An article in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday complained that in an increasingly pluralistic America public prayer at the inauguration of the President have become increasingly “inclusivistic”. The author suggests that public prayer should either become generic so that it includes all Americans or it should be eliminated from the schedule of events. A similar situation has hovered over chaplains in the armed forces for at least the last 25 years (the period I was on active duty). It came to a head when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed that prayer should be generic or eliminated from public events such as changes of command. How should we think of public prayer in America?
A place to start is be asking the question: “What is prayer?” A reasonable definition is the lifting up of one’s heart to God. This is true whether the prayer is private or public. When an individual prays publically he or she is still lifting up the heart to God and in this case verbalizing the thoughts of the heart.
Prayer is addressed TO SOMEONE! When a person prays publicly the prayer is addressed: to “Someone.” I mean here that God has a Name of some sort for all human persons who Address God. For the Moslem his heart is lifted up to the God of Allah. For the Jew the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is addressed presumably. For the Wiccan I suppose it would be Mother Earth or some such concept. The point is that prayer by its very nature is addressed to the deity not to the people listening to or overhearing the prayer that is said publicly. It is in the nature of the prayer that it is a direct address to a Person / God. To force the content of prayer to meet the pressures of political correctness is to lose entirely the idea of prayer: i.e. the lifting up of the heart to God. It is furthermore to create a new religion and a new God: “the religion and the God that is approved for public utterance in the U.S.”
There may be some people who believe in “the God of the religion approved for public utterance in the United States” but I haven’t met any. Real people’s religious beliefs are very specific. What I mean here is what an individual really believes about God and religion is very specific.
To say that public prayer has become non- inclusive or intolerant is to totally miss the point about prayer. Prayer is from one heart (the prayer) to another (God). Pluralism in America should be about encouraging each individual to live out his or her belief in God. Jews need to be Jews; Moslems need to be Moslems; and Christians Christians; etc. It is no good trying to reduce different beliefs for public relationship. We all share the fact that we are Americans. As long as each can pray for the good of all then each should pray to God as he or she believe in God. Then and only then will the one leading public prayer actually be leading real Americans in prayer.
By the way persons in America are free not to believe in God. To put that another way no one is forced to believe in God in any way in America. That is good because it is also common sense. That freedom does not constitute a right though to inhibit the public expression in America in any way… in my humble point of view.
A place to start is be asking the question: “What is prayer?” A reasonable definition is the lifting up of one’s heart to God. This is true whether the prayer is private or public. When an individual prays publically he or she is still lifting up the heart to God and in this case verbalizing the thoughts of the heart.
Prayer is addressed TO SOMEONE! When a person prays publicly the prayer is addressed: to “Someone.” I mean here that God has a Name of some sort for all human persons who Address God. For the Moslem his heart is lifted up to the God of Allah. For the Jew the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is addressed presumably. For the Wiccan I suppose it would be Mother Earth or some such concept. The point is that prayer by its very nature is addressed to the deity not to the people listening to or overhearing the prayer that is said publicly. It is in the nature of the prayer that it is a direct address to a Person / God. To force the content of prayer to meet the pressures of political correctness is to lose entirely the idea of prayer: i.e. the lifting up of the heart to God. It is furthermore to create a new religion and a new God: “the religion and the God that is approved for public utterance in the U.S.”
There may be some people who believe in “the God of the religion approved for public utterance in the United States” but I haven’t met any. Real people’s religious beliefs are very specific. What I mean here is what an individual really believes about God and religion is very specific.
To say that public prayer has become non- inclusive or intolerant is to totally miss the point about prayer. Prayer is from one heart (the prayer) to another (God). Pluralism in America should be about encouraging each individual to live out his or her belief in God. Jews need to be Jews; Moslems need to be Moslems; and Christians Christians; etc. It is no good trying to reduce different beliefs for public relationship. We all share the fact that we are Americans. As long as each can pray for the good of all then each should pray to God as he or she believe in God. Then and only then will the one leading public prayer actually be leading real Americans in prayer.
By the way persons in America are free not to believe in God. To put that another way no one is forced to believe in God in any way in America. That is good because it is also common sense. That freedom does not constitute a right though to inhibit the public expression in America in any way… in my humble point of view.
1 comment:
Hey Dad nice blog! We talked about Obama's speach and the prayer said during the ceremony in my world religion class the other day. im glad to hear your thoughts on it
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