Did you notice that there was another board member (man) who actually raised his hand to vote along with the lunatic woman.... Yes this is America and you are free to pray or not pray as you so desire but do not try and force your beliefs on me ... ............................. drill sgt.
Posts: 2303 | Location: denham springs , la | Registered: October 19, 2019
I don’t feel group prayers before the meeting are necessary at all. I would feel uncomfortable sitting around before a public meeting while people gave thanks to a god I don’t recognize. It’s a public forum, not a private one. Religion has no place there.
Her unpleasant tone is another matter altogether but I agree with her position.
Posts: 1804 | Location: Illinois | Registered: July 14, 2010
I never participate in any prayers. Despite this, I have two choices when this comes up in such a setting.
1. Shut the fuck up and just be patient for a moment, so that everyone can move on with their day.
2. Cause a giant scene of fuckery where I come of as a giant asshole.
Guess which one I prefer?? What a bitch.
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-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
Posts: 18178 | Location: New Mexico | Registered: October 14, 2005
I don't know my position about this. If I was voting on the council, I'd vote for it. I wouldn't make the motion. If it didn't pass, I'm okay with it too.
When we vacationed in Colorado Springs. CO, we went to a cowboy ranch for lunch, The Flying X I think which has since burned down. It was a tourist spot. I was pleasantly surprised that the announcer unapologetically said he's going to pray over the meal before service and he did. I did get the sense that evangelical ministries was the cottage industry in that place.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
Posts: 20857 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011
Originally posted by 400m: I don’t feel group prayers before the meeting are necessary at all. I would feel uncomfortable sitting around before a public meeting...
Do you realize our Founding Fathers opened each meeting with prayer to God? Opening government meetings with prayer is ingrained in the DNA of our country.
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"We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and by-word down to future ages...I therefore beg leave to move — that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."
--Benjamin Franklin, in James Madison's Notes on the Federal Convention
Originally posted by 400m: I don’t feel group prayers before the meeting are necessary at all. I would feel uncomfortable sitting around before a public meeting while people gave thanks to a god I don’t recognize. It’s a public forum, not a private one. Religion has no place there.
Her unpleasant tone is another matter altogether but I agree with her position.
I do agree with your basic position. Just because the founders did it has no bearing on NECESSITY.
HOWEVER, if it only takes 15 seconds of my life to sit through it, then who gives a damn? If you want to pray, have at it. I'll think about where I'm going to lunch or check my email. Usually the typical BS that gets thrown around in any meeting takes up orders of magnitude more time than this does.
Choose your battles.
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-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
Posts: 18178 | Location: New Mexico | Registered: October 14, 2005
I’m with you, I’m polite enough to lower my head and keep quiet. No sense making a stink about it. I certainly wouldn’t go off like she did. I just don’t think it’s necessary at a public gathering.
Posts: 1804 | Location: Illinois | Registered: July 14, 2010
I can't imagine coming home to that sweet cake every day.
