This is my take too: That the protest is extremely short-sighted. I don’t mind ceremonial deism at all, but it’s not consistent with “only our religion will do.” So if these stupid protesters were smart enough to know that ceremonial deism is the only rationale for allowing any prayer at all, they would also know that protesting based on the type of religion used undermines the very bulwark (the only bulwark) that protects them.
One Hindu prayer a year wouldn’t kill them. Then they could have the other 360 plus. Instead, by making explicit that the only acceptable faith is their own, they make it that much likely that no faith at all will be acceptable in the eyes of the law.
Your article said they were in Washington to fight some hate crime bill. Ironic.
Last time I checked it’s the first Ammendment that is the law of the land, not the first Commandment.
Fuck’em sideways and anyone who defends them.
In all fairness, “Jewish-American” is a long-established usage and “Hindu,” like “Jewish,” is a designation with both religious and ethnic connotations. I.e., while there are some few converts, the world Hindu community is composed almost entirely of Indians and persons of Indian descent. (OTOH, “Hindu” is not synonymous with “Indian” since India, even after the partition of Pakistan, remains home to millions of Muslims, not to mention Sikhs.)
Now THOSE people should have been immediately ejected! Forget about babies talking on planes. I can’t believe they were given so many chances to restore their “order.”
What were they so offended by - his orange robe? That prayer sounded like what you’d hear at any football game, that is, generic. Do those people protest when a Catholic or Jewish or other-denomination Baptist prays in the Senate also?
The AFA claimed that their objection was that the prayer would be “seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god” but Hinduism isn’t always polytheistic. Some Hindus believe in a single God, which is who the prayer seemed to address. So would the AFA accept prayers from any faith, as long as it’s monotheistic? I doubt it, as I think their real interest is that only their God be worshipped.
I have their founder, Donald Wildmon, as a perennial pick in my SDMB Death Pool ballot. He’s the only one on my list who is there simply as a “I hope, I hope, I hope” pick…
Right, but the thing is that there are quite a few fundamentalist Christians who don’t actually argue for such prayers on the basis of ceremonial deism. Some argue outright that, no matter what the legislature or the Constitution or the courts say, the United States is a Christian country founded on Christian principles, and should observe specifically Christian religious forms.
If the three protestors are such folks, then it won’t bother them that they are undermining the basis for ceremonial deism, because that’s not what they want anyway.
But… But… But it’s all ceremonial deism, right? The Supreme Court said so! It’s all about Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Og-worshipping idolaters coming together as Americans to tell atheists to go stuff it! “In God We Trust” and all that stuff isn’t even really religious at all; it’s just a non-denominational, non-sectarian, non-divisive, patriotic utterance of contempt for so-called “Americans” who don’t believe in God, who are undoubtedly all Communists anyway.
I mean, who could possibly imagine that interjecting religious ritual into the workings of government–ceremonially, of course, and in an entirely deistic way–would lead to unpleasant, divisive, sectarian “Our God is the One True God, unlike that heathen idol you savages worship!” sorts of nastiness?
So, anyway, fuck you, American Family Association and Family Research Council and the rest of that lot, but also fuck you a little bit to the Supreme Court and all the peddlers of the “But it’s just ‘ceremonial deism’!” line.
I have to admire Zed’s conduct durin the whole thing. He displayed tolerance and patience. Evidently the AFA doesn’t consider those to be Christian values as they certainly don’t practice them.
It all turned out well in the end though, right? The jackasses were charged with a reasonable crime and the guy got to finish his prayer. Not much to see here, except that everyone seemed to react exactly as anyone with a brain could have predicted.