Ralph Shumaker wrote:
Gabriel Sechan wrote:
From: "Christian Seberino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
On Sun, March 25, 2007 9:26 pm, Lan Barnes wrote:
> Prayer is NOT illegal anywhere. FORCED prayer is in government funded
> institutions. Can't you discern the difference?
If I'm not mistaken, you couldn't give a graduation commencement address
and ask for a *voluntary* prayer before you started.
Nope, and you shouldn't be able to. Thats an official school
function. By asking for a "voluntary" prayer, you're forcing everyone
there, students and spectators alike, to stand by and wait while you
pray. Sorry, you don't have a right to shove your beliefs down my
throat. Actually, no, no I'm not sorry. You're perfectly welcome to
say a short prayer before getting up on stage, just don't say it so
loudly it interrupts procedings. That should be perfectly fine,
unless of course its your goal to shoveel your drivel at everyone else.
*Your* drivel should not be allowed to suppress their prayers. If I
choose to pray, you have the right to leave or to occupy yourself in
some civil manner.
You certainly have a right to pray. In fact you have a Constitutional
right to pray, which I will defend even if I (may) disagree with the
beliefs motivating your prayer.
You do _not_ have the right, as a state official, to suggest, sponsor,
or lead others in a prayer. That constitutes the State sanctioning a
religious practice, which is what the concept of the separation of
Church and State is about.
Besides, someone praying where you can hear them is *not* them shoving
their beliefs down your throat. You forbidding them from doing so is
*YOU* shoving *your* beliefs down theirs.
Of course not. And the SCOTUS doesn't think so either. The court rulings
on prayer have only been in the context of lead prayer by functionaries
of the the State. The argument is that to do so discriminates against
those whose beliefs are not consistent with those leading or being led
in prayer.
It's a matter of peer pressure and oppression. When a child is in a
school, they are in effect captured and controlled by the State. They
will feel compelled to follow the suggestions of the State's
representative: the teacher. If they do not wish to participate, they
may be put into a position of being ridiculed for having different
beliefs or rituals than the majority who do follow the State's lead.
Peer pressure is a very powerful force. Enough so that it is often the
basis of many important court decisions.
The SCOTUS has never said it is illegal to pray. Only to lead or coerce
or _deny_ prayer under certain circumstances.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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