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CynthiaWVirginia -> RE: National Day of Prayer (5/7/2010 12:40:42 PM)
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belladevine, I went to one of the links posted and saw this:
quote:
The National Day of Prayer provides an opportunity for all Americans to pray voluntarily according to their own faith
I've already outed myself as a Christian here [:D] so I'll toss in my two cents.
I don't need a National Day of Prayer that "provides an opportunity...to pray voluntarily..." I pray whenever and however I want, already. For me, this would be pointless.
It wouldn't be a special day for my God, because everyone's god would be prayed to.
I count Christmas and Easter as each being two holidays in one, the fun stuff and the religious. I don't have a problem with the fun stuff being national holidays, like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny...the rest is between me and my God and I want government to stay out of my religious life, however well intentioned some politicians may be.
Besides, it would be redundant. The government already provides many opportunities for prayer...our public school systems give tests on the same days all over the nation, right? [:D] As long as we have tests, there will always be prayer in schools.
I can't figure out why anyone would want to have a generic day of prayer passed. If someone has to be reminded to pray at least one day per year, I'd assume they had issues with their god that was none of my business, that they didn't believe in any god...or that their beliefs didn't include prayer.
The school my son was in did this every day. It was a public school, 3rd grade, but the teacher decided that each kid needed to bow their head and pray each day, at a set time in her classroom. Half the year went by before I found out. I was angry. My religious beliefs state that my God gave this job to me...and she had gone behind my back. She said that this was generic prayer time, that's supposed to make it all right. I had two issues with that, one, she had a Christian prayer in big letters posted on the wall to guide children in how to pray, second, there were children of different faiths in the classroom and none of their prayers were posted around the room.
If this holiday passes, schools will enforce it.
Some people might be very against others' religious holidays, nevertheless their children come home from public schools with Santa Claus crayon drawings, or at least Christmas trees and stuff, etc. It's hard on some already, to feel that they have religious freedom in this country...which we sometimes forget includes the right to have no religious beliefs at all.
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