I enjoy going to Redmond city hall to go to Redmond city council meetings to listen and participate in our local government. Usually there is a prayer before the proceedings. This does not seem like a big deal and this probably is not a big deal. However, I would like to see this practice discontinued for many different reasons, which I will now list.

There always has and always will be a separation of church and state in our nation. This is the law. This is a good and logical law. It is up to the city councilors to uphold this law and they are not doing their jobs.

Religion has always worked against freedom and democracy and progress in all levels of society forever, everywhere, and still does. Religion is pulling us back into the past when we need to move forward into the future. People use religion as an excuse to use violence and treason to intimidate others right here in America right now — and this practice seems to be increasing.

We need to move forward with new solutions to new problems. This new city council needs to make a clean break from the past. We need to rely on logic and common sense to address these new issues of the future. We are not going to get any assistance from some ghost floating around in the clouds. This new city council is going to be progressive and look at the big picture and we need to start off fresh with a big improvement, a big jump forward. There should no more prayers in Redmond city council meetings.

Christian prayers in Redmond city council meetings are disrespectful to non-Christians. City council meetings are for all of us, and to single out Christians with a Christian prayer is the same thing as saying that non-Christians are second class and are marginalized. This is wrong and it should not be allowed to continue.

My views are not anti-Christian or anti-religion. I support everyone’s right to worship whatever they want, or to not worship at all. My point is that Redmond city hall is not the place for this for many, many reasons.

2023 is going to be a big and important year for all of us, so let’s start it off right. Let’s start it off better. Let’s start it off with Redmond city council meetings to be only about Redmond city council issues, in a fair and equal way.