News Why Did Republicans Close Their Convention With an Evangelical Prayer?

[JohnDubYa]

Anything but poetry!

 

[plover]

Anything but poetry!

Hey, the Republicans are already doing show tunes during the convention. That's pretty much past the point of no return...

 

[JohnDubYa]

Well, I prefer show tunes over The Macarena. Remember The Macarena?

 

[plover]

Well, I prefer show tunes over The Macarena. Remember The Macarena?

Fortunately, that was an aberration I mostly missed. You're not saying they used it at the 2000 Republican convention, are you?

 

[JohnDubYa]

Was it Tipper Gore that led The Macarena, or Al? I can't remember.

 

[plover]

Was it Tipper Gore that led The Macarena, or Al? I can't remember.

Must have been Tipper -- she's always been a pod person. Al just used to play one on TV...

 

[presentghost]

WasteofO2, you need to research the history of the United States. The whole foundation for our forefathers coming here was to escape religious persecution. In fact, as it is written in the First Amendment, the people at the GOP Convention have the right, protected by said document, to have a prayer. The First Amendment doesn't say anyone, a person of government, school, or wherever, can not pray. It is actually in the Constitution for people like you who say someone can't, or "how dare they". To the government as a whole, it says they can't make any laws prohibiting religion or creating only one throughout the land such as is done in the Middle East and elsewhere. In other words there can be no laws either way even touching the subject. There is no such language as "Separation of Church and State". In fact this nation's foundation is in religion. People have taken the "establishment of religion" as meaning you can't pray or have religious language in schools, courts, and governments. It is just the opposite. The First Amendment says you can't "prohibit the free exercise thereof". You can't have it more obvious than that. So when a court comes down and says you can't pray in school or can't have the Ten Commandments written in stone in court, they are violating the First Amendment. This is where courts are legislating from the bench instead of interpeting the language.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

So, you have the right to worship and pray anyway you like or even not at all. But they also have the right to pray anyway they like. You can write the GOP and ask them to have a jewish and islamic prayer next time or...gee...you have the right to switch channels. Actually I feel sorry for you that of all things to complain about, you choose the benediction. Compare that with people who were tortured and executed because they were not Catholic during the Spanish Inquisition or who were arrested in England in the 1600's or in Russia the last century or the millions Jews gassed and tortured during Hitler's reign and the fight that Isreal has had to put up just to live. YOU saw a prayer on TV.

 

[enigma]

Are you really assuming that if a website indicates that 95% of Americans believe in a "higher power", that you should be able to extrapolate that number to the entire earth? Do you really think that 95% or more of Chinese believe in a higher power, whatever that means to you?

Research I did several years ago (so unfortunately, I don't have a link) showed that ~1.5-2% of the US population are atheists, an additional ~2-3% are agnostic.

Approximately 14%, including the two categories above, considered themselves "non-religious". That could mean that they were atheist/agnostic but didn't feel comfortable "outing" themselves, or it could mean that they considered themselves spiritual but not adherant to a specific faith (or something else entirely).

Those numbers could easily be out of date.