The folks in Missouri
have decided to confront nonreligious residents head on. They voted this
month to approve an amendment to the state constitution that would allow public
prayer. Of course, that ignores the reality that public prayer is
perfectly legal nationwide provided that no one is forced to participate.
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| River baptism |
Just look at the number
of people openly being baptized in rivers and shores every Sunday. There are
also open-air churches and related public events. Let’s not forget
prayers before civic meetings and NASCAR races, among other activities. Then there’s the Pledge of Allegiance’s
“under God” and the line “in God we trust” on our money.
We’re really saturated
with prayer.
The real concern behind
such attempts to change the law has to do with the effort to impose fundamental
Christian views on everyone else. They want the “right” kind of
prayers. All they will do is continuing
to drive a wedge between different faiths, which has already led to the
shooting in a Sikh temple, the attempts to block a Muslim mosque from opening
and the continual hatred spewed by religious bigots of all faiths.
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| Six people died in the Sikh Temple shooting. |
Supporters may want to
consider the flip side to their efforts: Christians aren’t the majority
in every country. In fact, only about 2 in every 7 people in the world
believe in Jesus. As a minority, fundamentalists might also want to note
a recent State Department report showing that smaller religions continue “to
suffer loss of their rights across the globe with a rise in blasphemy laws and
restrictions on faith practices.”
The 2011 International
Religious Freedom Report found that almost half of the world's governments
"either abuse religious minorities or did not intervene in cases of
societal abuse."
The most discriminated
people include Christians in Egypt, Tibetan Buddhists in China and Baha'is in
Iran. In Indonesia, for example, a Christian was sentenced to prison for five
years for distributing books.
It’s all legal.
Laws passed in those counties open the door to discrimination. The
Missouri vote does the same thing. You can bet fundamentalist Christians
will use the law to inflict their religious views on everyone within earshot
and attempt to drown out anyone with a different religious preference up to and
including quiet meditation.
Fortunately, there are
courts outside the “Show Me” state who will likely show residents there why such a
law violates the U.S. Constitution, which clearly states that government can
pass no law regarding religion – prayer included.
There’s another point
fundamentalists might want to think about.
The State Department report won praise from the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom, but chair Katrina Lantos Swett said the
department still must convince policymakers that religious freedom should be a
“moral imperative" in this country and abroad.
Good luck with that
idea, especially among fundamentalists convinced they alone have the “true”
faith.
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| Young Christian missionaries at the Olympics |
Fundamentalists might
also consider the multiple missionaries at the recent Olympics in London. There,
Christians, Muslims, vegans and their counterparts cheerfully mingle with the
thousands of visitors and distribute flyers and brochures supporting their
views.
That’s what happens in a
free society.
The State Department report didn’t
overlook at obvious point: “… countries whose constitution, laws, policies, and
practices protect religious freedom and human rights (are) the most vibrant and
stable.”
That’s true in every
state of the Union, too.
Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history. He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.
You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net. He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion. His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.
He can also be followed on Twitter.
You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1
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