Religious bigotry column
What I’d pray for in the next National Day of PrayerBy Bill Lindau
Some time ago I just read a wire story about a pastor expelling people who voted for John Kerry and other Democrats out of his church.
Somebody said the church should lose its tax-exempt status for including political affiliations.
Where’s the line between sincere devotion and plain and simple bigotry?
The most recent National Day of Prayer sessions seemed to include all Protestants, mostly white and mostly Baptist with a few black ministers thrown in. Harold Pope seemed to run the show in both the Biscoe and Troy gatherings in Montgomery County, North Carolina. There was not a single Hispanic in bingo, and the only ones in Troy were a few young children in the Pope’s Family Worship Ministries Christian Academy. That leaves out the Catholics.
Rev. Tuwana Morris, one of two blacks at a meeting in Troy said the people who organize it don’t turn anybody away, whatever their faith is.
At one point, when one of the ministers said, “We need to lift up the people around the president,” I wanted to say, “Right. Lift them up and fling them into the Potomac.”
I’m not bothered as much by what the Popes, Rev. Russell Craddock and some of the others prayed for; it’s what they didn’t pray for. Here’s what I think they should have added:
1) The Pope. Harold and Susie were the only Popes anybody ever mentioned.
2) Praying for the Catholic Church to expel and punish priests who prey on small children
3) Pray for everybody of all races, religions and nations to love each other around the world. Pray for anybody who thinks the color of their skin, their idea of God, their reproductive organs, their choice of sex partners and/or the amount of money they have/don’t have makes them and their like-minded friends better than everybody else
4) Pray for the president never to make war against another nation without getting his facts straight
5) Pray for the president, governors and all the lawmakers to pass sensible earth-protecting legislation
of the lawmakers, and to abstain from passing laws that infringe on our civil liberties, including so-called victimless crimes
6) Pray for those who abuse our natural resources. Show them the harm they are causing, to the earth, to the neighbors and ultimately, to themselves
7) Pray for us all to treat with respect and love others weaker than us, such as children, mentally or physically challenged adults and animals
8) Pray for all celebrities, including entertainers and athletes, to have respect for the law and not disgrace themselves in the public eye with violent crimes. Help prevent fame and fortune from going to their heads. Teach the young athletes who sign multimillion-dollar contracts to use their newly acquired fortune wisely
9) Pray for all the hypocrites, and teach them to practice what they preach
10) Pray for our young people to ruin their lives at an early age with cheap thrills, show them other ways to have fun, such as traveling abroad or going to a play
11) Pray for those who believe too much in material wealth, or on status symbols. Teach them not to feel inferior to or resent those who have more earthly goods than they do
12) Pray for those who try to make friends with people who scorn them. Guide them to people who can be their true friends
13) Pray for innocent but successful people facing those who fear them so much they will attempt to run them by committing all sorts of evils.
14) Pray for those who make petty, meaningless rules for the sake of proving their authority over others.
15) Pray for those who are suffering. Teach them not to let their pain and grief get the better of them to the point that they drive away those who want to help them. Give their loved ones the courage, the temperament and the patience to stay by their sides.
posted by Bill Lindau @ 11:42 PM
4 Comments:
I like your kind of prayers, Bill.The world would be a different sort of place if more people prioritized similarly.
Wow! I think you're the first person who's ever read that column about the National Day of Prayer. I never got around to submitting it because I doubted any of my editors had the chutzpah to print it. I think, though, if things keep going the way they are in this country, I'm going to try to get on as one of the speakers in one of the National Day of Prayer sessions and read at least some of those prayers aloud. I don't know what your views are, but I've come to have a very strong belief in God. I just don't view him the same way as those right-wingers who seemed to dominate some of those meetings.
I know what you mean. I have been one of those right-wingers before, but I have a much larger view and understanding of God now, a very profound faith, yes, but not to the exclusion of anyone, and I realize that people find God in relative ways. I think these prayers of yours are universally appealing. They certainly should be published or spoken somewhere.
I wonder how the people would react if I voiced those prayers. Thunderous applause or stone-cold silence. Especially when I mention that I embraced the Jewish faith late in life. Or the person running the show will clear his throat and say, "Thank you, Mr. Lindau, that will be all."
Speaking of interaction between Jews and Christian, one day last month or so I was talking to a friend of mine in Biscoe, a black probation/parole officer. I was still mad about losing my job and at one point I said I was sick and tired of casting my pearls before swine (from Matthew, one of the last parts of Jesus's sermon on the mount), by writing my best copy only to have this boss dump me on the spot. Jimmy became fascinated with that phrase (Jewish or not, I find it's one of my all-time favorites); though I doubt he's ever missed Sunday at church, I was the one who ended up showing him where it was. He's pretty cool. He doesn't try to convert me, and Jews aren't interested in converting anybody; you do your thing, the Jews dew theirs. The huge problem is there are a whole lot of people who don't want Jews doing their thing.
Wow! You and I have talked about a lot of things in the years we've known each other, but this is something else. I'm really jacked up. I hope to hear from you soon.
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