Open letter to all Atheists.

Yeah, but what does Republican Jesus think?

Public prayer in Canada would be likely to begin, "Hail Mary, full of grace...." The way things are going it will soon be, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."That doesn't offend me. Maybe it would offend you?

That's an issue of application. IMHO there is quite a bit of government sponsorship of religion and in the past there was a lot more.

I haven't noticed that in our church, but I can see how that might happen.The problem I have with group prayer, is I often don't know where they're going with it, so my mind tends to wander a bit. I get all Walter Mitty at some point - until I hear "amen". Then I'm back again.

How about a compromise?We have a rotational prayer concept, so different prayers are utilized in different meetings.Monday Meetings - Lord's Prayer
Tuesday Meetings - Muslim Prayer
Wednesday Meetings - Jewish Prayer
Thursday Meetings - Hindu Prayer
Friday Meetings - Hawaiian Shirt Day and Ho'oponopono cleaning meditations and prayersHow does that sound?

I agree with most of the replies here, very good points. I am NOT offended by atheists. I am grateful for them. They help clean up crony religion and I believe are actually doing God's work. I am offended by hypocrisy. You don't want prayer because it offends you and you feel like religion is being forced on you. However, in telling us how not to be, you are telling us how to be and doing the same thing you don't want done to yourself. That logic offends me, not that you don't believe in God.As far as separation of church and state goes, that should not be used to take God out of government. That's not what it was meant for. Our very first document states that our rights are endowed by our creator. God has a place in government. So does atheism.

Sounds good Diomedes, so long as true representatives of each religion are leading the prayer. Other religions do not offend me.

Fridays are National Darwinian Logical Fallacy Day (NDLFD), where everyone wears a traditional coat made of dino sceathers. So that's out.

Yes, but apparently everyday is faceman 'Non sequitur' day, and we still manage to get other things done. So perhaps we can still allow some non-Christian noon-day prayer on Friday.

I don't care if you have sex with men or women, but I am going to insist that you don't do it in public. Is that hypocrisy?I don't have any problem finding all the time for prayer that I want. I don't feel any particular need to show off that need in a legislative setting, particularly when the prayers are led by the council members who would never welcome me at their church. Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Not to be a naysayer, but atheists believe ALL religions are crony. So if we are doing god's work, he seems to have issues with every religion. Sorry, but this is word salad. It is not hypocritical of atheists or any other religious denomination to not want prayers to become part of a government meeting. The whole point is that one religion is being given special treatment over others. And that is outright wrong. If you want to see examples of this type of philosophy, you can visit Iran or Saudi Arabia. In actuality, yes it should. Religion,god, what-have-you have no place in politics. And incidentally, the reason that the Founding Fathers specifically chose the word 'creator' was because it was ambiguous. It did not invoke a deity in any way, despite the fact that some people give it that label. God was not used in any of our documents and this was done deliberately.

Well, that logic offends me, too, because it has false premises and equivocations. You'll probably also be disappointed to know that public criticism and negative market reactions don't violate free speech rights. By the "our" in "our very first document", I assume you mean the United States of America: that document would be the Constitution, not the Declaration of Independence, which was a revolutionary manifesto written by members of diverse colonies (some of which, btw, persecuted each others' members for religious reasons). Neither have any place in our government. You can search our Constitution forever and find no mention of either one.Also, making this about atheism is a red herring. Many people of faith, Christian and not, object to the co-opting of religion by government.You want faith to be the official source of secular rule. So does the Taliban. I don't. I want a government of laws, not of gods and men. Ruling by some kind of divine right or another was the status quo throughout most of human history. Oceans of blood were spilled to change that.Our laws take their authority from the consent of the governed; pray in public, pray in private, pray loud, pray silently, pray to Yahweh, pray to Buddha--I don't care, prayer doesn't offend me. You could even have a Christian prayer meeting in the minutes before a legislative session opens. That's fine, too.But there's no god in our Constitution, and I don't want one smuggled in the back door. I'm surprised your faith is so weak that you want to do that.And I'll repeat my earlier warning: You may rue the day you let government determine which prayers are officially sanctioned and which are not.

He thinks you need a photo ID and a baptismal record to vote.

I have to agree with that statement. I can foresee a day when John McCain, after finally becoming President sometime after his 120th birthday, decides to invoke Romans 13:1-2, in order to invade the last remaining countries we have yet to occupy.

Or to paraphrase . . .

quote:

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No worthy religion would seek the power of the state to coerce its beliefs.

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~Thomas Jefferson

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