"Denis Loubet" <dloubet@io.com> wrote in message
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"turk" <turk96@nowaynohow.not> wrote in message
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http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/09/even_wingnuts_respond_to_cultu.php

Category: Religion
Posted on: September 3, 2006 12:15 PM, by PZ Myers

Wow, I'm impressed: The J Train finds a small guttering flicker of
reason on WingNutDaily. It's an article by a conservative Christian
opposing public prayer at football games-he'd been in Hawai'i, where
he'd been shocked to discover that pre-game prayers were given by
Buddhist monks, and he found himself an uncomfortable minority in a sea
of people following some strange religion (hmmm.does anybody else know
what that's like?)

It's actually funny to read. He's plainly horrified that he'd have to be
in the presence of someone reciting a pagan prayer! He doesn't quite get
the response right, though.

We were frozen in shock and incredulity! What to do? To continue to
stand and observe this prayer would represent a betrayal of our own
faith and imply the honoring of a pagan deity that was anathema to our
beliefs. To sit would be an act of extreme rudeness and disrespect in
the eyes of our Japanese hosts and neighbors, who value above all other
things deference and respect in their social interactions. I am sorry to
say that in the confusion of the moment we chose the easier path and
elected to continue to stand in silence so as not to create a scene or
ill will among those who were seated nearby.

You're right! This is absolutely priceless! :-)

I want to get in that guy's face and shout "How do you fuckin' like it,
*****?"

As I thought through the incident over the next few days I supposed
that the duty of offering the pre-game prayer rotated through the local
clergy and we just happened to arrive on the night that the
responsibility fell to the Buddhist priest. However, after inquiring I
learned that due to the predominance of Buddhist and Shinto adherents in
this town, it was the normal practice to have a member of one these
faiths offer the pre-game prayer, and Christian clergy were never
included. Needless to say that was our first and last football game.

"How do you fuckin' like it, *****?"

Although many of the students we worked with continued to invite us to
the games, we were forced to decline. We knew that if we were to attend
again we would be forced to abstain from the pre-game activity. And not
wanting to offend our Asiatic neighbors and colleagues, we simply
refrained from attending.

"How do you fuckin' like it, *****?"

Well.so his solution was to simply and completely withdraw from the
social activity? I wonder how he'd react if the entire culture was
saturated with overt displays of such religiosity-where courtrooms would
claim their justice was founded on their religion, where the government,
top to bottom, was loaded with official who would regularly trumpet
their religious affiliation, where store owners would declare themselves
adherents of particular faiths, and promise that a percentage of their
profits would go to promote their beliefs, where much of the business of
the town was mediated via contacts at places of worship?

I don't think the ***** would like it at all.

Would he divorce himself from the culture entirely, throw out his radio
and TV, bunker down in his house and pray?

At least he appreciates part of the experience.

I would say in love to my Christian brothers and sisters, before you
yearn for the imposition of prayer and similar rituals in your public
schools, you might consider attending a football game at Wahiawa High
School. Because unless you're ready to endure the unwilling exposure of
yourself and your children to those beliefs and practices that your own
faith forswears, you have no right to insist that others sit in silence
and complicity while you do the same to them. I, for one, slept better
at night knowing that because Judeo-Christian prayers were not being
offered at my children's schools, I didn't have to worry about them
being confronted with Buddhist, Shinto, Wiccan, Satanic or any other
prayer ritual I might find offensive.

The problem with this post is I can't tell who's talking. Is the above
paragraph from the ***** who maybe learned something, or is it turk
pointing out the facts.

The paragraphs that start with an indent are those of the original letter
writers. The critique by the author is the rest. I didn't write it, I
just cut and pasted this one. It's easier to make out if you go to the
link.