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There's a difference between being forced to pray with a gun held to your head, and bowing your head in a pretense at prayer because you are afraid of revealing to people that you don't believe the same way they do. And people have a right to be afraid. There are people on this forum that say horrible things about Muslims. If you are elderly and already limited socially because of health and transportation issues, the risk that you could alienate friends by revealing that you aren't Christian might be a risk people prefer not to take. And yet by participating in the pretense, you are lying to friends. That's got to be troubling. Wouldn't it be nicer if you could avoid the pretense altogether, by sitting in silence for a moment, and then having a nice dinner with friends? And they could use that moment of silence to bless their food, or communicate with their god in whatever way they are most comfortable with.
There's a difference between being forced to pray with a gun held to your head, and bowing your head in a pretense at prayer because you are afraid of revealing to people that you don't believe the same way they do. And people have a right to be afraid. There are people on this forum that say horrible things about Muslims. If you are elderly and already limited socially because of health and transportation issues, the risk that you could alienate friends by revealing that you aren't Christian might be a risk people prefer not to take. And yet by participating in the pretense, you are lying to friends. That's got to be troubling. Wouldn't it be nicer if you could avoid the pretense altogether, by sitting in silence for a moment, and then having a nice dinner with friends? And they could use that moment of silence to bless their food, or communicate with their god in whatever way they are most comfortable with.
You're very lucky, irspow, to have lived your life and never once have to compromise in any way. Most of us have had to make difficult choices, and sometimes we choose to keep a part of ourselves secret in order to keep friends. It's unfortunate that society is so rigid. That we have to hide our scars and infirmities and "defects" from a judgmental world. But most of us do hide things. Most of us do wear masks. It's nice when we can leave the masks at home, like when we go to a senior activity center for meal, we shouldn't be confronted with having to share our religious beliefs. You're lucky that you are so average, or so exceptional that you don't care what other people think. Most of us aren't so lucky.
You're very lucky, irspow, to have lived your life and never once have to compromise in any way. Most of us have had to make difficult choices, and sometimes we choose to keep a part of ourselves secret in order to keep friends. It's unfortunate that society is so rigid. That we have to hide our scars and infirmities and "defects" from a judgmental world. But most of us do hide things. Most of us do wear masks. It's nice when we can leave the masks at home, like when we go to a senior activity center for meal, we shouldn't be confronted with having to share our religious beliefs. You're lucky that you are so average, or so exceptional that you don't care what other people think. Most of us aren't so lucky.
Like minded communities... where I grew up the like mindedness was tolerance for people who were different. My grandmother is a devout catholic but wouldn't dream of imposing herself on her jewish senior friends, or even those who have no religious beliefs at all. In the expression of her faith we're all gods children no matter what label we're wearing.
Looking at this objectively, the attributes compelling this story is essentially the obliviousness to diversity. If they grew up baptists (or whatever they are), everyone else must therefore be baptist. Turning this story of poorly minded boundaries around claiming someone has robbed them is typical, but it's clear to me what candidate is about to be installed by FOX news inc.
You're very lucky, irspow, to have lived your life and never once have to compromise in any way. Most of us have had to make difficult choices, and sometimes we choose to keep a part of ourselves secret in order to keep friends. It's unfortunate that society is so rigid. That we have to hide our scars and infirmities and "defects" from a judgmental world. But most of us do hide things. Most of us do wear masks. It's nice when we can leave the masks at home, like when we go to a senior activity center for meal, we shouldn't be confronted with having to share our religious beliefs. You're lucky that you are so average, or so exceptional that you don't care what other people think. Most of us aren't so lucky.
You can't be serious right? Almost every post that I have ever written in this forum was for the direct purpose of attacking those who initiate force upon others (albeit usually against our thug government). And this is precisely because I don't believe in others being subject to the whims of thugs.
Initiating force by getting the armed thugs, government, to impose upon others one's personal interests is detestable by any standard. What those evil praying people were doing was not hiring government goons to force others to pray against their will, but simply praying themselves.
It is thugs who use armed government thugs against their fellow humans who are to be ashamed of themselves, not people who "offend" others by praying to some God or another.
Or is only GODvernment the only religion "allowed" in this country anymore?
Live and let live
*edit: Live and make government stomp over everyone else
You can't be serious right? Almost every post that I have ever written in this forum was for the direct purpose of attacking those who initiate force upon others (albeit usually against our thug government). And this is precisely because I don't believe in others being subject to the whims of thugs.
Initiating force by getting the armed thugs, government, to impose upon others one's personal interests is detestable by any standard. What those evil praying people were doing was not hiring government goons to force others to pray against their will, but simply praying themselves.
It is thugs who use armed government thugs against their fellow humans who are to be ashamed of themselves, not people who "offend" others by praying to some God or another.
Or is only GODvernment the only religion "allowed" in this country anymore?
Live and let live
*edit: Live and make government stomp over everyone else
The problem is that people who get into this thread believe its title, that seniors aren't allowed to pray anymore. You want to talk about who's forcing whom to pray. But let's talk about who's forcing whom not to pray. The fact is that Christianity is the dominant religion in America, and in practice, it's much more likely that people who don't want to pray are feeling pressured to pray. No one is stopping these seniors from individually praying. The only thing that is being stopped is the pressure on non-believers to conform to Christianity. Just because that pressure isn't in the form of thugs doesn't mean that the pressure isn't there. And it shouldn't be. Not in a country that aspires to freedom of religion.
What those evil praying people were doing was not hiring government goons to force others to pray against their will, but simply praying themselves.
Selective attention. They factually weren't praying to themselves. If they were this whole issue would be moot, save for the grandstanding people have made of it.
The advice from staff was that they should pray to themselves. Thugs is a characterization you imposed after the fact because you've conditioned yourself to look for offenses the same way blacks have conditioned themselves to seek out & attribute all things to racism. You're identically flawed in logic, and distorted view of what entitlements public policy and justice system ought to provide. No one in my family requires our government to uphold our faith for us. Why others have been leaning so heavily upon that habit is long overdue for examination. Please do pursue your faith earnestly, but don't ask me to carry you.
Let's see, I said in THREE separate posts on this thread that seniors should be allowed to pray, and are allowed to pray, aloud or silently, as they wish. Are you trying to live up to your screen name and speed-reading posts, missing much of the content?
I'm 100% for freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And I understand that for all of us to enjoy those freedoms, we have to respect other people and their beliefs. That means that atheists have to respect Christians when they choose to exercise their INDIVIDUAL right to pray, aloud or silently, in a public setting, and that Christians have to respect people of other faiths or of no faith, in public venues where religion is not involved, by not forcing those people to reveal their religious beliefs by refusing to participate in authority-directed prayer. The moment of silence is an excellent compromise, allowing people to pray or not as they wish.
DC, If I mis-read your position, I apologize.
I read this, "shouldn't have to listen to someone leading them in a group prayer before they eat". From that I believed you were against them prying out loud.
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