COLUMBUS – Being House speaker occasionally means you have to cut off a speech or rule someone out of order. But before Tuesday, that involved other lawmakers or someone in the audience, not the clergy giving the opening prayer.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
When the prayer delivered by Pastor B.J. Van Aman of the Pickerington Baptist Temple ventured past five minutes in length, House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, took what could be an unprecedented step of politely cutting him off.
“I didn’t mean to be rude and I feel terrible,” Rosenberger said. “When I thought it was enough I didn’t know really how best to do it, so I just said ‘amen’ and here we go.”
Lawmakers are welcome to invite religious leaders from their districts to deliver an opening prayer to the House, as Rep. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, did Tuesday. Most prayers don’t go longer than 60 or 90 seconds, often delivering messages of inspiration and asking for wisdom and guidance.
House guidelines are largely based on a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring opening prayers to be nondenominational, nonsectarian and nonproselytizing.
The prayer on Tuesday made multiple Jesus references, including calling him the “author and finisher of our faith.”
Rosenberger first peeked an eye open about three minutes in. At nearly four minutes, he opened his eyes and was clearly growing anxious about the length and trying to decide the right way to end it.
After just over five minutes, with no clear conclusion on the horizon, Rosenberger blurted out an “amen,” thanked Van Aman for being here and then motioned toward the flag to start the Pledge of Allegiance.