That is excellent, and I must save it to share with Evangellicals. I mean, that is exactly what I try to explain to them, but for all their whining about how the Liberals are as bad as Diocletian, they just can't wrap their mind around what it's like when your Church is not the one that's going to win control of the State, should separation disappear. Coming from a coreligionist it might make more sense.
Of course my usual complaint applies: a good half of the times he said "Judeo-Christian" he could more accurately have said "Christian" (though I confess we Judeo-'s have a share of the blame for that, in the same way that we do for another pet peave of mine: "Holliday" as a euphemism for Christmas).
I especially found this quote amusing: ...prayers conducted before a football game or at a graduation ceremony, even if so bland and non-proselytizing as to be meaningless.... Wait, so the point of prayers is to get more Christians? Funny me, I thought it had something to do with God. If non-proselytizing prayer is meaningless, then what, pray tell, is the point of praying in your closet?
But these points do not detract from an otherwise excellent editorial.
12:53 AM, September 08, 2006
Via Pandagon, I came across this Christian who has fundamentally grokked separation of church and state: I would say in love to my Christian brothers and sisters, before you yearn for the imposition of prayer and similar rituals in your public schools, you might consider attending a football game at Wahiawa High School. Because unless you’re ready to endure the unwilling exposure of yourself and your children to those beliefs and practices that your own faith forswears, you have no right to insist that others sit in silence and complicity while you do the same to them. I, for one, slept better at night knowing that because Judeo-Christian prayers were not being offered at my children’s schools, I didn’t have to worry about them being confronted with Buddhist, Shinto, Wiccan, Satanic or any other prayer ritual I might find offensive.I recommend going to read the whole letter. It shows how experience can bring people of differing views to an acceptable compromise. I wish we could all have more experiences like that.
"A Christian sees the light"
1 Comment -
That is excellent, and I must save it to share with Evangellicals. I mean, that is exactly what I try to explain to them, but for all their whining about how the Liberals are as bad as Diocletian, they just can't wrap their mind around what it's like when your Church is not the one that's going to win control of the State, should separation disappear. Coming from a coreligionist it might make more sense.
Of course my usual complaint applies: a good half of the times he said "Judeo-Christian" he could more accurately have said "Christian" (though I confess we Judeo-'s have a share of the blame for that, in the same way that we do for another pet peave of mine: "Holliday" as a euphemism for Christmas).
I especially found this quote amusing: ...prayers conducted before a football game or at a graduation ceremony, even if so bland and non-proselytizing as to be meaningless.... Wait, so the point of prayers is to get more Christians? Funny me, I thought it had something to do with God. If non-proselytizing prayer is meaningless, then what, pray tell, is the point of praying in your closet?
But these points do not detract from an otherwise excellent editorial.
12:53 AM, September 08, 2006