ball of confusion
Nov. 10th, 2006 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
molly_oI recently ran across this chain e-mail:
I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game.
"But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. And we are in the Bible Belt. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1.
So what would you expect? Somebody chanting Hare Krishna?
If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer. If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer. If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha. And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit. When in Rome...
"But what about the atheists?" is another argument. What about them? Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate.
Just humor us for 30 seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer.
Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights.
Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us just to pray without ceasing.
Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying. God, help us. And if that last sentence offends you, well ... just sue me.
The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we let that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard, know that the vast majority don't care what they want.
It is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you don't have to pray. You don't have to say the pledge of allegiance, you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your right. But by golly you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back... And we WILL WIN! After all, the God you have the right to denounce is on our side! God bless us one and all ... especially those who denounce Him. God bless America, despite all her faults ... still the greatest nation of all. God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.
May this be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.
Keep looking up... If you agree with this, please pass it on. If not, delete it!!
It was in the blog of someone who characterized it as “racist” (among other adjectives). Now, I have no sympathy whatsoever for whoever wrote the chain e-mail, I think s/he has no understanding of the concept of religious freedom upon which this nation is based and managed to miss the whole point of the bill of rights. (You can read a really good rebuttal of this kind of thing, written by an evangelical Christian (which I think makes it even more powerful), here: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46828.)
That said, I can’t figure out why the chain e-mail is *racist*, specifically. As far as I can tell, it doesn't even allude to race. As I commented in the blog where I found it:
“Maybe it’s just terminology — I use “racist” pretty narrowly to describe ethnic bias. To me, religion is a separate category from ethnicity. And the chain e-mail is serious religious bigotry, no doubt — but I’ve read it more than once, and while it conflates Christian and American, I don’t see where it conflates white with Christian, or white with American. …
“It wouldn’t surprise me if the authors of the e-mail do, in fact, think that American=white or white=Christian. But they don’t actually *say* that. Does reading it as if they do — making a leap that they have avoided making — inadvertently *reinforce* the idea that American=white and white=Christian?”
I invited the blogger to elaborate on why she felt it was racist, but so far she has declined to do so (as she is absolutely entitled to, it’s her blog, not mine). In the meantime, I am still confused about exactly how this chain e-mail is racist (as opposed to all the other ways in which it is undeniably offensive).
Y’all are all smart, can someone explain it to me (preferably in small words)?
I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game.
"But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. And we are in the Bible Belt. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1.
So what would you expect? Somebody chanting Hare Krishna?
If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer. If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer. If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha. And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit. When in Rome...
"But what about the atheists?" is another argument. What about them? Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate.
Just humor us for 30 seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer.
Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights.
Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us just to pray without ceasing.
Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying. God, help us. And if that last sentence offends you, well ... just sue me.
The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we let that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard, know that the vast majority don't care what they want.
It is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you don't have to pray. You don't have to say the pledge of allegiance, you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your right. But by golly you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back... And we WILL WIN! After all, the God you have the right to denounce is on our side! God bless us one and all ... especially those who denounce Him. God bless America, despite all her faults ... still the greatest nation of all. God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.
May this be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.
Keep looking up... If you agree with this, please pass it on. If not, delete it!!
It was in the blog of someone who characterized it as “racist” (among other adjectives). Now, I have no sympathy whatsoever for whoever wrote the chain e-mail, I think s/he has no understanding of the concept of religious freedom upon which this nation is based and managed to miss the whole point of the bill of rights. (You can read a really good rebuttal of this kind of thing, written by an evangelical Christian (which I think makes it even more powerful), here: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46828.)
That said, I can’t figure out why the chain e-mail is *racist*, specifically. As far as I can tell, it doesn't even allude to race. As I commented in the blog where I found it:
“Maybe it’s just terminology — I use “racist” pretty narrowly to describe ethnic bias. To me, religion is a separate category from ethnicity. And the chain e-mail is serious religious bigotry, no doubt — but I’ve read it more than once, and while it conflates Christian and American, I don’t see where it conflates white with Christian, or white with American. …
“It wouldn’t surprise me if the authors of the e-mail do, in fact, think that American=white or white=Christian. But they don’t actually *say* that. Does reading it as if they do — making a leap that they have avoided making — inadvertently *reinforce* the idea that American=white and white=Christian?”
I invited the blogger to elaborate on why she felt it was racist, but so far she has declined to do so (as she is absolutely entitled to, it’s her blog, not mine). In the meantime, I am still confused about exactly how this chain e-mail is racist (as opposed to all the other ways in which it is undeniably offensive).
Y’all are all smart, can someone explain it to me (preferably in small words)?