Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts

Monday, September 5, 2011

Texas Christian Military organizations sue to make Christian prayer mandatory at funerals for ALL veterans. Even if the deceased were NOT Christians.

Courtesy of Atheism.com:

In Texas, three Christian military organizations -- Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4, the American Legion Post 586, and the National Memorial Ladies -- have filed suit against the VA because the Veterans' Administration doesn't include Christian prayers in vets' funerals unless the deceased and/or the family request it. They are claiming that Christianity and Christians are being discriminated against when Christianity isn't inserted into every funeral, whether the family wants it or not. 

"It makes my skin crawl that liberals are attempting to drive prayer out of a funeral ceremony for our heroes," Texas Rep. John Culbersontold Fox News, which has given significant airtime to the controversy. "We're going to fix this so that no Obama liberal bureaucrat will interfere with the funeral of a hero." 

In addition to supporting the lawsuit, Culberson has threatened to stop the salary of the cemetery director who enforced the no-consent-no-God rule and to hold hearings in the fall investigating the VA's anti-Christian stance. ... 

Marilyn Koepp, secretary of National Memorial Ladies, a volunteer group that attends veterans' funerals, shares her woes with Fox News: "It's very hard for me to be at the funeral of one of our veterans ... and we just make that decision that we will say God bless you, and how can someone tell us, no you can't." 

The VA's position is both clear and correct: 

"The idea that invoking the name of God or Jesus is banned at VA national cemeteries is blatantly false. The truth is VA's policy protects veterans' families' rights to pray however they choose at our national cemeteries. Put simply, VA policy puts the wishes of the veteran's family above all else on the day it matters most -- the day they pay their final respects to their loved one."

It does not take somebody who is an Atheist, a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu, or any other non-Christian religion to see how this is wrong.  All one has to do is imagine how a Christian family would feel they had no choice but to listen while prayers from the Koran were read over the body of their deceased loved one.

Could you imagine how Fox News would react in response to that kind of a story?

Isn't it in Matthew 7:12 of the King James Bible that reads: Therefore all things whatever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Do these idiots not even read the words in the book that they fight so hard to thrust into the faces of the people around them?

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

values - Bloomberg Bans Clergy for 9/11

From: ConservativeActionAlerts  Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 Subject: AUGUST 24: Bloomberg Bans Clergy for 9/11
Bloomberg's 9/11 Exclusion Spurs Outrage
by admin on August 24, 2011
     Religious leaders are calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reverse course and offer clergy a role in the ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
     Rudy Washington, a deputy mayor in former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration, said he's outraged.  Mr. Washington organized an interfaith ceremony at Yankee Stadium shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
     "This is America, and to have a memorial service where there's no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me," said Mr. Washington, who has suffered severe medical problems connected to the time he spent at Ground Zero. "I feel like America has lost its way."
     City Hall officials, who are coordinating the ceremony, confirmed that spiritual leaders will not participate this year - just as has been the case during past events marking the anniversary.  The mayor has said he wants the upcoming event to strike a similar tone as previous ceremonies.
     "There are hundreds of important people that have offered to participate over the last nine years, but the focus remains on the families of the thousands who died on Sept. 11," said Evelyn Erskine, a mayoral spokeswoman.
     But the mayor's plans this year have drawn increased scrutiny and some disapproval, as the event will attract an international audience and President Barack Obama will attend.
     New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has publicly criticized the mayor about the list of speakers, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has quietly sought to play a larger role.
     But the exclusion of religious leaders has struck some as particularly glaring.
     City Council Member Fernando Cabrera, a pastor at New Life Outreach International, a Bronx church, said he is "utterly disappointed" and "shocked" by the event's absence of clergy.   When the terrorist attacks occurred, people in the city and nationwide turned to spiritual leaders for guidance, he said.
This article was written by MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL; full article at WALL STREET JOURNAL

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