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www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2011/08/the-fight-for-christian-prayers-at-non-christian-veteran-burial-services.html
Interesting article - it brings up some very valid points for and against organized religion.
Speaking as a non-Christian in what many would like to believe is a very Christian nation, it appalls and offends me on many levels that basic freedoms are not equally granted across the board. My experience has been that if something is perceived as being normally "Christian" that any attempts to allow another religion to have those same basic courtesies is met with anger, distrust and an overwhelming sense of oppression from the Christian Right.
Christians who feel persecuted because they are not allowed to lead a prayer before a sporting event, civic duty, board meeting, etc, are attempting to make you feel guilty because you don't want to share in their religious rites. Its a passive aggressive bullshit maneuver - 'oh, how can it hurt if we offer a prayer...it's just a prayer, we aren't really stepping on another person's religion just because we want to share a prayer....but later there is the whole 'John didn't participate in the prayer, he must not be a Christian. We should watch him carefully.'
So, this is my challenge to you on my list who follow the Christian faith - challenge those of your faith to accept that not everyone is Christian and to grant those who are not the same rights and privileges that you have when it comes to practicing your faith. Don't sit back and say that the Christian Right doesn't speak for you, shout it out and spread the word in a way that Jesus would have wanted. That is the actions that the Jesus the I was taught about and read about in the Bible would have wanted, not the wholesale oppression of those who were different.
Interesting article - it brings up some very valid points for and against organized religion.
Speaking as a non-Christian in what many would like to believe is a very Christian nation, it appalls and offends me on many levels that basic freedoms are not equally granted across the board. My experience has been that if something is perceived as being normally "Christian" that any attempts to allow another religion to have those same basic courtesies is met with anger, distrust and an overwhelming sense of oppression from the Christian Right.
Christians who feel persecuted because they are not allowed to lead a prayer before a sporting event, civic duty, board meeting, etc, are attempting to make you feel guilty because you don't want to share in their religious rites. Its a passive aggressive bullshit maneuver - 'oh, how can it hurt if we offer a prayer...it's just a prayer, we aren't really stepping on another person's religion just because we want to share a prayer....but later there is the whole 'John didn't participate in the prayer, he must not be a Christian. We should watch him carefully.'
So, this is my challenge to you on my list who follow the Christian faith - challenge those of your faith to accept that not everyone is Christian and to grant those who are not the same rights and privileges that you have when it comes to practicing your faith. Don't sit back and say that the Christian Right doesn't speak for you, shout it out and spread the word in a way that Jesus would have wanted. That is the actions that the Jesus the I was taught about and read about in the Bible would have wanted, not the wholesale oppression of those who were different.
