91% of America Believes in God

[GW in Ohio]

I suppose things aren't quite as bad as they may seem. It sure shows groups like Americans for Separation of Church and State to be in the distinct minority.

Link

Jeff: Just because someone favors separation of church and state, that doesn't mean they're against religion. They just don't want public policy to be influenced by any one religion.

Of course, much of our public policy and laws is based in morality, but it's morality that's common to all religions.

[eighballsidepocket]

Give me your address and I'll send you a key.

Please excuse my illiteracy.......

Missleman.......could you expand on the "key" comment.

In all honesty I don't understand it.
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By the way my comment was all in pun........Continue on men with the debate.

[Missileman]

Please excuse my illiteracy.......

Missleman.......could you expand on the "key" comment.

In all honesty I don't understand it.
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By the way my comment was all in pun........Continue on men with the debate.

I was offering to send you a key to the shackles holding you prisoner in this thread.

[eighballsidepocket]

I was offering to send you a key to the shackles holding you prisoner in this thread.

Got your point. Thanks for clarifying.

[Gunny]

So to be clear, do you believe that a lack of a designated moment of silence prevents those kids who wish to pray silently from doing so?

I already answered that. Until SP's lean how to read minds, it really isn't enforeceable, is it?

Why should Christians have to hide in a closet to pray? That IS what you are saying.

[Missileman]

I already answered that. Until SP's lean how to read minds, it really isn't enforeceable, is it?

Which leads us back to the question: If kids can pray silently without a designated moment of silence, why is a moment of silence necessary?

Why should Christians have to hide in a closet to pray? That IS what you are saying.

I don't recall saying it, but it has been suggested before.

Matthew 6:6 (King James Version)

6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

[Nuc]

Which leads us back to the question: If kids can pray silently without a designated moment of silence, why is a moment of silence necessary?



I don't recall saying it, but it has been suggested before.

Matthew 6:6 (King James Version)

6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But........did they actually have CLOSETS back then? I thought Bible people lived in caves, locust nests, mangers,arks, sand dunes and the like. Any archaeologists out there?

[Abbey Marie]

But........did they actually have CLOSETS back then? I thought Bible people lived in caves, locust nests, mangers,arks, sand dunes and the like. Any archaeologists out there?

You're kidding, right?

clos·et /ˈklɒzɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kloz-it] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a small room, enclosed recess, or cabinet for storing clothing, food, utensils, etc.
2. a small private room, esp. one used for prayer, meditation, etc.
3. a state or condition of secrecy or carefully guarded privacy: Some conservatives remain in the closet except on election day. Gay liberation has encouraged many gay people to come out of the closet.
4. water closet.
–adjective 5. private; secluded.
6. suited for use or enjoyment in privacy: closet reflections; closet prayer.
7. engaged in private study or speculation; speculative; unpractical: a closet thinker with no practical experience. being or functioning as such in private; secret: a closet anarchist.
–verb (used with object) 9. to shut up in a private room for a conference, interview, etc. (usually used in the passive voice): The Secretary of State was closeted with the senator for three hours in a tense session.

**As a side note, the defintion example about conservatives is well taken, and explains how polls data and voting results can be so different.

[eighballsidepocket]

Folks there's corporate prayer, as in a church service where possibly one person might pray while the congregation prays silently in aggreement.

And of course private prayer, where we resign to a bedroom or out in the forest, or in the garage.......but plainly away from distractions, and other folks. We talk to our Creator one on one, and spill out all our woes, and also give Him our thanks and gratitude, and petitions too.

If some kid is at school and decides he wants to pray, then maybe the kid can find a quiet place and whisper a quiet prayer to God, and no one should be offended by that. Free speech should allow for free speech with your Creator, shouldn't it?
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However, I do remember as a little kid in our public elementary school in the 1950's that when I got the chance to eat in the school cafeteria and have a hot meal for 25 cents, we never started eating until we all corporately gave thanks to God for our lunch. Yep, a public school right in the S.F. bay area!

Not one kid in there complained. We had a couple Jehovah's Witness kids that had to refrain from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in our classroom, but no kid in the class gave them a bad time. In fact it stimulated interest in us, and often these J.W. kids would get asked why they didn put their hand on their heart and say the pledge. They'd say that it was their religion not to do it, and that was it. No fuss, no making fun, no castigation from the other kids. We all went out to the playground and forgot the matter.

It's the grownups that make the fuss, and pass the laws, and complain about a prayer before a football game or graduation ceremony. The kids? In most cases they could care less.

It's the wannabee lawyers, and NYU/ACLU lawyer brats that cause all the problems.

Now, everything is walking on egg shells at Public schools. A teacher disciplines a student for disrupting a class, and the teacher is called on the carpet, disciplined or fired. One wack-job agitator parent, and everyone "Cow Tows" or the ACLU jumps in.

Kids don't care. They learn prejudices from their parents, and really don't care if they have atheist, agnostic, Catholic, Protestant, Bhuddist, Hindu, or Moslem kids sitting with them learning the 3-"R"'s. It the dang 60's-70's-80's spoiled brat Poli-Sci majored parents that screw up the smooth running pot.

If you do a good job of raising your kids with ethics and morals and a good religious foundation, and the kid doesn't see any hypocriticalness in your life, bets are on, that they'll survive school without converting to some "wacked out" religion at age 5 through 18. They may want to spread their wings and try other things that scare the heck out of you once they're out of H.S., but if you've instilled good values in them via your faith, and haven't been hypocritical in your life style that they've observed while you raised them, then they'll most likely return back to that foundation that you instilled in them. Every young kid will think Mom and Dad is always right, but they must also formulate their own identity, and have their own beliefs. Whether you have a compliant one or a rebellious one, they all need to formulate their own identity. We need to nurture it. If you do it in a respectful way, your kid will return back to the foundations he/she learned in their youth.

Fear not.........they will return to what you taught them, if you set a consistently good example for them as a parent/s. That includes humbling oneself and admitting error, and apologizing for wrong in front of them. When a kid sees transparency in his/her's parents, it makes all the differnce in the world.