The following was posted anonymously to this blog as a comment to my post on The Evolution of Republicans. However, it really doesn’t pertain to that post. Nonetheless, I thought was interesting enough to deserve its own thread. The unedited contribution is:

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. 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 hundreds of 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 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 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!

God bless us one and all … especially those who denounce Him , God bless America, despite all her faults. She is still the greatest nation of all.

God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.

May 2007 be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.

Keep looking up.

I do agree with the first half of this article. The USA is a predominately Christian nation. Most surveys place it between 80% and 85% Christian. It’s unreasonable to expect that Christian culture and rituals will not permeate life in America. As a non-Christian, it’s my right to silently not participate. And as long as no one tries to force me to conform, there’s no harm done whatsoever. I do think it gets a little sticky when we try to define “force” though. It takes a lot for me to feel coerced, but a teenager in a football huddle might feel forced where I would not. I don’t know quite how to draw that line, and I think that’s something that society and the courts have struggled with for 50 years now. The pendulum swings back and forth, but has not found its resting state yet.

But then I think the author takes a left turn.

Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights.

Ignoring the irony of followers of Jesus becoming sick and tired of turning the other cheek, the clear sentiment here is that the courts are somehow telling Christians (or anyone else) that they are not allowed to pray.

Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.

No one is mandating, or even encouraging that anyone should stop praying. While it may be illegal to lead people in prayer at school, or to proselytize in school, you are perfectly free to spend all day praying if you so choose.

May 2007 be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.

I always find it interesting when Christians take the position of being persecuted. Under the laws of this country, the Christians command a sufficient majority to pass any laws or constitutional amendments they would choose to pass. If they truly united around the goal, this could be a total Christian theocracy. But the reality is, the majority of Christians are pretty happy with a secularized government. The Evangelicals are not so content, but nor are they silent. And just because they are not getting their way does not make them persecuted. Evangelicals are welcome to place their God as the foundation of their families and their institutions. But they cannot place their God as the foundation of all our families and all our institutions. That would be a direct violation of the Constitution’s 1st Amendment guarantee of freedom of and from religion.

God bless America, despite all her faults. She is still the greatest nation of all.

I would argue that if you find the 1st Amendment to be one of the faults, then that is a pretty fundamental disagreement. It seems unlikely you find this to be the greatest nation, except for that whole 1st Amendment thing. Still, if you can get the Christians as a group to agree, you could change that amendment. But I think you would find that America quickly ceased to be what you’d known it to be. And if you support the 1st Amendment of the Constitution of the “greatest nation of all,” then why complain that you can’t get your God ensconced into all of our public institutions? By definition, your God does not belong there.