Fundie vs. Football-Game School Prayer

[Coragyps]

PZ Myers brought this bit to my attention -
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46828

It seems a fundangelical Christian was a bit miffed at being subjected to Buddhist prayers before the Big Game out in Hawaii, and actually rethought his beliefs on the subject a little! And then he went on to write something pretty rational and got in printed in World Net Daily! Mirable dictu!

Coming from a fairly traditional Southern upbringing, I was not at all initially surprised when a voice came over the PA and asked everyone to rise for the invocation. I had been through this same ritual at many other high-school events and thought nothing of it, so to our feet my wife and I stood, bowed our heads, and prepared to partake of the prayer. But to our extreme dismay, the clergyman who took the microphone and began to pray was not a Protestant minister or a Catholic priest, but a Buddhist priest who proceeded to offer up prayers and intonations to god-head figures that our tradition held to be pagan.

We were frozen in shock and incredulity! What to do? To continue to stand and observe this prayer would represent a betrayal of our own faith and imply the honoring of a pagan deity that was anathema to our beliefs. To sit would be an act of extreme rudeness and disrespect in the eyes of our Japanese hosts and neighbors, who value above all other things deference and respect in their social interactions. I am sorry to say that in the confusion of the moment we chose the easier path and elected to continue to stand in silence so as not to create a scene or ill will among those who were seated nearby.

[lpetrich]

PZ Myers reported in Even wingnuts respond to culture shock (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/09/even_wingnuts_respond_to_cultu.php) reported on Why I'm against pre-game prayers (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46828); a fundie Xian moaned and groaned about the prayers said by Buddhist monks before a football game in Hawaii:
We were frozen in shock and incredulity! What to do? To continue to stand and observe this prayer would represent a betrayal of our own faith and imply the honoring of a pagan deity that was anathema to our beliefs. To sit would be an act of extreme rudeness and disrespect in the eyes of our Japanese hosts and neighbors, who value above all other things deference and respect in their social interactions. I am sorry to say that in the confusion of the moment we chose the easier path and elected to continue to stand in silence so as not to create a scene or ill will among those who were seated nearby.

As I thought through the incident over the next few days I supposed that the duty of offering the pre-game prayer rotated through the local clergy and we just happened to arrive on the night that the responsibility fell to the Buddhist priest. However, after inquiring I learned that due to the predominance of Buddhist and Shinto adherents in this town, it was the normal practice to have a member of one these faiths offer the pre-game prayer, and Christian clergy were never included. Needless to say that was our first and last football game. Although many of the students we worked with continued to invite us to the games, we were forced to decline. We knew that if we were to attend again we would be forced to abstain from the pre-game activity. And not wanting to offend our Asiatic neighbors and colleagues, we simply refrained from attending.
I'm not sure that he would like a lot of Catholic prayers either, like
Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

He concluded with
I would say in love to my Christian brothers and sisters, before you yearn for the imposition of prayer and similar rituals in your public schools, you might consider attending a football game at Wahiawa High School. Because unless you're ready to endure the unwilling exposure of yourself and your children to those beliefs and practices that your own faith forswears, you have no right to insist that others sit in silence and complicity while you do the same to them. I, for one, slept better at night knowing that because Judeo-Christian prayers were not being offered at my children's schools, I didn't have to worry about them being confronted with Buddhist, Shinto, Wiccan, Satanic or any other prayer ritual I might find offensive.

So he became a born-again church-state separationist when some religion other than his was being officially promoted.

[Scifinerdgrl]

YAY!!!!! I've talked a few people out of this with what-if's of a similar nature. If they are open-minded enough to envision starting an official function with a buddhist prayer, suggesting they or their kids be exposed to a prayer to Satan usually converts them. :p

[Jaecp]

Wow.

Now we just need to start a buddist revival to guilt the fundies into not praying at sports games.

[Dryhad]

Appart from the fact that Buddhism isn't pagan by any definition, "How do you like them apples?"

[Padre Bear]

Appart from the fact that Buddhism isn't pagan by any definition, "How do you like them apples?"

Well, unfortunately, you mean any definition not used by Christian fundamentalists. But they did screw up that deity thingy, too.

[Padre Bear]

I'm not sure that he would like a lot of Catholic prayers either, like
Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb.



Growing up in a highly Catholic area when my brother played public highschool football he had a coach who was Italian and Catholic. Before every game the coach would gather the team together to pray the Hail Mary. Since we are Lutherans this bothered my brother. He kept quiet. Until he was a starter and an upper classman. Finally, he started saying a childhood prayer my grandmother had taught us in Swedish. Week by week he increased his volume until the coach, finally, stopped and said, "What the hell are you saying?" Brother, "I'm praying coach, in Swedish." Coach, "Well, it don't sound like any prayer, I know." Brother, "Neither does yours." Prayers stopped.

[Jaecp]

Yeah, In the states, anyone who isnt a christian is obviouslly a tool of satan to trick them, or a test from god to make sure they are faithful, or the anti-christ. Fundementally creepy.

[Worldtraveller]

Two threads merged.

Lane, CSS Moderator.

[Donnmathan]

YAY!!!!! I've talked a few people out of this with what-if's of a similar nature. If they are open-minded enough to envision starting an official function with a buddhist prayer, suggesting they or their kids be exposed to a prayer to Satan usually converts them. :p

Too bad my father's made of tougher stuff...he just tells me that Christians are the majority, and I have to deal with it until someone else is in the majority. Sheesh.

[Russell's Teapot]

Too bad my father's made of tougher stuff...he just tells me that Christians are the majority, and I have to deal with it until someone else is in the majority. Sheesh.
:rolleyes: Just like abolitionists should have sat there quietly until the majority was on their side.

[Donnmathan]

:rolleyes: Just like abolitionists should have sat there quietly until the majority was on their side.
He hasn't caught on to the fact that there are protections against 'tyrrany of the masses' and such - his opinion of how the US government works is simple majority rules, no matter what rights some people lose. I have been trying to educate him for years, but with no luck at all. Then again, he's also a fundy and an OEC; only trips to the Smithsonian and Chicago's Field Museum finally convinced him that YEC wasn't workable.

[Styrofoam]

He hasn't caught on to the fact that there are protections against 'tyrrany of the masses' and such - his opinion of how the US government works is simple majority rules, no matter what rights some people lose. I have been trying to educate him for years, but with no luck at all. Then again, he's also a fundy and an OEC; only trips to the Smithsonian and Chicago's Field Museum finally convinced him that YEC wasn't workable.

What's his position on abortion? Try telling him what percentage of Americans want legal abortions (up to the third trimester, I think). I think it's 75%.