Do you see people praying before meals in public in the southern states? I live in western Canada and such a thing is unseen(at least in my 37 years). Even the significantly devout people here do not seem to express their faith in that way. Or perhaps they just don’t eat out.
I’ve only been through the American Deep south once, and we didn’t eat at a lot of restaurants, so my observational sample size is pretty small.
I’m in CA - not a very religious state, all in all - but I’ve seen the praying-before-meals thing once or twice, always from African-American folks. My co-worker used to do it - we’d be in the middle of a conversation over lunch and she’d raise a finger and say “hold on” and then close her eyes and mutter something about thank you Lord for this our bounty and all your blessings and something something something, Amen. Then she’d just pick up the conversation where it left off.
Now what freaked me out was when I was a kid and would go over to someone’s house, and the whole family would pray before meals. I would have no clue what to do. I think (not sure) that once they asked me if I would like to lead the prayer, and I was all :eek:
( “No thanks.”
I grew up as a Southern Baptist and live in Texas. I have, on occasion, seen families pray before a meal in a restaurant, but it’s certainly not common. I considered it odd, but nothing of a bother. And I didn’t assume they were Baptist. As a matter of fact, I thought they were probably Assembly of God members, but that was back in the '60s. I haven’t personally witnessed this in, well, decades. My family never did such a thing,
Is the act of praying before meals in public places by Southern Baptists in the southern United States a common belief in Canada?
EX SB here, waving my hand all over the place…Yes a thousand times yes, my family AND inlaws pray before ALL meals no matter where they are. They do learn though, I am no longer asked to participate and they have stopped grabbing for my hand.
Touché. 
No I was just unfairly singling them out.
Born Catholic in Nebraska, raised Catholic in Kansas, live non-Catholic in Indiana. Yep - people do that here. I have no idea what their denomination is though. It’s not very common at all, but not unheard of. My family does it, and they still haven’t quite caught on that I’m no longer a believer.
I’ve seen the public grace by Anglos a couple of times, but I can’t remember where. The times I’ve usually seen grace in public, it’s been from African-Americans, or a church or religious group.
My grandparents are Mennonite and they pray before meals, at home and in public.
At home, it’s a group prayer. At a restaurant they just bow their heads and do their own thing but it’s awkward to be munching your roast beef while they do that, so we usually end up bowing our heads for a second too.
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Moved from GQ to IMHO, since it’s looking for anecdote & opinion rather than a factual answer.
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FuzzyOgre:
I really wasn’t trying to be a jerk about this, so I appreciate your response. I haven’t belonged to the Southern Baptist denomination in, well, decades. And I can’t speak for the current congregation.
Back in my day, though, Southern Baptists were very evangelical. By that I mean you were supposed to try to convert people to Christianity. However, you were supposed to do it by the way you lived, the mission work you undertook or by personal acquaintance. Public displays of piety, at least in my family, were frowned upon. I can’t, won’t and don’t speak for the Baptist General Convention today.
I can only speak from personal experience and things may be different now.
Understood. You never came across that way. I appreciate your candor. Sometimes I can phrase things a little poorly, and your jab is an excellent way to sort a verbal gaffe from true bigotry.
I’m endlessly fascinated by cultural shibboleths, which is what led me to posting here.
I’ve never seen that behaviour here and while it wouldn’t be frowned upon, You’d whisper to your kids not to stare. I figured it would be more acceptable in the southern Bible belt.
By strict definition we cannot have “southern” baptists, though we have the geographically agnostic type here abouts. Maybe thats why I zeroed in on them. There are a lot of faith groups here, but even the deeply conservative ones like Seventh Day Adventists dont display it overtly.
ZipperJJ, we have Mennonites here too, but I don’t recall them being publicly pious.
Mod “Wombat”, thanks for moving my post. Its… sniff, gone to a better place now!
Thanks to everyone that responded.
You know, I’ve known a couple of families that prayed before meals, and I can’t think of what denomination they were (or actually remember which families they were. surely people my parents knew). I know they weren’t Seventh Day Adventists because two of my mom’s close friends were, and I ate with them plenty of times without pre-meal prayers.
Actually, Southern Baptist is a specific subdenomination, not just Baptists who happen to live in the South. There are Southern Baptist churches all over the U.S. (though of course a higher concentration of them in the South.)
Similarly in another denomination, there’s the Lutheran Church, and there’s also the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Missouri Synod is a subdenomination that’s not just in Missouri, but all over.
(There are other subdenominations of Baptist and Lutherans as well, but that’s semi-irrelevant.)
I saw it a few times in Miami in the 90s, but it was always church groups, from microchurches. They would go straight from their meeting to having a meal at the nearest restaurant, all together.
The fellowship I worship with is in the baptist tradition. We generally pray before all meals, whether they are at a church function, at home, at work or in public. How obvious it is varies a great deal.
The “in public” prayers would often be difficult to observe if you weren’t watching for it. Mostly a quiet pause while we individually or as a group acknowledge that this food is a gift from God–as is the air we breathe, the earth we live on, and our very lives.
If it’s a group of us from church, we may hold hands and someone will pray out loud. It’s usually very brief and includes thanksgiving for the time of fellowship. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to honor one of our older members. We have one woman who is quite elderly now who remembers being in Holland during WWII. She loves to pray in Dutch the prayers that they prayed during the war. Other times it’s a chance to let one of the children lead a prayer.
When we’re in a mixed group of Christ followers and others, our practice is quite variable. Some will just do what they always do, others will simply pray silently, others will ask for a moment’s pause. And some get rather show-offy about it, making it more of a big deal than when they are alone. I find this most annoying. My hustand used to make it rather lighthearted. Prayers such as “Good food, good meat, Good God, let’s eat” or “Father, Son & Holy Ghost, fastest grabber gets the most.” One could only roll their eyes and enjoy him.
Within our subculture, prayer is just a normal thing. Before meals, it’s like unfolding the napkin or taking a sip of water, part of the normal rhythm of life and practicing the presence of God. To the best of my knowledge there is no standard, accepted “way to do it,” just different habits. Even within our family, we have some who like to hold hands, some who like to fold them, some who like to sing the doxology, and some who like to raise their glass in a toast to God–Here’s to you Lord, thanks for the food and life to enjoy it.
I went out to lunch a couple of times with my mother and one of her Southern Baptist friends. The friend always said grace. In McD’s she said grace. “Bless this food…or whatever it is…” (No she didn’t really say that.)
ETA: My mother was kind of a religious wacko but she was Methodist, not Baptist, and her wackiness did not extend to praying at meals, except Thanksgiving.
[Discovery Channel Narrator] The Spotted Southern Baptist, often observed feeding at Cracker Barrel, tend to observe some sort of group ritual before eating. While random sightings and anecdotes say otherwise, the Spotted Southern Baptist is never seen dancing. [/DCN]
People praying before eating in restaurants is fairly common here in NC. I can’t attest to what religion they practice, but it’s certainly possible they’re Baptists.
I see it all the time in my area; rural agricultural central Wisconsin. It’s big among the local Calvinists.
I’ve seen it a few times in all my years but I have no idea concerning denomination.
Interestingly, I saw a lot of it during my fairly recent stay in a rehab facility. I put it down to the practitioners substituting religion for drugs/alcohol/whatever.