Religion in Public

[DeLarla 22]

Paul Harvey says:

I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.

Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game.

"But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and ! this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect-somebody chanting Hare Krishna?

If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.

If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer.

If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha.

And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit. When in Rome...

"But what about the atheists?" is another argument. Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer!

Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.

Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating; to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.

God, help us. And if that last sentence offends you, well ... just sue me .

[Vera 7]

Amen!!!!!!

[jqpublic 1]

I always enjoy you wit, charming personality.and your racie topics haha.

[leatha_g 4]

Glory hallelujah... And you bet your ass those folks in those hurricanes and planes landing with faulty landing gear weren't asking JUST the pilot or the weatherman to bring them to safety...

[PamRN 0]

Leatha you are SO right! (& so is P. Harvey)

Thanks Ms. De for putting it out there (as usual)

Love you or hate you... people have to admit that you make them think... even if it's just thinking of an argument

[vinesqueen 2]

Christians are not being stripped of their rights.

[cnicholl 0]

Christians, per se, are not the only ones being stripped of their rights... we ALL are...

its a shame when the voice of the few overpowers the voice of the many... and that the only reason the "many" lose their rights is because they are, by nature, willing to let the "few" have their say...

we lose our rights because we are willing to let the people who would take our rights have their say... our own beliefs will be our downfall...

[NJChick 3]

Sad, very sad....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091401521.html

[DevilMayKare 1]

Well, live and let live. (But IMO-- having spent a month in Turkey way too near a minerette--that 4:00 a.m. loudspeaker arabic call to prayer is downright annoying!)

BUt what *I* really want to know is WHAT is going on with the BOY SCOUTS?? Do you guys know that scouts or their leaders were struck (and some killed) by lightening FIVE TIMES this year???

This is no dig on the scouts (both my boys were BS thru 8th grade), but you really have to wonder if God is unhappy about something. Seems like one strike by lightening is bad luck--but FIVE? Ya gotta wonder.

[dylansmom 27]

Glory Hallelujah!

[Iluvharleys 15]

Glory hallelujah... And you bet your ass those folks in those hurricanes and planes landing with faulty landing gear weren't asking JUST the pilot or the weatherman to bring them to safety...

Amen to that!

[Mariposa Bella 3]

I personally don't ever like to push my religious beliefs on anyone, but I too feel this is going too far. I am Catholic, and my daughter attends a private Christian school and she loves it, in fact, several times when I've contemplated putting her in the public school system, she told me when she was only 6 that she does not want to go to the public school because they don't teach you about God and his ways, now how can you argue w/ that!

[vinesqueen 2]

"Under God" was only added to the pledge in the '50s to show we were diffent from the "Goddless Commies" because it was better dead than red.

Actually, at a Ping-pong game in China you would expect to hear the virtures of the communits party extolled, not a blessing.

I've been hearing people decry the assault on Christianity in this country for about 20 years now. I've yet to see any evidence of this. But when people keep telling each other the same lie, they begin to believe the lie. Can anyone name a non-Christian President??? Are Christians being pursecuted for going to church here? I can't even think of a factual US news story where a Christian was killed because he was a Christian. I'm not talking about anywhere overseas, but only within the borders of the US, or even Canada, or the EU. I don't know about Austrailia, but I only read tech news from OZ...

In many parts of American, Gays and Lesbians are beaten and harrassed and even killed simply because of who they are. They are denighed their Constitional rights, their human rights to be married. (and if you think that marriage is for the sole purpose for having children, then everyone who doesn't have children should imediately be forced to divorce. This would include infertle couples, couples who choose to not have children and people too old to have children. Why are these people permitted to have the civil protections that marriage provides but not Gays and/or Lesbians?) Christian Ministers, such as the Rev. Phelps and others, have saught to place markers celebrating the murder of young gay men. Here in Idaho, someone was beaten up because he had a Darwin Fish on his car. American Muslims have been killed because they were American Muslims.

If we must have prayers and benidictions before sporting events and such, then I would like to see everybody get equal time. When was the last time an Imam gave a blessing for your event? When was the last time you had a Wiccan spell? A Pagan blessing? Or no blessing at all from an Atheist? A reading from the Tora or the Bagavagita? This would not be an assult on your rights, but an equalization of our rights, all the Non-Christians.

15-20 years ago I would get harrassed because I would complain about the smoking in my places of work, whether they were restaurants or offices. I'm a non-smoker, and I hated to be continually exposed to the smoke. Today I don't have to put up with all the smoke becaues our socity has evolved to the point where we understand that one person doesn't have the right to force others to smoke (breathe in the second hand smoke). I think this is a similar thing.

Just think about it, put yourself in someone else's shoes, my shoes for instance. Honestly how would you feel if you had to hide your religion for fear of physical violence? How would you feel if you every time you did mention your faith, you would be verbally harrassed and well meaning peopel at every turn tried to explain why you were wrong, and that you should convert to The One True Faith? How would you feel if you had to move somewhere where you would have no access to others of your faith?

[DeLarla 22]

One nation, under God. Powerful.

[vinesqueen 2]

"One nation, indivisble, with liberty and justice for all."

More powerful.