Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state's official "majority" religion.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Again, I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how I'm being persecuted for being a Christian.

Religious doctrine comes into conflict with secular law all the time. It is this conflict that people of religion (not just Christians) interpret as oppression and persecution.

The reason one Christian may feel persecuted and you don't, could have to do with the fact that you are less doctrinaire.

[faith 0]

Please spare me the argument that Christians are this persecuted endangered species. The resolution quite obviously contradicts both Missouri's own constitution and the United States Constitution. End of story.

Again, I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how I'm being persecuted for being a Christian.

Re: Aymerlu: So your son was praying individually before his meal? And they told him he couldn't? I bet the ACLU would have a field day with that. Give them a call. I'm not being sarcastic. If he was being stopped from praying on an independent, individual basis, the school is panicking, to put it mildly.

pssst... they can't explain it to you because there is no rational behind their statements that they are being persecuted for being christians

and actually, technically, her kid can pray quietly to himself, but can not do it outloud... at least that's how our school reads it.

[Aymerlu 3]

Please spare me the argument that Christians are this persecuted endangered species. The resolution quite obviously contradicts both Missouri's own constitution and the United States Constitution. End of story.

Again, I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how I'm being persecuted for being a Christian.

Re: Aymerlu: So your son was praying individually before his meal? And they told him he couldn't? I bet the ACLU would have a field day with that. Give them a call. I'm not being sarcastic. If he was being stopped from praying on an independent, individual basis, the school is panicking, to put it mildly.

LOL...Well, beleive me I have thought about it many times. I was told by an attorney friend that it could/would be something that would be under investigation for quite a while. Too many things to stress over in my life to add something else to the mixture. I am currently sueing the Columbia School district due to other problems. That's just another topic! My son is autistic so obvisouly he will do things that other kids do not do. I'm become quite the B#### at the school trying to support my child for this and that, so you can understand how outraged I was when he got in trouble for praying and bring a Bible to school. So I have probably just vented a little more that I should have on this thread.

[pax 0]

Best of luck with getting some help for your son from the school. Sometimes it can be an uphill battle. My sister has a learning disability and getting teachers to understand that was hit-and-miss at best. Fortunately she did well in school and is now a sophomore in college making good grades, so I hope for the best for your son, too.

Ari, you may be right; I'm not a terribly doctrinaire Christian, and I don't feel threatened by the presence of other faiths in my country or any other. Indeed, I feel most threatened by people like the ones Reinhard calls the "American Taliban," people who at least allegedly share my faith. I believe in God but I do also believe that the American Constitution is valuable and worthy of respect, and inasmuch as it is the law of the land, Christians have no need to try to trample it. No one is stopping me from professing my faith or practicing it as I see fit. And no one is stopping anyone in Missouri, either.

Christian persecution happens, sadly, in a lot of places. REAL persecution--like, say, the death penalty, torture, imprisonment, forced labor. Other religions too face persecution in many of those places; it's no safer to be a Tibetan Buddhist in China, for example, than it is to be a Christian. If Christians are angered about persecution, they would do well to turn their attention to those situations instead.

American Christians have to accept the fact that we live in a pluralistic, secular country in which no faith has the right to assert itself in governmental affairs as the "true" faith. The government cannot and should not be in the business of picking and choosing which faith it wishes everyone could be. Certainly I feel that the Christian way of life is worthy and valid; if I didn't, I would have jumped ship and become something else, right? But I don't need the government to tell me that. I know it like I know my own name. I would even go so far as to suggest that if some Christians perhaps felt more comfortable and peaceful with their own faith and practice of it, they would not need the government--any government--to validate it.

[almaty 19]

good luck in Boone county, Aymerlu...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Christians have no need to try to trample it. No one is stopping me from professing my faith or practicing it as I see fit.

Exactly - as you see fit.

The people you call the American Taliban see it fit to practice their faith in a manner very different from yours. The way they see it fit often conflicts with the Constitution.

JMHO of course.

[Fuzzness 2]

IF this is the land of the free and this land was founded a christian nation....why isn't my child allowed to pray at school?

I'm sorry, I really do have to comment here. In no way has your child been denied the right to pray in school. What actually HAS happened is that they can no longer FORCE children to pray. There is a HUGE difference.

And in no way was the USA founded as a christian nation. Some of the founders may have been christian themselves but this in no way makes it a christian nation.

I'm sorry, I'll shut up now

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

IF this is the land of the free and this land was founded a christian nation....why isn't my child allowed to pray at school?

I'm sorry, I really do have to comment here. In no way has your child been denied the right to pray in school. What actually HAS happened is that they can no longer FORCE children to pray. There is a HUGE difference.

And in no way was the USA founded as a christian nation. Some of the founders may have been christian themselves but this in no way makes it a christian nation.

I'm sorry, I'll shut up now

Actually, some schools really don't allow children to pray. They insist it be done so no one else can hear or see them, and many religious people find that overly restrictive.

[Aymerlu 3]

IF this is the land of the free and this land was founded a christian nation....why isn't my child allowed to pray at school?

I'm sorry, I really do have to comment here. In no way has your child been denied the right to pray in school. What actually HAS happened is that they can no longer FORCE children to pray. There is a HUGE difference.

And in no way was the USA founded as a christian nation. Some of the founders may have been christian themselves but this in no way makes it a christian nation.

I'm sorry, I'll shut up now

Actually, some schools really don't allow children to pray. They insist it be done so no one else can hear or see them, and many religious people find that overly restrictive.

Exactly

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Christians have no need to try to trample it. No one is stopping me from professing my faith or practicing it as I see fit.

Exactly - as you see fit.

The people you call the American Taliban see it fit to practice their faith in a manner very different from yours. The way they see it fit often conflicts with the Constitution.

And with the rights of those that belief differently or not at all. There's a difference between practicing one's faith and shoving it down the next guys throat. I don't buy into the latter being protected practice of religion as your right to practice your religion ends where it interferes with my right to do the same or with my right to chose not to practice any religion at all.

Edited March 24, 2006 by ET-US2004

[Fuzzness 2]

Actually, some schools really don't allow children to pray. They insist it be done so no one else can hear or see them, and many religious people find that overly restrictive.

Maybe I'm just weird but I always thought a silent prayer was just as good as a spoken one. The schools can't read minds, can they?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I don't buy into the latter being protected practice of religion as your right to practice your religion ends where it interferes with my right to do the same or with my right to chose not to practice any religion at all.

I agree. But I do think we've gone too far in placing restrictions on religious practice. For example, as non-Christian, I not in the least bit threatened by the sound of a Christian praying. It may warrant a snicker, but that's about it And yet, we have rules in schools around this country that say Christian children, should they choose to pray on their own initiative, must do so silently. That is not right.

[almaty 19]

Boone county in missouri, although MU ..the university is there is a backwater racist chopf##k county...typical of allot of more rural missouri,.,with a sprinkle of liberal "do-gooders"

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Maybe I'm just weird but I always thought a silent prayer was just as good as a spoken one. The schools can't read minds, can they?

I agree with you that they are. But we're not talking about your or my opinion. We're talking about the opinions and liberties of those who practice their religion differently than you or I do. Some of them claim they need to speak it out loud. What is the harm in letting them do so? I certainly would not feel threatened by this.

[Aymerlu 3]

good luck in Boone county, Aymerlu...

WHOOOO WHOOO