Moment of Silence Not Good Enough for Exeter Union High School Christians

1. You can’t vote on whether or not to follow the LAW. Especially the Constitution.

2. There is NO number 2. That’s it!

If they are so damn religious, why aren’t they attending a religious school? Then there would be no problem with all the praying they want.

I’m honestly not surprised.

You know, if someone was walking around talking to invisible beings, we’d get them psych help. But yet, if people talk to God, its called a miracle and a blessing.

I honestly don’t see the difference.

BTW, the embedded video thing is messed up

Video doesn’t seem to be embedded properly. Not working on either Firefox or IE.

Apparently they missed Matthew 6:1-6

Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

There are few times I wish there were a God, but these kinds of things make me. It would be so great if, once these people got to the pearly gates, St. Peter got to point out to them all their ridiculousness and hypocrisy. Alas, it is not to be.

I’ll echo what Jeff said about Matthew 6:1-6. But more angrily. Jesus f’n Christ when are these people going to pull their heads out of their asses and actually do what their infallible book says their Jesus f’n Christ told them to do?

Ugh… sorry. I’m extra cranky today.

Moments of silence are trickier. The conservatives who push for it say it’s good for students to begin a day with “silence” (as if teachers wouldn’t want silence otherwise…?) but it’s really both a waste of time and a thinly veiled attempt at getting prayer-time into the classroom.

Your parenthetical comment made me smile.

Also, I think you’re correct in suspecting that the moment of silence is just a way to disguise prayer. When I was a believer, I’d quietly pray whenever I wanted. I have never understood the need of some religious people to force everyone to pray with them.

Years ago, Roger Ebert wrote a brilliant essay about “vertical prayer” and “horizontal prayer.” “Vertical prayer” is prayer that goes up; i.e., is between you and whatever you believe a supreme being to be. It’s not about anyone else and isn’t meant for anyone else’s ears.

“Horizontal prayer” is prayer for the benefit of the people around you. It’s meant for their ears, no one else’s. It’s done to force in-group and out-group thinking. That’s what prayer in school — or before football games or board meetings or committee meetings or graduations or whatever — is all about. It has nothing to do with asking for guidance. It has everything to do with making sure the people around you know you’re a believer. It also has a lot to do with noticing who’s praying and who isn’t, and filing that information away for future use.

Unfortunately, the essay has since been pulled off his blog and I can’t find it anywhere else. It is definitely worth reading.

Laura

Growing up Jewish, I’d never read Matthew before, and the excerpt that Jeff Satterley quoted reminds me of something that I was taught in religious education as a child. When you give tzedakah (basically, giving to charity), it is best to do it anonymously. In fact, I was taught that it is a mitzvah to give, but it is a greater mitzvah to give anonymously. Whether it’s true or not, I was also taught that many of the large “anonymous” donors to charities are Jewish, and they choose to remain anonymous as a result of this belief. I think there’s something to be said to give without expectation of any reward or recognition. It’s a shame that this tradition wasn’t retained by the Christians, despite Biblical text supporting it.

Back on topic, though, I’m somewhat surprised that the ACLU of Northern California (I think that’s the district they’re in) didn’t at least sign the letter. They were probably busy battling Facebook over, well, everything.

THE BIG LIE these people have gulped down is the notion that this is a “Christian nation.”

It’s astounding how many supposedly educated people on the right say this as though it were true. That’s why I call it a LIE and not a myth—because they’re purposely deceiving people.

Those who founded this country and wrote its constitution could not have been more explicit on this issue. One needs only to read their writings to see that secularism and religious neutrality was one of the foundational principles on which they designed the republic.

Not to be a pedant, but if any freethinkers out there have not read Thomas Jefferson’s “Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom,” I think it’s worthwhile reading. And it pretty much demolishes the notion that we were meant to be a “Christian nation.” Next time some idiot pulls that line on you, simply smile politely and direct him or her to this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Statute_for_Religious_Freedom

The part that gives me goosebumps is when Jefferson writes:

Be it enacted by General Assembly that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.

I’m all for a moment of science.

DSimon,
Thanks for agreeing with me but did you notice I intentionally misspelled silence?

Hate to say it, but Christians would be quick to cherry-pick Jefferson, focusing on, “…all men shall be free to profess…their opinions in matters of Religion…” Or exactly what they just did at EUHS.

Exeter’s board and admin reluctantly went with the moment of silence, but that was window dressing. If you want to see something really ridiculous, get a dvd of their middle school graduation the night before Exeter High. Watch a preacher get everyone to stand and raise their hand while he invokes God, Jesus. and the Holy Spirit. All those arms raised made it look like a Hitler rally. You can bet these bumpkins will have all the prayers back in next year.

“God is everywhere, he has to do with everything.”

No he’s not, but Elvis is!

@Fundie Troll

Given the disrespect they showed during the moment of silence, I’d bet real cash that their intent wasn’t to honor your god.

As long as there are Christians there will be public confessions that Jesus Christ is lord…

…as well as hatred, bigotry, and disrespect towards anything non-xtian.

These people are violating biblical law.

The issue here is that these public schools are being overrun by fundamentalist who believe silly things like the US is a Christian nation, that minorities don’t have rights, etc.

I’m sorry, the schools are being overrun by whom? Since prayer USED to be an acceptable part of the school curriculum, and now it is not, I would say the opposite is true – our schools are being overrun by atheists who insist on scrubbing every last vestige of religion from the face of the planet. Congratulations, your efforts are paying off handsomely.

As far as the the United States being a Christian nation, I would agree with you, it is not at the moment a Christian nation. However our nations has strong Christian roots and a deep religious heritage, and to deny these two is to rewrite history.

The ABC newswoman claims that the votes were not counted, would never be counted. So how did they arrive at the percentages stated?

Fundie Troll is wrong and just arguing to argue.

Having had experience with religious schools, they really aren’t that expensive, especially if you are a member of the church that runs the school. These crazies who want prayer in school are NOT poor, inner city kids with no money. They are generally middle class white kids whose parents *could* afford the religious schools but choose not to because they might not be a big sports star in a little christian school. They choose the public schools because they want someone else to pay for their education and subsidize their extracurricular activities, but yet they want to force school to be a religious school at the same time.

“The Exeter school board voted to ban prayer…”

No, they didn’t. They voted to ban mandatory prayer endorsed by the state. Silent prayer is fine.

This is a pretty good article on church state seperation, sort of anecdotal as well as historical and interesting:

http://quichemoraine.com/2010/06/the-christian-colonies/