Transactional prayer can really get you out of a jam in the Volunteer State
Tennessee state lawmakers recently unveiled a first-in-the-nation monument to the unborn, a big dumb rock that elevates miscarriages above victims of the Holocaust. Like it’s actually taller than the Holocaust memorial.
Here’s what stood out for me: as someone who has watched Tennessee’s legislature up close in various capacities for 14 years, I could clock a row of men involved in corruption, racism and domestic violence—joined together in prayer.
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Politicians and preachers police who can pray in public, and the who’s in/who’s out tells you a lot about what Tennessee Christians value. These nasty boys are IN:
State Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, worked legislation that gave his company legal protection from offering benefits to gig workers. Before Takl failed (lol), his title was “public affairs manager,” meaning he didn’t really try to hide the grift.
State Sen. Ken Yager, R-Harriman, pled no contest to hit and run charges in Georgia, where he was caught on camera drunk and covered in urine—in a car paid for by lobbyists reserved for campaigning, not vacations out of state. The lieutenant governor offered “thoughts and prayers,” and Yager remains the majority caucus chairman.
State Rep. Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta, had to be removed from the powerful criminal justice subcommittee, after he said from the dais that we should bring back lynching. He got the church giggles about it.
State Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Skeletor, famously does butt stuff with his cousin, who he prescribed opioids as her doctor. He also likes to wear a Confederate flag tie, being the Senator who represents the birthplace of the Klan and all.
State Rep. David Hawk gets really mad if you bring up his conviction for reckless endangerment related to an altercation his then-wife.
Former State Rep. Jerry Sexton, R-Bean Station, celebrates the birthplace of Tennessee’s “first white baby.”
State Rep. Chris Todd, R-Jackson, should be committed to an institution. I will not explain further.
These are sinful men, who of course can receive His forgiveness, but that shouldn’t mean they can dodge public accountability.
While our politicians focus on themselves, hating people and acting like stupid asses, this state is turning to dog water. Life expectancy is down, maternal mortality is No. 1 in the country, we lead in toothlessness, and child rapes in DCS custody are fairly routine. Oh, and the abortion rate is up in Tennessee since the ban, so they’re failing to do what they promise, too.
But it doesn’t matter as long as transactional prayers set the terms of debate. For some sins, God demands an exercise of state power; yet for others, He’s not worried about it. It trickles down to pulpits and pews, where you’re more likely to hear condemnations of sex than violence. Praying for the right things with the right people can wash away your sins. It’s a great bargain if you can buy in. Jelly Roll gets it.
The monument itself describes abortion in mutually understood language. “The baby whose life was lost; the mother who regrets; the father who couldn’t protect” isn’t filler, it’s a political and religious story about gender. They mean to suggest “he wasn’t strong enough to stop the weak from killing the innocent.” Lived experience has no place in the story.
The monument is a crime against memory, built on an exchange of prayers and innocence, by men whose sins are blessed from above. Stop bowing your head for this bullshit. Jack Johnson doesn’t.
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