Atheists...If my God doesn't exist & I pray to him at school or a footbal game how can this hurt you?

Question

Why do you fight so hard to have God removed from schools, court houses and everything from flag ceremonies to the top of the washington monument if he's not real and can have no effect on you?

If you wanted to pray to the easter bunny and have him help me , I sure wouldn't stop you. I might laugh, but I wouldn't stop you. Because i know nothing will come of it.

Okay I have a lot to answer...here goes

i can and do pray silently all the time.
I am not trying to force anyone. But if you guys want to teach my children evolution, I want equal time.

to Beletje, Bluto and Diane prayer is not against the constitution. The costitution states that "congress shall make no laws establishing a religion, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF" we were promised freedom of religion, not freedom from.

say no--there is proof that prayer helps. medical journals are full of articles that state patients who pray heal faster and more completely than those who don't

Outta--I'm not praying for my team to win, but for the safety of all the players

Athee---what is offensive about the 10 commandments? we have laws against theft, murder, and perjury.

Phillip --thanks for your statement

Sansfear----I can live with your answer. I realize that now days everybody gets offended if things aren't done just exactly as they would do it themselves.

I have tried to teach my kids what my parents taught me. ( and none of us are lazy...I take offense to that ---lol)
You cannot and never will please everyone. When somebody offends you or does something you disagree with ignore them and get away from them.

and before you start, I know kids can't get away from school. however I wouldn't be opposed to them leaving the room for 5 min.

And to those of you who suggested praying silently, what about those people who have been put on report, fired or even arrested because of their silent prayer?

Discrimination works both ways.

And thanks to (most) everybody for answering respectfully and from the heart. I appreciate seeing from your point of view.

And to the guy who said I'm an idiot----- well it takes one to know one :-P

Answer 1

You're not an idiot. Don't take it to heart what some aggressive people say.

Schools now have many different people of many different religions represented in our schools. It's not fair that only Christian religion be represented in school with scheduled prayer and teachings from the Bible.

To have all religions represented really wouldn't be feasible and would tend to create conflict and create cliques within the school and this would increase tension between different groups and would progress to encourage the creation and growth of gangs.

You don't need this kind of trouble in your school. School should be a safe place that encourages intercultural integration.

Have a good day.

Answer 2

You have every right to pray in school. Your teacher however, doesn't, and if you would spend the time to think about it, you really wouldn't want them too.

Think it through. You guys win and Prayer is accepted as a fine ritual and policy at school. The next day religious teachers all over the country start the day off with prayer.

One teacher says Hail Mary's, and the protestant kids in class get upset. Another teacher says the Lord's Prayer, but not from the king James, and the orthodox kids get upset. Another teacher reads from the book of Mormon and the Christian kids get upset.

Pretty soon thousands of schools, students, teachers and parents would be at each other about doctrine. I would guess it would happen in less than a month.

You guys don't know what you are asking for by including prayer as a part of accepted practice by teachers.

For some reason, you are under the impression that Atheists came along and forcefully took it out. That just isn't the case. What really happened is School Administrators learned through thousands of disagreements and problems with students that religion and policy don't create a good learning environment for kids.

If you or your parents are too lazy to teach kids to pray silently, then maybe your focus should be on the home.

Answer 3

If the majority of this country were Muslims, and they had public school teacher-led readings of the Quran and mandatory participation in Muslim prayers at school events such as football games (or maybe not mandatory, but at least to the point where you were pressured into doing it, or made to feel like you weren't with the group if you didn't), how would you feel?

You would probably feel pretty uncomfortable. Or if you wouldn't, certainly other non-Muslims would. Why? Because it's disrespectful to FORCE you to sit through or engage in a religious activity that you don't want to participate in. You're not a Muslim, so you wouldn't want any part of it, and people would have to respect that.

THAT is what atheists mean when they say they want "God out of schools". If you want to pray privately, then fine. But no teacher-led prayer and no in-class Bible readings or any of that, for the reasons I mentioned above. It's rude and a slap in the face to everyone in the room that doesn't share those same beliefs.

Answer 4

No one is stopping you from practicing your faith. Where we draw the line is when you want government-sponsored religion.

People who have a different religion are left out, and picked on, and sometimes assaulted for not participating in religious exercises in school. Public schools have to accommodate students of all religions (or no religion), and the way to do this is to be neutral.

Taxpayers of different faith should not have to see their taxes used to promote one faith over all others, whether it's school prayer, religious relics on public property, or "faith-based" charities.

