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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 21138
[Civil]
Date Posted:
9/10/2009
6:04:38 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,458
RSS: 19,038
Comments: 7
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GT County Board's Prayer Is Questioned
Author: Brian McGillivary Source: Record-eagle.com (MI)
Title: GT COUNTY BOARD'S PRAYER IS QUESTIONED
Commissioner Beth Friend thanks her "Heavenly Father" and asks for His continued guidance in decisions made by Grand Traverse County commissioners.
"We pray in your name, Amen," Friend said as she concluded a prayer to open a recent county board meeting.
A prayer has served as the opener for county board meetings for years -- Commissioner Larry Inman said an invocation has led off board sessions for at least the 17 years he's been in office -- and no one ever questioned that religious offering.
Until now. The county recently received an e-mail whose writer objected to the "Christian prayers."
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Community Thoughts: There are 7 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Fair For All, Or Nothing For No One | Sep 11th. at 10:47:20 pm EDT
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R. Cicero (Seattle, Washington) - Email Me
I support the opposition. No problem with the Christian prayers (if they sound peaceful and inclusive, as opposed to subtly menacing and alienating) , just so long as EVERY OTHER reasonably sane person also gets a chance to champion their god, gods, or lack thereof. Then we can all get down to the real business that is typically totally removed from our religious practices, or it wouldn't be civic, state, or federal business, would it? One can dream, at least in theory. Equity now!
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| Public Prayer | Sep 11th. at 4:57:53 pm EDT
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foreverknightfan (Dardanelle, Arkansas) - Email Me
The issue here is about one religion in a community being in effect the "default" religion because a majority of the people in that community supposedly are of that religion.
The last time I checked the First Amendment it said nothing about majority rule determining religious freedoms or lack of freedoms of those of different faiths than the majority faith.
The assumption for decades has been that "prayer" usually means Christian prayer. And this includes graduation ceremonies, football homecoming rallies and any other public event where prayers were used. A few years ago when in the Senate a Buddhist recited his blessing on the floor a trio of Christians loudly protested on the floor the prayer/blessing. If Christianity, being the majority faith in many areas of the US, was for freedom of religion for all, why did the trio make such a loud protest? After all there are Americans who are Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and so forth.
Or should I explain why there is that double standard between the Christians and their public prayers as religious freedom while they try to silence the prayers of others?
I'm not saying the council members should not pray, period, though they are free to by themselves say a silent prayer. I'm saying that the use of only one form or prayer invoking only one specific deity is a message to everyone else that their religious views or atheism does not matter a bit.
You know as well as I what would happen if the prayer was to, say Isis, in this "majority" Christian community. They have rules in their Bible against other deities.
The assumption behind all this public Christian only prayer issue is in essence callousness to the religious rights of others. The message, left unspoken, is that if you don't believe as they do, your rights don't matter.
Its a bully religion trying to keep their dominance in the public eye.
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| Silly Thought | Sep 11th. at 3:55:37 pm EDT
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Morrin (Willis, Texas) - Email Me
Ok so one person didn't like the opening. Look at it this way, even if they wanted to be "politicaly correct" and list in the opening prayer all the world deities of all religions that would take hours. Then every one would forget what they came to the meeting for. Maybe for some meetings that would be a good thing, end a war or something.
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| This Is Stupid | Sep 11th. at 3:02:08 pm EDT
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william (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) - Email Me
If a community wants to pray to whoever then that is fine by me. It in no way tramples or impedes my rights to practice my faith. I am sick to death of this belly aching about nothing. Some pagans get offended any time they go out of doors. Suck it up, life goes on. We are talking about a community that is vast majority Christian. Are we saying that their way of life and culture should be taken from them because (horror upon horrors) someone might get offended? I suppose anyone that dosen't live in a big city is a fundie. Truly pathetic what a bunch of thinned skinned, bed wetting crybabies some of us are.
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| No Middle Ground | Sep 11th. at 10:36:29 am EDT
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stalkingwolf (Bullhead City, Arizona) - Email Me
""I'll need to point out to my fellow commissioners to think about how they'll feel when the leader of the local Wiccan coven approaches them to speak," said Commissioner Ross Richardson."
Its all or none
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| ... | Sep 11th. at 8:52:55 am EDT
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Draken (Bronx, New York) - Email Me - Web
If it's outside of a major metropolitan area, it's likely fundie-influenced.
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| Why Is It That | Sep 11th. at 7:13:24 am EDT
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shadow watcher 2k3 (manassas, Virginia) - Email Me
Wiccans have to be the first ones to be brought up as being a problem when offering a simple opening prayer. I'm guessing most people have never heard the true beauty that a Wiccan prayer can be, otherwise why say anything at all. It's okay to open with "Heavenly Father" but when they want other groups to offer their prayers as well than it becomes this huge problem.
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