Rabbi John Adland’s e-mail assisted at least in some part by blogospheric efforts spearheaded by The Daily Pulse, resulted in an apology from Speaker Bosma for his comments to the Jewish Community Relations Council.
The WISH-TV article on the apology doesn’t really describe the original comments in any detail. Rabbi Adland described the exchange as follows:
Speaker Bosma, defending the prayer issue [Christian prayer as part of official business of the Indiana House of Representatives], asked, “How many Jews are there in Indiana? About 2%? There are at least 80% Christians in Indiana.†The implication of this statement was
that our minority community doesn’t and shouldn’t have any say or any voice. It is about the majority and what the majority wants.
The WISH-TV article describes Speaker Bosma’s apology this way:
It all stems from a discussion
regarding prayer in the Indiana House where it was pointed out that two percent of the population is Jewish and 80 percent is Christian.“I asked the group what percentage of the population in Indiana for demographic purposes was of Jewish tradition and faith and it was them who provided me with the two percent,” said Bosma.
Rabbi Adland saw that as disregard for minority rights and said as much in an email sent to his congregation, which is now posted on several blogs.
On
Monday afternoon Bosma held a second meeting with the rabbi and other Jewish leaders “and I gave a heartfelt apology if the implication of my words were offensive to him,” said Bosma.
Of course, this isn’t really an apology by Speaker Bosma for having made the statement or for believing in what the statement implies. He has only apologized for the fact that the Rabbi was offended by those things. From the record available to us, it does not appear at all certain that Speaker Bosma believes the Constitution has a role to play in protecting the minority from the passions and preferences of the majority.
(Hat tip to Taking Down Words for the WISH-TV story.)
[…] Sodrel seeks to limit minority access to justice By Doug Hot on the heels of Rep. Bosma’s implication (and subsequent apology) that Christian prayer as official business of the House Representatives is acceptable because non-Christians are a minority of the population, U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel seeks to bar access to the courts for minorities whose rights are violated by the likes of Bosma. […]