It's becoming a daily occurrence:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- The hearing room that will be used next week by the US Senate Judiciary Committee in the confirmation process for Judge Samuel A. Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court, was consecrated today by anointing oil and prayers offered by three ministers.
The Reverends Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), an Evangelical minister and president of the National Clergy Council, Patrick Mahoney, a Presbyterian and director of the Christian Defense Coalition and Grace Nwachukwu, a Pentecostal and officer with the Association of Female Clergy, conducted a 15-minute service outside the doors of Room 216, an austere chamber in the US Senate Hart Building frequently used for televised proceedings including recent confirmation hearings for Chief Justice John Roberts.
The service included Bible readings, prayers and a quote from America's first chief justice, John Jay, who wrote to a colleague in 1818, "The moral or natural law was given by the Sovereign of the universe to all mankind; with them it was co-eval, and with them it will be co-existent. Being founded by infinite wisdom and goodness on essential right, which never varies, it can require no amendment or alteration."
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Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
