Outlawing Prayer

February 25, 2003

A relative sent this to me today. I found it to hold some truth about the state of affairs in our society today. But the real question I have is how much of the “Christian” viewpoint in this prayer is tied directly to the “modern” world view?

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That’s no offense; it’s a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For Praying in a public hall

Might offend someone with no faith at all.

In silence alone we must meditate,
God’s name is prohibited by the state.
We’re allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They’ve outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the ‘unwed daddy,’ our Senior King.
It’s “inappropriate” to teach right from wrong,
We’re taught that such “judgments” do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It’s scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school’s a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!

Amen

Posted by pablohart on February 25, 2003 11:34 AM

Comments

i read fear in this poem. people are afraid that christianity is losing it's political and social power to the "liberals." this is based on a false ideological association of christ with power structures. christianity can only be christianity when it is married with the control of the white male hegemony that used to reign supreme in this land (so they think).

heaven forbid "purple hair"ed liberals coming along and disallowing public prayer (to a purely americanized savior) in public schools. the falsity is in the assumption that jesus has (or wants) anything to do with the political power of this country in the first place.

jesus never called for religio-political hegemony in governing states. his is a kingdom of servitude. and a kingdom of servitude is not threatened by people with purple hair who outlaw so-called spiritualized rites as ordained by a fully corrupt politically-driven "religious" world view.

true christianity doesn't need american conservativism to protect it for our children.

Posted by nathan at February 25, 2003 4:58 PM

just remember that the name of God in Hebrew - Yod Hev Vah Hev (spelling issues, i know) is the word for breath. Every breath you take is an untterance of God's name.

When the atheist says "I don't believe in God" he or she says His name with every breath.

This from Rob Bell Jr.

Posted by Aaron B. Smith at February 26, 2003 1:32 PM

"just remember that the name of God in Hebrew - Yod Hev Vah Hev (spelling issues, i know) is the word for breath. Every breath you take is an untterance of God's name."

He didn't say that. He said that the constonants (Yodh, Hey, Waw, Hey) would be pronouced "yah-ha-vah-ha" and sound like breathing when spoken lightly.

However, he neglected to mention that originally, Hebrew never had vowel markings. It wasn't until the Masorites came along that vowel markings were added. To assume that there would be no vowels pronounced is not accurate.

Posted by Jordan at August 20, 2003 8:21 PM

You don't study witch craft in school. More importantly, you don't recite occult prayers in school, or hebrew ones, or muslim ones. If they tried to make your kids say a muslim prayer you'd be all up in arms about imposing beliefs on children, just the way they are.

Posted by Kate at November 15, 2004 4:39 PM

There is no compelling evidence -- or in fact, any evidence whatsoever -- to substantiate the claim that the act of breathing is either identical to or is somehow connected with the utterance of God's name.

Sounds like meaningless metaphysical gibberish.

Posted by Alex at December 2, 2004 11:29 AM

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