Mayor Forbids Prayer, the Huguenots, and the Image of God

A mayor interrupts prayer during a city council meeting, the Huguenots, what the image of God isn’t, and other news of Christian concern.

Anthony Langer
April 26, 2025

It’s Saturday, April 26, 2025.

In today’s edition, a mayor interrupts prayer during a city council meeting, the Huguenots, what the image of God isn’t, and other news of Christian concern.

“The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.” (Proverbs 10:7)

Of Christian Concern

“WE DON’T DO PRAYER”: CALIFORNIA MAYOR CUTS OFF CHRISTIAN MOTHER AT CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Tarin Swain speaks at the Ventura City Council Meeting (Screenshot: YouTube/City of Ventura)

When Tarin Swain learned she would have only 60 seconds to speak at the Ventura City Council Meeting in Southern California on March 18, she knew her prepared comments would be too lengthy.

She had intended to voice opposition to a proposed Community Autonomy, Rights, and Equality (CARE) Policy, which, the Christian Post reports, “would identify Ventura as a ‘sanctuary city’ for LGBT-identified communities, illegal immigrants, abortion and other ‘reproductive rights’”—but now Swain felt led to use the time for prayer.

Little did she know what a ruckus that would cause.

The Moms For America marketing manager approached the podium and began, “Hi, I’m Tarin Swain. I am a mother of six, and the Ventura County Public School socially transitioned my daughter without my consent.” At that, the crowd behind her grumbled.

“I’ve come here today to offer nothing but prayer, and I want to lift up my Father in Heaven.” So, she did. “Father God, I just come to you in Jesus’ name.”

Immediately, shouts of disapproval erupted from the crowd, and Ventura Mayor Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios chimed in over the microphone, “Hang on, hang on.” Swain kept praying, “I pray, Father, that you would tear down the strongholds in this place. I pray, Father, that you would raise up the men in this room.”

“Can you please stop?” Sanchez-Palacios said. “Stop. Stop.” She gaveled for order. Swain later told the Christian Post that she hadn’t heard the mayor at first due to the noise of the crowd. When she eventually paused her prayer, the room became quiet to listen to what the mayor would say.

“Thank you,” Sanchez-Palacios began. Then, after several seconds, “We don’t do prayer. Please finish your comments.” Some in the crowd applauded.

Swain thought for a moment, then said, “And I do pray all this in the name of Jesus, the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.”

The objections from the crowd and the mayor continued, but so did Swain: “Jesus is the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords, and I pray that all the high places here will be torn down in the name of Christ. Jesus is the Lord of lords, and every knee—every knee will bow. Every knee will bow.”

As she walked away, a woman shouted from the crowd, “Amen!” and a man agreed, “Amen, sister!”

First Liberty, a legal organization focused on defending religious liberty, insists “that the rules that govern the prayer practices of legislative bodies do not apply to citizens’ public comments.” The organization “sent a letter to the city this week demanding the mayor apologize to Tarin, repeal any policy that prohibits prayer, and provide written assurance that speakers will be allowed to engage in prayer during their time for public comment.”

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Also Noteworthy

→ “Americans have higher church attendance standards than pastors,” according to a recent Lifeway Research study. The study found that 53% of U.S. adults “say someone should be considered a regular churchgoer or regular church attender only if they attend church services at least weekly.” By contrast, only 16% of pastors maintain such a strict definition of “regular churchgoer.”

→ YouVersion, also known as the Bible App, “recorded a record 18.6 million people engaging with God’s Word on Easter -- an 11 percent increase from last year’s holiday,” reports Crosswalk.

→ Over 20,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2015, Christian Today reports. Jihadists killed around 9,800, while the Nigerian Armed Forces killed an estimated 10,500. The problem is worsening, with International Christian Concern reporting “a dramatic rise in attacks against Christian communities in Nigeria” since January.

→ A recent ruling allows a Christian organization, Gracehaven Inc., to maintain its support for sex trafficking survivors amid a legal challenge claiming religious bias.

→ A church in North Carolina is fighting the possible deportation of Christian Afghan refugees.

→ India saw “640 verified incidents of persecution against believers in 2024 (with another 200 reported cases unverified), up from 601 the previous year,” reports Evangelical Now. The numbers come from a new annual report by The Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC).

→ Maryland’s physician-assisted suicide bills failed (again). Americans United for Life reports that physician-assisted suicide is considered legal in ten states and the U.S. capital: California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

→ Alabama passed a series of conservative bills last week:

HB 178: Requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments.
HB 244: Forbids teaching on gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools.
HB 67: Forbids public schools or libraries from hosting drag shows.

Church History Tidbit

The Huguenots

St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, around 1572-1584, depicted by François Dubois (1790–1871) (Public Domain)

Huguenots were French Protestants, primarily Calvinists, who emerged in the 16th century during the Reformation. The term’s origin is uncertain, possibly deriving from “Eidgenossen” (Swiss confederates) or a French adaptation of the name of Besançon Hugues, a Protestant leader. They faced intense persecution in Catholic-dominated France, especially during the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598), as their beliefs challenged the Catholic Church’s authority and the monarchy’s religious unity.

Huguenots sought religious freedom, advocating for reforms like John Calvin's, emphasizing scripture, predestination, and a simpler church structure. They formed a significant minority, including nobles like Gaspard de Coligny, and were influential in trade, crafts, and intellectual life. Persecution, including massacres like St. Bartholomew’s Day (1572), led many to flee to Protestant countries (England, Netherlands, Germany) or colonies, contributing to global diaspora communities.

The Edict of Nantes (1598) granted them limited rights, but its revocation in 1685 under Louis XIV triggered further emigration. Huguenots’ resilience and skills left a lasting cultural and economic impact wherever they settled.

Written with Grok.

The Bible, Briefly

What the Image of God Isn’t

The Creation of Eve, by Gustav Doré, 1866. (Public Domain)

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1:27

“Understanding what [the image of God] means requires understanding what it doesn’t mean first,” says the late biblical scholar Dr. Michael Heiser. He lists the image of God’s characteristics as revealed by Scripture:

Equally Possessed: “Men and women both possess it equally.”
Not Incremental: “You don’t get it incrementally—in other words, you either have it or you don’t.”
Distinguishing: “It’s what makes humanity distinct from all other earthly creatures.”
Related to God: “It’s somehow linked to God, because it’s His image.”
Passed Down: “It’s also passed on generationally,” since it’s passed on to Adam and Eve’s children in Genesis 5, where the “likeness” and “image” language is used again (v. 3).

So, Heiser asks, “What fails those criteria?” He offers seven suggestions:

Consciousness
Sentience or self-awareness
Intelligence
Emotions
Possession of a soul or spirit
Conscience or sense of morality
The ability to communicate

He explains that these characteristics “cannot be said to be present equally among all human beings” and “are not unique to humankind.” He points out, for example, that a fertilized human egg does not have most of those traits, and many animals do have some of them (e.g., animals are described as “living souls” in Genesis 1:21 with the exact Hebrew words as humans in 2:7).

So, none of these can be the image of God. What, then, is the image of God?

Heiser says,

“When the Bible says that God created humankind in His image, what it really means is that God created humankind as His ‘imager.’ He created a life form who would function or whose role was to imitate Him to function in the role of God, as if God were here in human form in a body. The image is something functional, not something qualitative. It's not a quality or an ability; it's a status. To be God's ‘imager’ is to be the lone thing in creation that has the status of representing God on this planet.”

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Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.