On Jul 24, 2008, at Thu, Jul 24, 7:37 PM, Gordon James Klingenschmitt wrote:
> Ms. Jean Dudley exactly makes my point! (Albeit in more colorful > language :). > > Governments should not pray as governments, nor establish non- > sectarian religion as "the government's favored religion" or "the > government's favored non-sectarian god." > > ON THE CONTRARY, our form of government was established "to secure > the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain > and establish this Constitution for the United States of > America..." which means PROTECTING each citizen's right to speak > their mind, and pray according to personal conscience, (even in > government forums, even as public officials), taking turns with > equal opportunity. And this is where my esteemed colleague* Mr. Klingenschmitt and I part company; I personally believe that prayer has no place in government forums. Not even to take turns with equal opportunity. If an ordained clergy cannot offer a non-sectarian prayer, they exclude those members of the audience (there on government business). That is counter to the spirit of establishment clause. Further, I see no reason why prayer should be included in any government forum as part of the proceedings. I'm of the mind that what gods there may be watching would rather we use our own best judgement rather than appealing to celestial parental figures for guidance or blessings. I find it disingenuous to claim that praying in Jesus' name is banned; It's happening all over America, and no one has gone to prison for it that I'm aware of. Finally, I'd like to suggest to Mr. Klingenschmidt to read Matthew 6. Note especially verse 6, and that the example prayer does not contain the phrase "in Jesus' name." He might find this URL helpful : http://voiceofjesus.org/ whenyoupray1.html Jean Dudley *Ordained minister, and served in the US military for 9 years. But not as a chaplain. My ministry was not funded by the US government in any way. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
