No, it doesn’t. Can’t really argue this with facts, but for one, I don’t consider the Pledge of Allegiance a prayer. Mention of God != prayer. YM Obviously V.
For two, saying the Pledge of Allegiance on the Capitol steps is not a state duty. It was an action of assembled private citizens (and yes, even as elected politicians, they may act as private citizens). Again, YM Obviously V.
Perhaps some decisions are religiously motivated. But also consider – aren’t there many cases (if not most cases) where a politician’s religious motivation leads him/her to a decision you’d agree with?
Don’t concern yourself with the decision-making process – concern yourself with the decisions made. If you consistently disagree with a politician’s voting record, then go vote against that politician.
If that person still wins, you just gotta deal. But you do have a vote, and the right to assist in the campaigns of openly atheist or secular candidates.
Well now you see that is just exactly the attitude that we non-Christians here are on about. The vast majority of Christians have this idea. I have no idea where you got it. Yes you have freedom of speech. What you don’t understand is that this does not include the freedom to annoy. If Christianity were just a pamphlet lying around that I could pick up if I wanted to then I wouldn’t have a problem. It is people like you who feel they have a right to get in my face about it. And, NO, it isn’t enough that if you start in on your rant you will stop if asked. In no other realm of our society is it considered acceptable behavior to approach strangers and harass them with opinions irrelevant to them. If somebody cornered you and started to give you a loud animated lecture on gun ownership you would call the cops. But no Christian thinks twice about their church actively encouraging this sort of abusive behavior. If we don’t attend your church just leave us the hell alone! I don’t care what your priest told you. It is rude, offensive behavior and no one should have to put up with it.
I just don’t understand this perceived right to abuse and annoy your fellow man just because he is not a member of your congregation. I further can’t understand that you think it is just fine to abuse and annoy others as long as you stop when they tell you to. Just don’t abuse and annoy them in the first place!
This is exactly the kind of attitude that I see as prevalent in the US. This is exactly what all you Christians don’t ever see. You do not have the right to shove your religion down my throat until I plead for you to stop. This is the kind of behavior that makes me crazy because everyone who holds this view is a bigot. A bigot is someone who judges others by the group they belong to and treats them accordingly. You consider non-Christians to be incomplete, lacking in some way. You feel this to such an extent that you are compelled to act to “correct” their failings by bringing them to the “true” faith. In short you treat them as second class. People with this attitude are a majority of the population in most of the US. Those of us on the receiving end are regularly treated poorly by you in a million subtle, and as you point out, not so subtle ways. If there was some way I could impart this message and the perspective to understand it into every Christian’s mind then I would consider my life worthwhile.