I found this post by a conservative Christian. I think it's excellent

[rpannier]

I found this to be one of the best arguements against prayer in school and the theocratization of America. I also found it interesting that it came from someone who refers to themselves as a conservative Christian.

The last thing that truly "conservative" Christians (and I am a very conservative Christian) want is the secular government meddling in their affairs - either personal OR religious.

I don't support state sponsored prayer in schools because, by definition, the state must be the one to decide what constitutes an "acceptable" prayer; prayer that will either be so watered down as to be meaningless - or so doctrinaire that it would, without question, offend those who choose to either believe something else or believe nothing at all. Case-in-point, a Catholic, Protestant or Latter-Day Saints prayer.

The salient point of all of this is that when the U.S. becomes a theocracy, many of those who now support such a notion will find that their rights to worship as they see fit will be limited or eliminated because theirs does not fit with the "official, state sanctioned and acceptable" religion of the theocrats.

I have no problem with our government and its laws being framed by men and women whose lives have been shaped and influenced by their personal religions. I DO, however, have a problem with them passing laws that cater to a PARTICULAR set of religious beliefs in an attempt to RAM them down the minority's (or in some cases, the majority's) throat. As Jesus once said, "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES!" To paraphrase: "Woe to you, Republican "Christian" zealots and theocrats, HYPOCRITES!"

[grannylib]

1. Right on. People don't seem to realize that as easily as they can deny

rights to others, so can their own rights be denied. Working together to protect the rights of all is the only way to protect the rights of any.

[mrcheerful]

2. Thats what they don't get, they all think it will be their brand of

religion that the state supports. They forgot that was why so many left europe, to get away from the state run religions. They wanted the freedom to practice any religion they believed in. The real problem with fundies is they think they can have their cake and eat it too.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Once again,

I don't care if your religion requires you to fuck goats, just don't ask me to do it!

[left is right]

4. I, too, consider myself a conservative Christian

and I have made this very same argument concerning prayer in school--not that anyone has ever listened. I also firmly believe that Christ commanded us to pray in our closets rather than in public places because public prayers can and do endanger our personal relationship with Him.

And just one more thing, I am a liberal because my conservative faith compels me to be one--I want to be like Him.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. When there is a theocracy,

those in power tend to try and consolodate it, often making narrower and narrower interpretations of what is acceptible behavior and what is not. Such repressions led to the Salem witchcraft trials, where poor old women (and one man) were tortured, sometimes to death, and others were hung.

[jwirr]

6. That is a good article but just assume that this is more

about corporatism/globalization (*ss's true goals) than a theocracy (rw christian goals). Let us assume *ss and co. used those rw christians to get into power and destroy the US government so that there would be nothing left but global business (Read: One Market Under God by Thomas Frank).

If that is true then once they succeed in world corporate supremacy they are more likely to suppress all religions than support them because churches could be used to organize opposition. That is if the sheeple and their blind leaders should ever wake up. Christians, if you value you faith I would suggest that you act now to stop what you so stupidly started.

[madmark]

7. i dont know where this "conservative christian" is coming from;

obviously the prayer would be a born again evangelical protestant prayer developed by Focus on the Family or some other appropriate religious consulting body that has donated the appropriate sums to the office holders, including a percentage of the faith based initiative money they got, and we all know that catholics, episcapaleons, methodists, and unreconstructed jews, and anybody else that is not born again, are going to hell. So what do we care about prayers that they don't like. And when we all rapture out of here in the near future, they will have all the time in the world to revert to whatever devil worshipping mantra that satan tells them to.