There have been numerous postings lately about why God allowed all those innocent kids to be killed in Conn. I mean, really? God picked that bunch of little kids to prove a point? Then a cousin of mine (I am still shaking my head over this) sent me this email entitled the Perfect Answer with this picture:
Wrong. SOOOOOO WRONG!
If I take "God" in my heart, He goes where I go.
If parents raise their child in a faith and teach him to pray, and it is IN HIS HEART to pray, then God is there. NO ONE stops anyone from praying to the god of their choice at any time or in any place.
Do you think a kid is going to be good and holy if he hears the Lord's Prayer at school and is taught to be dishonest, mean and nasty at home? Really?
BUT, I would not want my kid to be lead in prayer by someone whose prayers I might not respect, would you?
If I want my kid raised with Catholic prayers then I should send him to Catholic school. If I want my kid taught prayers from a fundamentalist protestant, they have plenty of little Christian schools around. OR I CAN SEND HIM TO CHURCH. OR I CAN PRAY WITH HIM BEFORE HE GOES TO SCHOOL. My kid, MY responsibility!
This nation was founded on religious FREEDOM - that means your prayers are YOUR prayers and should not be imposed on me. And if i want to pray to Zoroaster and not Jesus, You should not have to be lead in prayer by me.
You want a Buddhist teaching your kid to pray? NO?
Who decides WHICH prayers should be said? There are kids of all faiths in our schools just as there are teachers of all faiths - or none. All have the right to respect and not have some other belief imposed on them. If your kid's teacher is a Muslim, do you want your child to learn their prayers? After all, it IS the same god.
Which God do you want? The one that we pray to to help us KILL the supposed enemy - like those Muslims we have killed on their way to a wedding? The Iraqis that did nothing to us? How about The God that told son of Sam to go kill all those people in NY? OR The God who brought Katrina to New Orleans because of all the gays living there? (Pat Robertson's god???)...
Does YOUR God kill innocent children because some judges decided it was not constitutional to impose "my" prayer on your kids 30 years ago (or 250 years ago?) That is the real message of this T shirt. Because someone made a decision some narrow minded bigot does not like because they don't UNDERSTAND the decision, I (GOD) am going to allow the killing of innocent little babies. I’ll show THEM!
Wow, that is some god.
Buddhism does not worship any God, as such. Yet Buddhists have never declared war on any one else. Can Christians say that? Buddhists don't bomb other Buddhists because they have a difference in opinion on what Buddha might have said. Look at the Irish who have been killing each other for years. Buddhists do not pray to Buddha. They do not consider him a god... yet they pray. They pray to whatever power helps us to become better kind, loving , tolerant people. They pray for strength to avoid temptations. They pray for the wisdom to accept others on their paths and to have compassion for those struggling on the way. They pray to not be unkind, judgmental, but to be mindful in all they think and do.
They realize our thoughts are things - our thoughts are what define us, may they be kind.
Would I want a Buddhist to lead my child's prayer each day? You betcha. But a Buddhist would not try to impose their prayers on anyone else.
Your prayers, like your God, are in your heart and in your attitude. You take that with you whether it is into a school or a lumber yard. And if you think your God punishes innocent kids because they don't say some prayer at school in the morning, then you are welcome to that god. I want no part of him.
(But I love you anyway!) Possum
6 comments:
By the time I was in high school -- which was long before prayer was prohibited in schools -- we had a moment of silence every morning after the Star-Spangled Banner. Morning exercises and announcements were required; they came over a loudspeaker.
No one questioned the moment of silence; you prayed if you wanted to, but you most certainly did not stop anyone else from doing it. Religion was taught at home.
Possum, you are such a clear headed Logic. I'm realizing 'religion' is at fault for so much of our screwed up society. Yet try to get this into some thick heads...ain't gonna work, it doesn't appear.
I agree with Harriet about the moment of silence and remember it done way back when even I was a youngster.
Being in the South (Bible Belt) most of our AA meetings end with the Lord's Prayer ... now we've ammended it and say:
"For those who care to ... please hold hands and join us in the Lord's Prayer, a prayer of your choice or silence." I love that
Well said. Thank you....
This shirt posters is someone who is affirming a limited view of God. Good for them but I bet they would not admit it and claim that God is Omniscient, omnipresent, and all powerful. I hope someone helps them out of this theological quandary.
When I was in high school I was the one to refuse to say the morning pray . I was asked to leave the room while the others did this rote exercise. Ontario then had a report made that recommended that pray be taken out of the schools. I was in the US at the time and thought the recommendations were accepted. When I moved back my son suddenly came home from the first grade and told me he had to do a morning prayer. I confronted the pious Christian Principal over it. When I said I was concerned he told me "It is very important for these children for some of them only get this limited religious instruction." When he realized I was opposed to it he changed his tune. "It is just an insignificant amount". At this point I began to laugh, rational logical thinker that I am. " It cannot be both. very important and insignificant. If it is the later, they should drop it. If it is the former they should do a better job of it. It turned out the laws had not been changed but the local principal has a great deal of discretion.
I agree with you!
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