Paul Harvey's take on prayer in public/Xmas (In general, a "freedom of speech" topic)

Paul Harvey writes: "I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution. Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game.So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game."But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect-somebody chanting Hare Krishna? If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer. If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer. If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha. And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit. When in Rome... "But what about the atheists?" is another argument. What about them? Nobody is asking them to be baptized.
We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds.If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs.
Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer.
Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying. God, help us. And if that last sentence offends you, well..........just sue me.The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we let that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard, that the vast majority don't care what they want. It is time the majority rules!
It's time we tell them, you don't have to pray.. you don't have to say the pledge of allegiance, you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your right. But by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back. And we WILL WIN! God bless us one and all, especially those who denounce Him... God bless America, despite all her faults, she is still the greatest nation of all.....God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God... "

While I understand that many of the men who were involved in the creation of the US were indeed Christians I have never been able to pinpoint the Christian influence.

George Washington, the Father of our Country, is well known to Americans for the accomplishments of his adult life: commander-in-chief during the American Revolution, statesman, and President. Few, however, are familiar with his youth or know anything more about it than perhaps the folklore surrounding the hatchet and the cherry tree incident. Yet, possibly his younger years form the most important time for our national hero, for often it is what occurs in one's youth that determines what one becomes as an adult. Or, in the words of a contemporary proverb, "As the sapling is bent, so goes the tree."It is for this reason that the account of not only what happened to, but of what happened around the young George Washington during the battle on the Monongahela is so important. Washington was only a 23 year-old colonel at the time of the battle and certainly the details of this dramatic event helped to shape his character and even confirmed God's call on this young man. Washington's part in the battle of the Monongahela is undisputably one of the most significant events of his early life--his life literally hung in the balance for over two hours. Fifteen years after the battle, the chieftan of the Indians Washington had fought sought him out and gave this account to Washington of what had happened during the battle:"I am chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man's blood mixed with the streams of our forest that I first beheld this chief [Washington]...I called to my young men and said...Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss--'twas all in vain, a power mighter far than we, shielded you...I am come to pay homeage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle."Following the battle, Washington wrote a letter to his brother in which he readily and openly acknowledged:"By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!"

What on earth does the fact that Washington survived a battle, and attributed it to providence, have anything to do with whether the US was influenced by Xianity, or even that his brand of Xianity is the same as that of today.

If a supporter of the KKK was the originator of the event, according to your argument if they came up and expounded overtly racist hate-speech you would just sit there unmoved.

So why are you in Baghdad as a criminal murderer, doing the wrong thing both legally and morally?

Its not really surprising you have problems with basic reasoning, now is it.

I'm still wondering how the KKK hold football games for the general public.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'm still wondering why you wont answer the question.

But the US army is not there fighting a war - it has carried out an internationally illegal occupation, and the US and allied soldiers are the bad guys. So you are right to say that Iraqi's are entirely free to kill the American and allied bandits infesting their country, and this would not be murder, but any killing you commit is in fact murder as you have no right to be there and no right to commit acts of violence.

Deaths from malnutrition (per million):Men Women
United States 7 13
France 4 9
Canada 5 7
Japan 2 1
United Kingdom 1 2
Norway 0 1This is a devastating statistic for those who believe that America's greater commitment to individualism translates into greater individual freedom. In reality, the social democracies of Northern Europe are the freest societies in the world.

The United Nations Human Freedom Index

I'm not saying we are the worst, but why do reject the UN index out of hand without an explanation?

What does the Oil for Food program have to do with these statistics?

Seems you don't know the first thing about what the UN actually does.

It is very easy to throw claims like this out into the public arena. Would you mind showing one bit of proof for this patently false allegation?

It began as a U.N. humanitarian aid program called "Oil-for-Food," but it ended up with Saddam Hussein pocketing billions to become the biggest graft-generating machine ever and enriching some of America's most forceful opponents at the United Nations.

If France, Russia, China and Germany had told Saddam it was time to back down and honor his commitments, Shays said it’s possible the United States may not have needed to go to war against Saddam.But why did these countries really object to a second U.S.-led war against Iraq?Some evidence suggests that those countries that said they were opposing the Bush administration on principle were actually making billions from Oil-for-Food.

Destructive? Delay "things"? Wars you mean? Oh my.

If France, Russia, China and Germany had told Saddam it was time to back down and honor his commitments, Shays said it’s possible the United States may not have needed to go to war against Saddam.

Frankly all of your criticisms could be made for the CIA, FBI, the US government, any State government, the US military, etc etc.

Agreed, Israel literally gets away with murder and only because the rules allow the US a veto over the rest of the world. Funny how we find it horrible when that protects nations we don't like, but think it's great when it is nations we do like.

Wow, those "peacekeeping missions" we run really work. Just like the "drug war", and counterterrorism operations which resulted in 9-11 and now Iraq.