I always find the whole narrative regarding religion or lack thereof fascinating. My profession by its very nature has me in houses of worship of various religions at least 4 times a week. Two things strike me as rather odd and frankly as ridiculous.
#1. Prayer in schools...This one I find quite humorous. I personally keep my religious beliefs to myself as I believe my relationship with God is a private matter between me and him. When has anyone stopped a kid from praying before he takes a test? How would anybody know if the kid is praying or not? If you insert religion into a public school which religion is recognized? Do we do Catholic prayers? Protestant prayers? Evangelical Christian prayers? Jewish prayers? Muslim prayers? Budhist prayers? Hindu prayers? Til you get done with all the praying there is no time left for the lessons of the day.
#2 Same goes for religion in government. Courthouses, local, county, state and federal buildings. Where does it end? Again I have heard of not one instance where one took a moment of silent reflection and was denied that opportunity.
I make these points for one simple reason. EVERY house of worship I enter is struggling. EVERY church, synagogue, Temple etc. is looking for membership and money. They hit my business up regularly for donations for everything from renovations, statues and symbols to advertisements and sponsorships.
If there is such a clamor for religion in this country as is being decried by a segment of our society then why is every house of worship I enter hurting? By the way this isn't just a New York City and metropolitan area thing. I had the same thing when I was in Florida and in Pennsylvania. My solution is to go to your house of worship and support your religious institutions first and foremost as they need all the support they can muster. Without your funds and support your religious institutions will fade away and die. So if you are worried about prayer support your religious institutions. Schools are for learning and educating our youth. Government buildings are for doing the peoples business. It seems the Government has enough to worry about as to whether or not somebody is praying. Let the religious institutions handle God, Jesus and prayer.
Just my 2 cents...
Catholic, Protestant and evangelical sound good to me FD lol
I always find the whole narrative regarding religion or lack thereof fascinating. My profession by its very nature has me in houses of worship of various religions at least 4 times a week. Two things strike me as rather odd and frankly as ridiculous.
#1. Prayer in schools...This one I find quite humorous. I personally keep my religious beliefs to myself as I believe my relationship with God is a private matter between me and him. When has anyone stopped a kid from praying before he takes a test? How would anybody know if the kid is praying or not? If you insert religion into a public school which religion is recognized? Do we do Catholic prayers? Protestant prayers? Evangelical Christian prayers? Jewish prayers? Muslim prayers? Budhist prayers? Hindu prayers? Til you get done with all the praying there is no time left for the lessons of the day.
#2 Same goes for religion in government. Courthouses, local, county, state and federal buildings. Where does it end? Again I have heard of not one instance where one took a moment of silent reflection and was denied that opportunity.
I make these points for one simple reason. EVERY house of worship I enter is struggling. EVERY church, synagogue, Temple etc. is looking for membership and money. They hit my business up regularly for donations for everything from renovations, statues and symbols to advertisements and sponsorships.
If there is such a clamor for religion in this country as is being decried by a segment of our society then why is every house of worship I enter hurting? By the way this isn't just a New York City and metropolitan area thing. I had the same thing when I was in Florida and in Pennsylvania. My solution is to go to your house of worship and support your religious institutions first and foremost as they need all the support they can muster. Without your funds and support your religious institutions will fade away and die. So if you are worried about prayer support your religious institutions. Schools are for learning and educating our youth. Government buildings are for doing the peoples business. It seems the Government has enough to worry about as to whether or not somebody is praying. Let the religious institutions handle God, Jesus and prayer.
Just my 2 cents...
I soooo agree FD and very well said. The best way to protect religious rights is to keep it OUT of public places supported with tax dollars. Separation of church and state!
Well, we have talked about politics so why not bring religion into the mix so we have two of the three hot topics accounted for. All we need now is money. Who wants to start an investment thread? lol
Great post.
When Congress threw aside "E Pluribus Unum" by idiotically making "In God We Trust" our official motto, ever since there's been a slow erosion of the boundary between church and state.
I’ll just add this food for thought also. If certain churches want to influence their congregations as to who to vote for, is this skewing the line of church and state and should they then be required to pay their share of taxes since they have now made government their business?
@lionbacker99 My thinking is, churches should have been considered a business long ago.
