A far-right Arizona state senator led a prayer circle speaking in tongues on the chamber floor Monday, a day before the state Supreme Court upheld a Civil War-era law banning nearly all abortions.
In a video now making the rounds on social media, state Sen. Anthony Kern, a Republican from Glendale, guided the kneeling prayer group in English while several unidentified worshippers babbled. “Let it be so, Father God,” he said. “Let it be so, let it be so.”
The provocative act caught the attention of Jeanne Casteen, the executive director of Secular Arizona, a group that advocates for the separation of church and state.
Casteen tweeted the footage originally shared on TikTok by public affairs strategist Tony Cani, who said he received the clip from a person who wanted to remain anonymous. Cani said Kern and his “prayer team of anti-abortion extremists” were praying for the 1864 abortion ban to become law again. Kern later confirmed to HuffPost that was indeed the case.
The court ruled Tuesday that the 1864 law could go in effect, overriding a previous 15-week abortion ban and dealing a significant blow to reproductive rights.
Kern poked back at Casteen and Democrats.
“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 on X, the former Twitter.
Kern is being investigated for falsely claiming to be an Arizona elector for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, The Arizona Republic noted.
He is also known for sponsoring a Senate bill, which recently passed, that would permit the Ten Commandments to be recited aloud in public schools.
In January, he turned his back on Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) during her State of the State address.
