Friday, March 09, 2007

God is like a drug. But instead of too much heroin, you're taking too much God.


From the "Do you want cheese with your whine?" department we have this:


They formed a circle and held hands, praying for the welfare of their school, the nation and the president. Some prayed silently. Others spoke English or Russian.

Administrators at Heritage High School repeatedly asked the students not to pray in the busy commons area and offered them room where they could meet before school. The students refused, triggering a showdown that ended with 11 suspensions last Friday.

First they don't let you pray in the common area. Then the next thing you know they're feeding you to the lions. It's a slippery slope.

Thank Shiva some one's standing up for this poor, persecuted minority of Christians who simply want to rub their religious beliefs in the face of their fellow students without facing this ridiculous harassment from The Man.


The Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based conservative legal advocacy group aligned with The Rev. Jerry Falwell, has thrown its support behind the students, threatening to sue the district over the Principal's suspensions. School officials received numerous complaints Thursday from radio listeners in Wisconsin, and a Christian radio station in Florida plans to air a discussion of the incident and issue, and area churches have phoned in solidarity.


Not everybody gets it:


Miller, the Christian High principal, questioned the point of initially insisting on meeting in the commons instead of a classroom.

"God," he said, "can hear your prayers wherever you are."


Well, sure. In theory. But God gets better reception when you use the non-believers around you as antenna. This is why so many Christian athaletes pray at center field immediately following a game. It's the difference between an analog with interference and a clear digital connection with the Almighty. Shame on the school for forcing these poor Russian students to talk to God on a bad line.

7 comments:

Swinebread said...

Showboating is it’s own reward...

Anonymous said...

I got in a somewhat heated argument with one of my evangelical friends at work about this story. These students were not meekly trying to exercise their religion. This was a publicity stunt. The school provided these students with a classroom for their "prayer meeting". But their real purpose was to shove their religion in other students faces and, hopefully, get mentioned in the press. They may have a right to pray at school but non-believing students at a public school have a right to get to class without being harrassed. And the school administration has a right and a duty to prevent disruptions on campus even if it means disciplining "persecuted" christians.

Dean Wormer said...

Aaron-

I absolutely agree. There's no reason they couldn't use the classroom. They were witnessing or as Swinebread says showboating, not praying. I have zero sympathy for stunts like this and those that support them.

Anonymous said...

Pardon my missing the exact wording, but I seem to recall, as part of my fundamentalist christian upbringing, (in another life) that Jesus told the Pharasees to quit showboating with their praying, and go pray in a closet.

Swinebread said...

artsasinic... you are correct

Dean Wormer said...

I believe that's actually in the bible.

Don Snabulus said...

I am not familiar with the situation, but I think it depends on whether there are complaints of harassment from other students and what the rules are towards such group gatherings. Can a Wiccan circle be formed to summon the powers of The Goddess for the good of the school? I think not and, if not, then the prayer group should follow the same restrictions.