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Prayer distracts us from finding real world solutions (That's the point, you idiot)
The Justice ^ | 12:23 AM EST on 11/13/07 | by Daniel Ortner

Posted on 11/13/2007 11:08:14 AM PST by rightinthemiddle

In the darkest hour of despair, when all hope seemed lost, the communal leader called together his counsel of the faithful and uttered ritual sayings. Sounds like something out of the eighth century, doesn't it? Just this past week, however, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, facing a massive and seemingly unrelenting drought, declared that "The only solution is rain, and the only place we get that from is from a higher power." He then sent out responses to leaders of several faiths to take part in a prayer service.

The potential establishment clause violations inherent in state sponsored prayer are disturbing. Whenever Government appears to endorse religion over nonreligion, we should be weary However, what is even more disturbing is the high level of fatalism and determinism involved in the very act of submission to a higher power.

(Excerpt) Read more at media.www.thejusticeonline.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: atheism; brights; christophobia; danielortner; dncfalseprophets; prayer; secularliberal; theophobia
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They don't have it, so they don't get it.

But they worship Mother Earth, the Almighty Dollar and Hillary Clinton.

1 posted on 11/13/2007 11:08:18 AM PST by rightinthemiddle
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To: rightinthemiddle

Maybe he’d rather buy rain credits from Al Gore.


2 posted on 11/13/2007 11:11:04 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: rightinthemiddle
the communal leader called together his counsel of the faithful and uttered ritual sayings.

So basically, it's the exact same thing as Al Gore at an environmentalist rally.
3 posted on 11/13/2007 11:11:07 AM PST by Question Liberal Authority (Al Gore and Osama Bin Laden have the same position on global warming, for the exact same reason.)
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To: rightinthemiddle
Whenever Government appears to endorse religion over nonreligion, we should be weary

I'm already "weary" of this piece just after reading the excerpt. Clearly the guy doesn't have an editor. But why should government endorse "nonreligion" over religion? Isn't that also a "violation" of the establishment clause?

4 posted on 11/13/2007 11:12:17 AM PST by The Old Hoosier (Right makes might)
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To: rightinthemiddle

People spend 15 minutes praying and 6hrs/day watching TV. What’s more distracting?


5 posted on 11/13/2007 11:12:44 AM PST by DManA
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To: DManA

What they’re really afraid of is that this works.


6 posted on 11/13/2007 11:13:21 AM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: rightinthemiddle
Prayer distracts us from finding real world solutions

And what kind of solutions would those be?

7 posted on 11/13/2007 11:16:01 AM PST by YellowRoseofTx
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To: The Old Hoosier

Exactly. Non-religion is the state religion.


8 posted on 11/13/2007 11:17:05 AM PST by jwalburg (Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. What does that say about schools?)
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To: rightinthemiddle

Thinking themselves they became fools.


9 posted on 11/13/2007 11:17:14 AM PST by joebuck
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To: joebuck

Thinking themselves wise they became fools.


10 posted on 11/13/2007 11:17:42 AM PST by joebuck
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To: rightinthemiddle

Problem with his thesis is the stunning lack of empirical evidence that societies in which prayer features prominently have a poorer track record with getting good results in the real world.


11 posted on 11/13/2007 11:20:51 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: DManA
People spend 15 minutes praying and 6hrs/day watching TV. What’s more distracting?

Can't speak for The Lord, but it seems this world would be so fine if people would spend 15 mins praying. [hmmm, that could be a prayer, join me?]

12 posted on 11/13/2007 11:22:26 AM PST by BlabItGrabIt (Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand...)
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To: jwalburg
"Non-religion is the state religion."

correct, and this "non-religion" is not athiesm. The state non-religion seems to be some pseudo-spiritual, ecumenical prayer and worship to the concept of religion without expressing any actual faith in itself. An Indiana Fed Judge actually banned mentioning the name "Jesus" in the State Legislative Invocation. Think about that.

13 posted on 11/13/2007 11:23:07 AM PST by joebuck
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To: The Old Hoosier
But why should government endorse "nonreligion" over religion?

Shouldn't, particularly since history has shown that societies where government formally endorses non-religion over religion get dismal real-world results.

14 posted on 11/13/2007 11:24:13 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: YellowRoseofTx
And what kind of solutions would those be?

The All Mighty Govmint is the solution to all mans problems. < /s >

15 posted on 11/13/2007 11:28:27 AM PST by Doomonyou (Let them eat lead.)
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To: rightinthemiddle

When we seek ‘real world’ solutions, we should begin by finding someone who knows the difference between ‘weary’ and ‘wary’.


16 posted on 11/13/2007 11:29:27 AM PST by Spok (The Idiocracy at work.)
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To: rightinthemiddle
Whenever Government appears to endorse religion over nonreligion, we should be weary

Too bad that they don't understand that our government never supported nonreligion. Nonreligion is a world away from the government run religion that our Founders were afraid of.

17 posted on 11/13/2007 11:31:57 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (Jesus loves you, Allah wants you dead)
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To: YellowRoseofTx

I’ve yet to understand just how prayer keeps you from looking for solutions to a problem.

That’s not the way it tends to work for me.


18 posted on 11/13/2007 11:33:51 AM PST by I still care ("Remember... for it is the doom of men that they forget" - Merlin, from Excalibur)
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To: rightinthemiddle
STOO-PID moonbat college kid Alert!
by Daniel Ortner
If Franklin Delano Roosevelt had spent his time praying for salvation as Herbert Hoover had done instead of coming up with vital recovery programs such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and National Recovery, our nation would never have been able to recover from the Great Depression.

Hey kid, better get into that History and/or Economics class stat. FRD's policies extended the Great Depression. If not for WWII, only GOD knows how long the depression would have lasted.

And as to Hoover, him praying had nothing to do with the depression. As any Ferris Bueller fan will tell you sonny what really threw our economy into a dive was .. anyone? .. the Smoot-Hawley Act (Tariff Act of 1930).

Now go sit in the corner.

19 posted on 11/13/2007 11:38:43 AM PST by Condor51 (Rudy makes John Kerry look like a Right Wing 'Gun Nut' Extremist)
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To: Condor51

Twist and Shout!


20 posted on 11/13/2007 11:43:07 AM PST by Resolute Conservative
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