Typically, the opening prayer is the least controversial portion of the Pennsylvania House of Representative’s ceremony on a session day. But this Monday’s prayer delivered by freshman Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R) ignited a much different reaction.
The Christian lawmaker was accused by House Minority Whip Jordan Harris (D) of “weaponizing” the name of Jesus to “intimidate, demean and degrade” the Muslim being sworn into the legislature that same day.
“I, Jesus, am your ambassador here today standing here representing you,” Borowicz said in opening. “The [K]ing of Kings, the [L]ord of Lords, the Great I Am, the one who’s coming back again, the one who came, died and rose again on the third day, and I’m so privileged to stand here today, so thank you for this honor, Jesus.”
She continued in mentioning the founding fathers who established our Christian faith in America and proceeded to ask for forgiveness that we’ve lost sight of that in today’s world.
“God, forgive us,” she said. “Jesus, we’ve lost sight of you, we’ve forgotten you, God, in our country and we’re asking you to forgive us.”
At approximately the 2-minute mark, Borowicz stated, “At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus that you are Lord” — at which point, House Speaker Mike Turzai (R) cut her off with the tap of a shoulder.
The prayer was particularly criticized because it was recited on the day that the first Muslim woman, Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell (D) would be sworn in.
However, Borowicz, whose husband is as a pastor at a local church, saw nothing wrong with professing her faith in that manner.
“Let me be clear. I am a Christian. I spend my Sunday mornings in church worshiping and being thankful for all that I have,” she said. “But in no way does that mean I would flaunt my religion at those who worship differently than I do. There is no room in our Capitol building for actions such as this, and it’s incredibly disappointing that today’s opening prayer was so divisive.”
Johnson-Harrell took great offense to the invocation delivered by Borowicz and told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star that her colleague’s comments “blatantly represented the Islamophobia that exists among some leaders — leaders that are supposed to represent the people.”
However, in spite of the backlash, Borowicz refuses to apologize for lifting the name of Jesus on high in public.
“Oh no,” she explained. “I don’t apologize ever for praying.”
Listen to Borowicz’s 2-minute prayer in full below:
