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Jeb! now asks that you bow your head and pray to Christ

If you are not a Christian, you may secretly worship another deity, but be advised that the State of Florida only recognizes one true religion.

Here’s an update (via Americans United) on The National Day of Lies and Hypocrisy (see previous post) and how the State of Florida is helping to push the far right agenda, this time through an “innocent” mistake.

Visitors to an official state Web site Friday found a link to a Christian prayer group that urges people to devote their lives to Jesus Christ.

On the home page of Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice, a link titled "National Day of Prayer" led readers to the Florida Prayer Network. The site encourages people to be baptized, profess their faith in Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to control their lives.

The site also announced that Christian author Tommy Tenney will speak Thursday at the Capitol in observance of the National Day of Prayer.

Some religious leaders and civil-liberties activists said they were disappointed that a branch of state government would help promote one particular religion -- Christianity. The Web site had no information about other religions.

"Florida has no business promoting prayer events for the National Day of Prayer on any of its official Web sites, any more than it should be promoting an atheist event," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "I was really shocked."

State officials quickly removed the link Friday after they were contacted by The Palm Beach Post, saying it was posted by accident. "That link should not have been there," said Department of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman Catherine Arnold.

The staff was looking up information for National Day of Prayer events at Polk County juvenile justice facilities, Arnold said. A different Christian group will hold rallies next week for juvenile offenders at five Polk County detention and treatment centers and a prayer breakfast for staffers, Arnold said.

"We had the site up and were working on it, and somehow it got posted," Arnold said.

Murtaza Kakli, president of the Muslim Community of Palm Beach County, said he doesn't understand why a state government would link to a Christian site.

"This is not a Christian nation. There are all kinds of religions in this country," said Kakli, an aerospace engineer who lives in Palm Beach Gardens. Kakli didn't see the link before it came down Friday. But sometimes, he said, "These right-wingers, to me, do not seem to be tolerating people other than Christians. And this is not the policy of the government."

William Gralnick, Southeast regional director of the American Jewish Committee in Boca Raton, said the link should not have been posted. "You either advertise everybody or you advertise nobody," he said.

For Gralnick, the state's gaffe raises larger issues with the National Day of Prayer. The annual observance "has become more and more and more a problem for many faith communities because it tends to be so evangelically dominated. We have, all over the country, made appeals, stomped up and down and waved our fingers, saying it can't be a national prayer day and be exclusive," Gralnick said. But every year, he said, Christian pastors say prayers invoking the name of Christ.

The National Day of Prayer was established by Congress in 1952, when the United States wanted to distance itself from Soviet communists. For decades, government and religious leaders have joined at government buildings on the first Thursday in May to bow their heads in prayer.

Any religious group can sponsor a service on the National Day of Prayer. But in reality, many are organized by the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

That group is headed by Shirley Dobson, wife of Christian fundamentalist and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and raises private money to host the events.