pastor repeatedly mentioned Jesus Christ and Christianity in a prayer on the floor of the state Senate a day earlier, and wants to require that prayers in the chamber be nondenominational.

The prayer, and the reaction to it by Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, threatens to re-ignite a debate that's long simmered in the Minnesota Legislature over the content of the invocations that open each Senate and House floor chamber session. Bonoff said she's met resistance to her concerns from some members of the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

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