Posted on 05/05/2014 9:59:41 AM PDT by PoloSec
The Supreme Court has upheld the right of local officials to open town council meetings with prayer, ruling that this does not violate the Constitution even if the prayers routinely stress Christianity.
The court said in a 5-4 decision Monday that the content of the prayers is not critical as long as officials make a good-faith effort at inclusion.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Praise the Lord! Thank You!
5-4? Just amazing! How did 4 not get this? I mean, they didn’t need to go through all that fuss. They could have just asked me. Even I knew that.
The 4 who didn’t get it were the 4 on the liberal side.
The wise Latina is among the group who didn’t get it.
Even if I were a closet atheist (which I’m not), I’d support public prayers just to p*ss off the ACLU and their cohorts who wish to make atheist the de facto state religion.
I plan to watch MSNBC tonight to see their reaction. Liberals will be aghastat this ruling, and will feel we are going back to the Middle Ages with such a ruling. I want to see how much they over react to this.
this country literally hanging by a damn thread.
president mom jeans can’t wait to attack the true patriots with his jack booted thugs. probably all he thinks about now.
Atheists deserve respect just like believers. That means I don’t use the law to restrict their speech anymore than they use the law to restrict mine. That’s what happens in a free country. We all get to practice our religion or non-religion so long as we don’t force others to participate.
I also believe that’s the intent of the constitution. The founders would have laughed at anyone who said a government official couldn’t invoke the name of the Lord while acting in an official capacity, and they didn’t have to invoke the name of every possible deity in order to be fair either.
BTW, a non-religious event could be considered coercive in an area where most people believe a particular religion. That’s what some people don’t seem to understand. They think it’s coercive to mention Jesus for example, but it’s also coercive to drive the name Jesus from the public square!
And yet we can’t pray over the school loud speaker at a football game in Mississippi
I should also add that I have no problem sharing the public square with other religions (before someone raises that point). I know Christianity will survive competition, and if I expect to be able to freely discuss my beliefs, I should respect the right of others to discuss theirs. I may not like an Islamic prayer and wouldn’t participate, but I’d listen respectfully or even use the time to quietly pray to my Lord.
” I may not like an Islamic prayer and wouldn’t participate, but I’d listen respectfully or even use the time to quietly pray to my Lord.”
I wouldn’t, I’d pass gas and make Oinking sounds until they left.
My best friend at the time was Jewish (loved Sandy Koufax who had just beat the Twins in the World Series the season or two before) and he wanted to go, simply because they were going to be meeting the kids one on one and signing autographs at the end.
This was 1966 or 1967 and nobody saw a problem with it, least of all my friend. It was an invitation, after all, as most public prayers are. Yeah, I've sat through some public prayers where I felt uncomfortable and even rolled my eyes, where the person doing the prayer thought he or she was displaying their oratorical skills. So what? I've sat through some political speeches which were even worse.
Sanity! Take that FFR terrorists!
Oh large person or persons of whatever gender
Or branch of the animal kingdom
Who did something great
And is now someplace where we aren't
Please forgive us for whatever you deem bad
And help us to do whatever strikes you as good
Whether that be to work hard, eat no pork, or wage a holy war
Grant us whatever you tend to grant
Unless you don't interfere with earthly concerns
Watch over us
Or save us from evil
Or let us find out for ourselves
Or damn us randomly
Amen, praise Allah, have a nice day...
--The Frantics
If you were an atheist, you wouldn’t consider atheism a religion, just like not playing basketball isn’t considered a sport.
“I may not like an Islamic prayer and wouldn’t participate, but I’d listen respectfully or even use the time to quietly pray to my Lord.”
You would be okay with town council meetings opening with an Islamic call to prayer asking Allah to bless the meeting?
By doing so, they rely on the ignorance of many citizens of America's founding history and of the ideas of liberty which were strongly held and advocated by the man (Jefferson) who authored the Declaration of Independence, with its recognition of a "Creator," of "the laws of nature and of nature's God," of "Divine Providence," and of "Supreme judge of the world," as well as the actual meaning and context of his letter to the Baptists--whose phrase about the "wall of separation" they love to twist and cite as the basis of their prejudice and tyranny against religious expression in the public square!
Perhaps these "progressives" might wish to read and be honest enough to cite this portion of Thomas Jefferson's letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper:
"In our village of Charlottesville, there is a good degree of religion, with a small spice only of fanaticism. We have four sects, but without either church or meeting-house. . . .As for Jefferson's views on a university setting as a place appropriate for open exchange of ideas and of unthreatened expression of religious thought, and to correct a then-false impression that the institution was against religion, he stated:. . . The court-house is the common temple, one Sunday in the month to each. Here, Episcopalian and Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist, meet together, join in hymning their Maker, listen with attention and devotion to each others' preachers, and all mix in society with perfect harmony.
". . . .In our university you know there is no Professorship of Divinity. A handle has been made of this, to disseminate an idea that this is an institution, not merely of no religion, but against all religion. Occasion was taken at the last meeting of the Visitors, to bring forward an idea that might silence this calumny, which weighed on the minds of some honest friends to the institution. In our annual report to the legislature, after stating the constitutional reasons against a public establishment of any religious instruction, we suggest the expediency of encouraging the different religious sects to establish, each for itself, a professorship of their own tenets, on the confines of the university, so near as that their students may attend the lectures there, and have the free use of our library, and every other accommodation we can give them; preserving, however, their independence of us and of each other. This fills the chasm objected to ours, as a defect in an institution professing to give instruction in all useful sciences. I think the invitation will be accepted, by some sects from candid intentions, and by others from jealousy and rivalship. And by bringing the sects together, and mixing them with the mass of other students, we shall soften their asperities, liberalize and neutralize their prejudices, and make the general religion a religion of peace, reason, and morality." - Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper
That’s actually pretty funny - ‘cause it’s so close to the truth...
Look at what happened to the former CEO of Mozilla.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.