Lots of God/Government stuff turning up in the news the past couple of days. Perhaps the religious among you can tell me what any of this has to do with leading a spiritually fulfilling life, pleasing to whichever God rules the universe.
First, we have a guy in Southport refusing to act in an orderly fashion at a City Council meeting as a way to protest the lack of prayer to open City Council meetings. By way of protest, he started praying out loud during a moment of silence; he was asked to be quiet; he started talking louder; he was asked to leave; he refused; he was escorted out; he grabbed a chair. He was arrested. Let’s be clear, he was not arrested for praying. Had he prayed silently or been quiet when asked or left when asked, there would have been no arrest. It was his insistence on disrupting the meeting that led to his arrest.
Clergy-led prayer returns to the House of Representatives. After Speaker Bosma’s apparent endorsement of sectarian prayer as official House business, including a nice revival style, singing and clapping rendition of “Just a Little Walk with Jesus;” litigation ensued and the practice of clergy led prayer in the House stopped. Apparently it will make a comeback this session. I’m with Ken Falk and the ACLU of Indiana when he says that there is “no problem in having a minister give a nonsectarian prayer.” It does, however, seem relatively useless to me. If you are a believer, such a public display is: a) unnecessary to satisfy your spiritual needs; and/or b) so bland as to be ineffective at doing so. If you are not a believer, such a display is: a) mildly offensive; and/or b) a waste of time. If you are a narcissistic, jealous God, such a display is presumably grossly insufficient inasmuch as it could be construed as homage to those other gods of whom you are jealous. If you are not a narcissistic, jealous God, you presumably won’t care about the display one way or the other. So, to me, the only purpose I can see for these things is as a way for a certain noxious subset of nominal believers to demonstrate their supremacy over those who believe differently; in other words, mark their territory.
In other news, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles is being sued for refusing to allow a vanity plate that says “BE GODS;” this after it just won a lawsuit on appeal challenging the practice of giving away “In God We Trust Plates” while charging extra for other special interest statement plates.
A BMV policy committee reviewing personalized license plate rules in December 2007 opted to make all religious and deity references off-limits, said Dennis Rosebrough, the agency’s spokesman.
On this, I’m just glad I’m not working for them and being put in the position of defending the “In God We Trust” plates and the denial of the BE GODS” plate.
“Nonsectarian prayer” is like “caffeine-free diet Mt. Dew”. It does nothing, yet tastes like cold, carbonated piss.
Who thinks this is a good idea? If it is nonsectarian, is it prayer by most religion’s standards?
Our local town council and our local school board still has our clergy association open their meetings with prayer. I try to be as generic as possible while not going quite non-sectarian; I am not going to be who I am not. Of course I’m in a community where I would say that the majority of the town is Christian or at least Christian-sympathetic. We also hold a National Day of Prayer service in the town council chambers at their invitation.
Now for my personal opinion-if this were to end tomorrow it would not offend me in the least; especially since I know the kind of prayer some of my other fellow pastors are probably offering at a government meeting. But in the meantime I still do it so our church is represented in the community.
As far as the guy in Southport goes-he was not arrested for prayer but for disturbing the peace. He got what he wanted and will now be a martyr for the RR.
I can’t wait to see what the Supreme Court has to say about the “In God We Trust” plates. I have not problem with them; save that the state should only have one official “free” version. $15 is not an outrageous amount to pay to express your faith. BTW I refuse to have the plates b/c of seperation of curch and state.
I know…I give in on the prayer part but not the plates…but as I said this is a way to make sure that our church is known in the community. But let the non-hypocrite out there cast the first stone;-)
If I hadn’t have read these stories elsewhere, you could have titled this entry: “Ripped from the tabloids!”
Here’s an update on the BE GODS vanity plate dust-up. Kind of funny really, the applicant says it’s intended to convey “be God’s”, as in, belong to God. The BMV is now grandfathering it, supposedly not because of this explanation, but because the applicant says she’s had them for several years. Nevertheless, the BMV (to paraphrase the Dandy Warhols’ song) swears you can’t be ‘Godless’ because that would ‘offend most Hoosiers’.
I’m still waiting for them to decide on my “Jihad” plate.
Can’t they just play fair and give me a discount on the “I don’t trust gods.” plate?
Can I have a “Ye Gods!” plate? As Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune has noted, sharing your personal views is the bailiwick of bumper stickers, not license plates. I don’t see why there are personalized plates at all, since they are just a way for the government to collect vehicle taxes.
Thank you, Hugh. If I really care about all of the causes out there that go on plates, my money would be best spent giving $50 RIGHT TO THE CAUSE, instead of $25 to the BMV $25 to the cause, or whatever the math is.
Oh, does that mean all the people that have the IGWT plates hate kids and IU? After all, they chose to NOT give money to those plates…
I hate the IGWT license plates. I saw a ton of them last time I was home, and it made me mildly ill. If I wasn’t certain that at least half of the people sporting them on their cars were doing so to say “I’m Holier Than You And My License Plate Proves It” I probably would not have minded as much. It’s the same reason I despised the ribbon magnets.
Most people have these plates for two reasons.
1) The BMV really pushed them hard when they came out because the BMV was running out of numbers in several counties for the old style plates.
2) They didn’t charge the motorist for the plate fee ($15?). Lots of people obviously bought into to the cheaper license plate idea.
And then there is this other part of the personalized plate matter from the BMV’s website on what’s OK and what’s not. Among the no-nos are inapproprate references to:
“… a race, religion, deity, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or political party or affiliation; however, generally accepted references to a race or ethnic heritage (for example, IRISH) are allowableâ€
Huh? Are we taxpayers actually PAYING somebody to determine which race or ethnic heritage reference is “acceptable� And if so, just what criteria are being used?
So here’s one small step for frugality, one giant leap for common sense: let’s go back to simple two letters and a few numbers in sequence for identification. Agents of the state ought not to be in the business of being arbiters of “political correctnessâ€.
I personally might find “12345†somewhat offensive, but give me a little time and I’ll get over it.
If I was born in June of 1966 and want My Birthdate, 6 66 on my plate, would that be allowed?