Establishing Some But Not All Religions
The latest dust-up between church and state has occurred in Phoenix, Arizona, my old hometown. City Council allowed various faiths to offer an opening prayer at its meetings but balked when the local Satanic Temple requested an opportunity to offer the prayer. Suddenly, the practice didn't seem like a good idea, especially to the Christians who approve of some but not all prayer. Council members decided to ax the whole idea of a prayer in favor of a moment of silence.
A moment of silence at the start of a city council meetingseems plenty appropriate to me. The Christians and followers of other religious traditions can pray to their respective gods and goddesses and everyone else can use the time to reflect on their purpose in attending the meeting. Or maybe just to think about something else altogether.
What it all comes down to is that some prayer (read: Christian and possibly Jewish and occasional Muslim) is acceptable. All else is suspect.
Some religions are apparently more privileged than others.
Labels: why am I in this handbasket?