Liberals are taking over!?

Question

A team cant even pray before a high school game. Let alone, even say "Merry Christmas" because it has the words Christ in it.

What the heck!!! if religion doesnt mean anything to you, then why care about it??

Answer 1

It's not the religion people fear, but the fanatics.

Answer 2

Number one, I am a Christian, though probably not from a denomination you like -- understand that before I comment.

Number two, "there shall be establishment of religion" means something. If it hadn't been for that Constitutional statement, the Anglican Church would have been established in the late 1700s in the US and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

It means that religion is separated from public life. It is a private practice and SHOULD NEVER be taken into the public square.

There are over 1400 Christian groups alone in America.

As an Episcopalian who raised two kids -- I would have been FURIOUS if someone who was, let's say --- fundamentalist -- had led a prayer with my children involved in it. I can only imagine how a person who is Jewish or Hindu or Wiccan might feel.

In fact, that may be a good example. How would you feel if someone wanted to start a prayer to the Goddess??? How would you feel if you had to participate??? How would you feel, even if it were a fellow Christian, but one that didn't agree with you . I'm fairly high-church. If I were a teacher in your school, how would you feel about my leading a prayer in homeroom??? Be honest please. Let me give you an example:

"Blessed Mary, Mother of God, in mercy I pray that you will intercede together with Saint Anne, Saint Bartholomew, and all the martyrs and Saints of God, asking that Christ our Lord, your son, look with favor upon us and grant us peace. Help us to love all people, intercede for an end of the war in Iraq, for equality for persons who have been made gay and lesbian, and for social justice throughout the world. Through Christ our Lord, Amen."

That is a very real prayer that I often use, personally -- in my mind and heart -- where prayers should be said. Would you be comfortable with my praying that aloud with you or if you are an adult, with your children? Yet, I am fairly devout -- and I acknowledge Lord Christ. If you are evangelical I'm sure the prayer makes your skin crawl, the same as your prayers (honestly) make mine crawl. If you are Roman Catholic, you may disagree with parts of the prayer, particularly if you are conservative Roman Catholic, but it is in a format you will recognize. Yet, we are all Christian.

America is conceived as a pluralistic nation. For any nation where all religions are treated equally to survive, all religions need to be excluded from the public square. The founders had good reasons for the anti-establishmentarian clause, and their good work has preserved the union for a very long time. We need to stop trying to overturn it.

Regards,

Reynolds Jones
http://www.rebuff.org
[e-mail]

Answer 3

It really isn't the religion. I couldn't care less if you say a prayer before a game. It really is the fanatics. They want it in every facet of our lives. They now have control of the government through their Republican leadership. Doesn't look like any of it is going to well to me. Religious fanatics would try and have us believe that the founding fathers wanted god in government. Nothing could be further from the truth. They actually wanted a balanced government with 3 branches so one would never get too much power. They also wanted liberals and conservatives and moderates to always keep an eye on each other to keep it balanced. So to me it means a lot more than a prayer before a game.

Answer 4

If in a few decades Islam is the majority religion in america, and instead of christian rituals it is muslim rituals that people publicly participate in, how will you feel about that? I am not saying that this will happen. This is only a hypothetical example. If you really have a problem with prayers to allah being said before a football game, even if there are christians on the football team, then maybe you shouldn't be making a big deal out of what's going on now.

I'm not trying to argue one way or the other, only to show that if you are in favor of public displays of the majority religion, then you should be comfortable even when that religion is not yours, or even one that is opposed to yours. I think far, far too many people are only on a certain side in this issue because they happen to be in the majority or minority, and not out of any objective principle. A lot of christians want public display of religion only because their religion is the one most likely to be displayed. Similarly, a lot of non-christians only have a problem with public displays because they are in the minority, and realize that their belief system is less likely to be displayed.

Answer 5

It's funny tho, none of this kind of stuff was front page news until we had a fundamentalist in the White House.

People fear fanatics because of what they are doing. Not just Muslim fanatics, but Christian ones too. These people are insane. I am fairly certain Adolf Hitler was in a conservative party as well.

When it comes to your football game comment. Did you ever think that its possible some of those football players want no part in it? The prayer I mean? And don't say they can bow out if they want because it doesn't work like that. They will be chastized by any Christian that sees them do this.

BTW aggie, this country was NOT founded by Christians. It was founded by Puritans. Read history please.

Answer 6

What if the people on the team were from different religious backgrounds or some of them didn't care about religion at all? Wouldn't it be disrespectful to make them pray with the rest of the team?

Answer 7

I am not a religious person, and even I can't stand the idiocy these liberal turds get away with. Who f'n cares if someone prays, or wishes someone a Merry Christmas. It's almost time to just pack up and go to Canada.

Answer 8

We care about it because it affects the lives of everyone.

Religious nuts want to teach their religious mythology as science to our nation's school children.

They want to stand in the way of stem cell research.

They want to tell me I cant make my own end-of-life decisions if I get a fatal disease.

They want to control what medical procedures a woman can do with her own body.

They want to put discrimination into the constitution as a new amendment.

And they are an organized political force which elects evil men like George W Bush.

People who believe in astrology or palm reading are just as nuts as you people, but they leave others alone, so I leave them alone. Ive never had a palm reader knock on my door and try to convert me. Too bad you religious nuts cant learn a little from them.

Answer 9

I'm an atheist and I have no problem with Merry Christmas. If one wants to use it use if you don't don't. However, not all people pray and to force a player to pray when it is not in his belief system is wrong.

Answer 10

I know, seriously. People should be aloud to express their own religion, and not get hell for it! I know the schools are afraid that it might offend 'SOMEBODY' (whoever the hell that somebody is!!!) but now it's just getting out of hand. Just to prove a point, i wore a christian shirt once that i got from my winter retreat to camp Allegheny. Well i think we should stick to our religion and stand up to it cuz this is America, and the original religion was CHRISTIANITY. (from what i read) So lets not let these people take us over, and rule over our religion! We should fight for the truth, and for what we believe it! Don't you agree?! Oh yes, and i understand the point of view of other religions. I dont like those other religions but we respect them. Maybe not all Christians, but i for one do along with plenty of others. Those other Countries (with other religions) think that just because were Christians means we dont respect them because they want everyone to believe in THEIR religions. Sure, we'd like that too but you dont see us goin around blownin up people for having a differant view on things now do we?

Answer 11

its not the liberals, but the other religious groups(read Muslim) who are offended. Where I used to live it got o bad that some Muslim man stood up at a school board meeting and demanded that all girls be forced to wear a ha jab and long skirt to school because his religion demanded it. the amazing thing is that the school trustees actually debated it! this was in Canada, by the way