Kandahar said:
I'll tell you what. I'll let you say your prayer at the high school football game, as long as you aren't leading the team in mandatory prayer. I'll let you have a class on the history and/or meaning of religion, if you don't try to force pseudoscience into biology textbooks. And I'll let you display Christmas decorations in front of public buildings, if you don't try to put the Ten Commandments in a court.
Sound fair?
Right. He can say his prayer at the high school football game anytime he wants, out loud, to himself, or he can bellow it to the heavens if he wants to, before, during, and after the game. But if the school is public, and my tax dollars pay for public schools, then there can be no prayer led.
Right again, no creationism. Science class teaches science, and does not study faith. This stays in a person's private life. There are some now who have a 'theory' which is based on ignorance-since the building blocks of life and the vastness of the cosmos are too complicated to have formed on their own (in other words, we don't understand them), there has to be a God. I would never say there is no God, but if part of one's belief in Him is based on this theory, He must surely be very disappointed.
I don't understand the mindset of those who demand organized prayer before state functions. You can pray anywhere, anytime you want. You can pray in public, at home, waiting for the subway, while watching the game, in church, at school, before eating, after eating, etc. Don't try to force prayer at a state function. I would consider these people a 'captive' audience, and anyway, only a control freak would try to force his prayer on a large group where he can't know the religion of everyone there, or even if all of them have a religion.
The argument that Christians outnumber members of other faiths by a huge factor is an argument against what Paul Harvey says in the rest of his statement. It is the minority that we have to protect, the majority doesn't need protection.
I don't want Christmas decorations in front of public buildings. Why is this necessary? People can do this at home and at church, and at any private property.
Also, I agree with you on the Ten Commandments, too. So many people say the laws of our country are based on them, so its okay to display them in judicial buildings. They are not. This is wrong.
Nobody is telling Paul Harvey to cease praying. Listen to me, a guy who doesn't want forced prayer before state functions, as I tell Paul Harvey and everybody else to pray all they want to, anywhere they want to. But you don't have to make sure there is a prayer
led (again, at a state function), while you make sure everybody who
you want to hear the prayer is quiet.
I do agree with Paul Harvey 100% on several things he said:
God bless America
God bless our Servicemen
God protect our right to pray
God bless us every one (he borrowed that one from Charles Dickens)