"I am now the junior senator from the state of Illinois. . . . Friends, we're going to have to have some powerful prayer. . . . They can't deny what the Lord has ordained," Roland Burris said from the pulpit of a South Side church on Sunday, the Sun-Times reported. Ready to head to Washington, Burris, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s controversial choice to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, spoke to “ministers, politicians and activists” at New Covenant Baptist Church, on 740 E. 77th, according to the Sun-Times. The combination of Burris’ language and setting for his statement pulls religion into the rough-and-tumble mess of finding Obama’s replacement amidst the governor’s corruption charges. Chris Weigant at the Huffington Post gives his take, saying “while the use of the verb ‘ordained’ would have been correct if you had said ‘Governor Blagojevich has ordained that I be Illinois' next senator’ (since ‘to ordain’ can be used with such a specific secular and political meaning), it is somewhat of a stretch to say that ‘the Lord has ordained’ that you be senator.” And Weigant notes that Burris isn’t the only one using religious language. Rep. Bobby Rush, from Illinois’ 1st district, said “My prayers have been answered, because I prayed fervidly that the governor would ... appoint an African American. We need to have not just one African American in the U.S. Senate. We need to have many African Americans in the U.S. Senate.” And now the controversy of who gets to fill Obama’s seats grows even more complicated, with race and religion major players in the discussion. And while the Senate is denying Burris' appointment to the Illinois seat, Burris' own insistence that he was the (divine?) pick as well as the fact that he'd be the only black senator seem to be having an influence. Some House African-Americans are pushing to let Burris have his seat, Politico says. We'll see what goes down when he arrives in DC tomorrow.
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Kate Shellnutt
I’m a freelance religion reporter and blogger for the Little Things. I majored in religion and journalism as an undergrad, and I'm now completing my master's in journalism at Medill.
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To deny Burris his seat at this point would be unconstitutional. Of course, it comes as no surprise to me that the same liberals who claim to be paragons of tolerance and acceptance will be the ones literally barring the only black senator from entering the building.
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