What?! they open with prayer????

[mysteryowl]

What happened with separation of church and state?

[MontanaMama]

1. IKR?

Bugs the crap out of me.

[mysteryowl]

2. I have no objection to prayer, but that it is part of our government is an issue.

[MontanaMama]

11. My objection as well. N/t

[mysteryowl]

12. ...

[nolabear]

3. It never has existed, really. I wish it did.

[mysteryowl]

5. So your position is you like it?

It is too much of an issue. Why not a Jewish or Muslim prayer then? I think that is where we begin to have major issues of all the different religions we have. Hindus would like the prayer spoken a different way, etc.

[nolabear]

6. You misunderstand. I wish there was actual separation.

[mysteryowl]

9. Whew...

Okay. Thanks. I did misunderstand what you wrote, but it helped me flush out more of my comments about the issue of prayer. There are so many religions and here they are prayer to Jesus. Fine, but not IN our government.

[Pantagruel]

4. I swear

that chaplain was scolding the GOP senators to do their jobs.

[Coleman]

7. Congress has a paid chaplain

The office was created by Madison, who would later admit it was a mistake.

[mysteryowl]

10. Okay. Thanks.

It is a mistake and would take a courageous government to remove the Chaplin office.

[unblock]

13. this is one of the many problems with such bending of the rules

regarding separation of church and state.

we managed as a country for a long time without "in god we trust" as an official motto -- it didn't become so until 1956. it wasn't even on coins until 1864, still most of a century after our independence.

but it's something that's basically impossible to undo, at least not politically. it may be possible for some future supreme court to ban it, but that's also not anything that will happen any time soon if ever.


fixing such errors is the sort of thing that politicians see as only costing them votes. they figure they're never going to win over anyone's vote by doing the right thing here, certainly nothing compared to the votes it would cost them.

[dewsgirl]

8. Aren't ever enough of these.

🙄

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. That's because they know that nothing will help them

short of divine intervention. Which isn't happening, of course.

[COLGATE4]

15. It's known as "Ceremonial Deism" and it's been OK'd by the courts.