What makes you think your religion is the one that will be promoted? What if Utah made the LDS church the official state church? And made all citizens support it? What if the prayer in school was a Hail Mary? Would you be OK with that?

Answer 5

No one stops you from praying anywhere you want. It is when other people are compelled to pray to your God in your manner that it becomes a problem.

If everyone on your football team was Muslim, and the coach insisted on doing a team huddle Islamic prayer before the game, or to have everyone stand and be silent during a Muslim prayer over the loudspeaker before the game, would you think that's just fine? Of course not.

Answer 6

God the Father does now not reply prayers which are opposite to the His phrases as spoken by means of His Son Jesus. God best solutions prays that support us OVERCOME the matters of this international and the needs of our possess flesh. It isn't approximately what others do to you, it's approximately what you do for them. A baby is not anything greater than a spirit who is flesh frame has now not grown but, they're like sponges, they're taught the traditions of guys, or they're taught of God by means of God. . .

Answer 7

You can do that now. You just can't have the principal or teacher lead prayer or ask student to pray.
If you don't see how that affects us, your are either naive or stupid.
You have heard of separation of Church and State, a concept built right in the the Constitution.

I would bet my bottom dollar you would not be happy if I wanted to put versus from the Koran on the front of a court house.

Answer 8

Pray all you want in the privacy of your own mind, I have no desire to stop you...

However when you wish to pray out loud as part of an event such as at school or at a football game sponsored by a school, I will fight you as religion should never have entered schools, courthouses, or any other public area.. I simply want it removed as it never should have been there in the first place...

Read The Constitution...

The U.S. Constitution clearly states a stance on religion and government intertwining.. It is every citizens responsibility to watch government and make sure those lines remain clearly marked... In the past this was not done as fervently as it should have been, leaving us with a mess to clean up and a group of people ignorant of The Constitution ready to fight for something with no legal leg to stand on...

******* Addition: "And to those of you who suggested praying silently, what about those people who have been put on report, fired or even arrested because of their silent prayer?"

Please site examples of the above... The ball is in your court prove your assertion...

Addition: Here Twila I will post the email you sent me in regards to my email with the above addition and a challenge to either site cases or admit you lied to bolster your case.. You can reference it as you answer here...

From: Twila G

Subject: Re: Please return to your question

Message: I cannot give you specifics places to look for these stories I have heard. Some have been on the radio, I know that one was of a teacher in North Carolina who was praying over his lunch in the cafeteria. He got introuble because he was in view of the students when he bowed his head. The story has stuck in my mind for years because I was so flabergasted as to the absolute stupidity of their decision. I might have heard it on Paul Harvey, but I am not sure. This would have been perhaps 1998 or 99. I will try and search on the internet and find specific websites so you can see.

There are cases other that prayer too. A few years ago there was a big stink about a man who worked for allstate insurance. He was a manager for there company.
He was fired for posting a blog against homosexuals from his home and on his own time with no mention of company affiliations. But company policy is toward tolerence.

I realize that you will probably write me off as a liar. That is your perogative.
But in your heart you know that things like this happen. there are good and bad people on both sides of this argument.

As for your argument that religion should never have entered schools you are wrong. I am not asking for school sponsered , one religion favoring teachings. but most religions have the common denominator that people should be kind to each other, respectful to elders, and not kill each other.

When God was taken out of schools our children started killing each other.

Answer 9

You can pray to whomever you wish....just do it quitely to yourself.

Prayer of any kind doesn't belong in the public, taxpayer supported venue.

We are too diverse in our country to pick out a national "god". This is a free country where people can believe as they wish. We are constitutionally guaranteed that freedom...that means you cannot force your god on anyone...and I can't force my atheism on you.

Besides, if your god really exists and is what you believe him to be - the king and ruler of the universe, do you think he gives a rat's behind if the football team wins the game? Or, you pass your math test?

Give us a break. Keep your religion in your home and your church. If you want to pray all over the place, do it silently. According to your bible, your god will hear it....so don't subject the rest of us to it.....

Answer 10

Ah, but what if your coach demanded that you pray to the Easter Bunny with him, or you would be thrown off the team?

There have been many instances of atheist players being forbidden from joining in school sports because they refused to take place in the (illegal) mandated prayer before a game.

It is this kind of thing that atheists are opposed to. We couldn't care less if you choose to pray yourself at school or a football game.