Pastor prays 'in Jesus name' but government official cuts him off

An Ohio pastor was assigned to pray before the proceedings during the Ohio House invocations last week, but something unexpected happened.

Pastor B.J. VanAman led the prayer and exalted Jesus towards the end of the prayer, trying to close it. Reports said that it was supposed to be a 'non-sectarian' prayer.

According to a report by Charisma News, VanAman mentioned the words "Through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ," and went a little further to describe Jesus, whose "name is above every name." He also said that Jesus' name is where "every knee shall bow."

However, Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger suddenly blurted out an "Amen" even before VanAman was done praying, cutting him off.

Meanwhile, the speaker said that he felt he gave the prayer due diligence.

"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," said Rosenberger.

He then stated that he didn't mean to be rude to Pastor VanAman and felt "terrible" for his actions.

In recent years, there has been a call for religious freedom in the United States. While this advocacy is meant to provide equality and fairness among religious groups in the country, it has recently become a source of conflict.

Some religious freedom advocates are pushing for educators to take away subjects about Christianity or Islam in school curricula so that they would not influence children in joining these sects. 

In government meetings and proceedings, all sorts of prayers are now accepted to show respect to the invocator's beliefs.