Arizona lawmaker leads prayer circle on state seal at Capitol building, sparking backlash

Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern invited a prayer group to the Senate floor on Monday.

Seen in a video filmed by an anonymous attendee, Kern led the group, who spoke in tongues, through a prayer as they knelt over the state seal.

This public display comes a day before the Arizona Supreme Court upheld an 160-year-old law that bans nearly all abortions on Tuesday.

“Let it be so, Father God,” Kern said. “Lord, right now, we ask thee to release the presence of the Lord in the Senate chamber.”

The video of the senator and his group was originally shared on TikTok by Tony Cani and reposted on many social media platforms. Jeanne Casteen, the executive director of Secular Arizona, a nonprofit advocacy organization that promotes the separation of church and state in Arizona, called attention to the video on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In her replies, many users were baffled by the senator's behavior, citing First Amendment violations and false practices of Christianity.

However, Kern doubled down on his actions as he responded to critics in an X post.

"Looks like our prayer team stirred up some god-haters ... Not to worry though...prayer over our state at the State Senate is way more powerful," he wrote.

Kern is one of the Republicans under investigation for falsely claiming to be a legitimate Arizona elector for Donald Trump in the 2020 election. He has faced criticism for his Senate Bill permitting the Ten Commandments to be posted and read aloud in public school classrooms, which passed earlier this year.

Kern's office was not immediately available for comment. It was unclear who the prayer circle participants were.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona lawmaker leads prayer circle on state seal on Capitol floor