Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I Support a National Month of Prayer.

A friend of mine recently linked to a page on Facebook promoting the defense of the National Day of Prayer (NDP). The page was created in response to a Wisconsin judges ruling that the NDP violates the laws our founding fathers made when they formed this county we call the USA. Now, what did they say? Oh yes it's right here in the FIRST Amendment;

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I think we can all agree on one thing. That statement is pretty open to interpretation. God-fearing folks see it as an obvious endorsement of religion and the God-less interpret it as "the Government should mind it's own business and not dabble in anything religious."

As a godless, spineless liberal, I tend to lean to the second interruption. But, in an effort to bring a lasting peace to this nation, I propose that we not only have day of prayer but an entire month of it.

I truly believe that we as a nation we would benefit from praying together in classrooms, boardrooms and courtrooms.

Of course not everyone will like this.

Why? Because my month of prayer would require everyone to learn and participate in the beliefs of ALL religions.

Week Zero would be spent learning the prayers of the four major faiths (Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Hindu).
On the first week, everyone would be called to Muslim prayer and recite Salah. Non Muslims will only need to pray once in the morning. Practicing Muslims will of course continue to pray at the prescribed times.
The second week would change to Hindu, the third Jewish, and the final week Christian.

Since this nation is predominately Christian, regional differences will have to taken into account. I think we should eliminate Snake handling as an option but you may disagree. The use of the King James version of the Bible with be strictly enforced! ;-)

A 30 minute open discussion will follow the prayer. Comparisons will be made to other religions.

What will the result of this Month of Prayer have?
At best (for me) it will show this country that the humans on planet Earth are very diverse in their beliefs and a close examination of those beliefs will show many similarities as well as allowing people the opportunity to question their own belief system.
At worst (and most likely scenario unfortunately) it will cause a larger rift between people who are unwilling to acknowledge the views and beliefs of others.

What are your thoughts? What am I missing (besides the smaller, less followed beliefs)? What did I get TOTALLY wrong?





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1 comment:

  1. Because my month of prayer would require everyone to learn and participate in the beliefs of ALL religions.

    Best idea I've heard in a long time!

    ReplyDelete

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