Prayer in public? On City grounds? You know what comes next. Atheists screaming and pulling their hair out.
Detroit News reports that a local church has set up a prayer booth in City Hall for folks facing job losses and/or financial problems. Mind you, the space is free and available to any and all non-profits that apply to use the space so this local church is well within the law. But some atheists are upset. Surprise. Surprise:
The offer has been well-received by the 400 or so folks who have stopped by, but it’s a concern to an atheist-agnostic group that’s blasting Warren for allowing evangelists to set up shop inside a government building.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation said resident concerns over the booth — located in the lobby of city offices and adorned with a banner that simply reads “Prayer Station” — prompted the nonprofit to file a request for copies of city policy, its rental agreement with the church and verification it is being charged to use the space. The group is also criticizing the city’s failure to disassociate itself from the religious message of the church.
“This is ridiculous. Prayer should be private,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Wisconsin-based nonprofit. “A government is supposed to be neutral when it comes to religion.”
OK. Who wants to bet a lawsuit is imminent?
This is the kind of story going on everywhere. But I think the misconception is everywhere, even among Christians that a government that is “neutral” on religious matters must act in a discriminatory manner against religious organizations.
An open space to all non-profits, according to the atheist group, must be denied to only religious organizations? That is not neutrality. That’s discrimination. Plain and simple.
This is exactly the kind of thing that worries religious folks, especially with gay marriage being legalized in several states. When governments enact laws granting homosexuals a right to marry, a government would not, according to the logic presented by the atheist group, be acting in a neutral manner by allowing churches to not grant homosexuals their right to marry.
And this whole business that prayer should be “private” like the atheist said in the article sounds an awful lot like “you can be religious but don’t bring that whole Jesus thing out in public.”
This fight will be played out in every state in America. We’ve got to make sure that Christianity is not “neutralized” into being what the government mandates.
June 25, 2009 at 7:02 am
As a Catholic man, I would not be very happy to see a fundie pray-station in a public building, no matter how unobtrusive and innocuous it looks. Nor would I be happy to see an Islamic "information center" or a scientology "Free Stress Test" booth. But while none of these ideas appeal to me, if it is all legal and above board, there should be nothing wrong with it. Meaning, that same atheist/agnostic org should be just as free to spend their money and set up their own "pondering station" should they chose to spend their money.
Just because we don't agree with the message doesn't mean we can legally discriminate against the messenger.
June 25, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Not favoring any belief system is not the same as being against all theistic belief systems because that will be favoring the atheistic belief system. But of course, the atheists will try to get their way to silence all religions. I suspect the pro-abortion mob to be pulling the strings behind efforts like these to boost their buisness once people make themselves into gods and masters of life.
June 25, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Not favoring any belief system is not the same as being against all theistic belief systems because that will be favoring the atheistic belief system.
Indeed. Atheism is its own religion, with a core set of beliefs and often a formal doctrine that consists of:
1) Atheists are mature and enlightened and rational.
2) People who believe in religion are stupid, knuckle-dragging, mouth breathers!
3) I cannot be exposed to religion in any matter, regardless of what the Constitution says. I may catch God cooties or something.
4) Atheists are mature and enlightened and rational.
I don't think the pro-abortion lobby is pulling strings on this; atheists do a fine job of muddling the Constitution on their own, and they already believe that man is a god.
But I've yet to hear a cogent argument explaining why the language of the First Amendment somehow endorses what atheists believe an appropriate separation of church and state. It doesn't. It merely prohibits the government from ESTABLISHING a state religion (which atheists seem to have no problem with when it's THEIR religion), or prohibiting the FREE EXERCISE of any religion.
That Thomas Jefferson wrote about the "separation of church and state" in a private letter means nothing. If Jefferson wrote in personal correspondence that he would squawk like a chicken and hop on one foot before going to bed as President, would ALL succeeding presidents be required to do the same?
June 25, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I'm so sick of cry-baby atheists. 9 times out of 10 they're white, middle-class liberals who are desperate to feel oppressed so they can participate in the "Oppression Olympics."
June 25, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Aww, come on: a generically named "prayer station" is not even specifically Christian, let alone sectarian. Just what religion is the state in danger of establishing here?
–Norman