www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Ban on 10 Comandments in Public Building

Well, considering the history of the Civil Rights movement, I don't think that state can make any claim to "knowing God" Can Any State or civil authority???

The general consensus of the people there at one time supported slavery and then Jim Crow.

So you equate supporting the public display of the 10 commandments with support of slavery?

Having read alot of your posts of this BB, I'm not surprised that you would make such a foolish comparison.

Columcille

Monco, in the OT you gotta distinguish among moral precepts that are already contained in the Natural Law, and those that aren't. The ones contained in the natural law are binding on all men as such, for all time. Of the other Divine commands in the OT, some are no longer relevant because of the Incarnation and Redemption.

LatinTrad

NOT necessary.

Perhaps not. I'm having what you call, "a very bad day." I apologize for offense given. I shouldn't post here when I am already upset about something.

bowing out with apologies....

Columcille

Not at all. I was getting at the real obsession at getting "field polls" and "focus groups" to try to get an idea of "consensus"- it is often illusory.

I agree...while I could understand how some would have a problem with the first two commandments, what is there in the other eight they find objectionable????

Vie

This touches base for a lot of Southerners (at least around here), because our religion is so very central to our lives. What is happening in Montgomery right now is also happening around here. In Bartow County, Georgia, there is an almost identical case, although is hasn't reached the national level.

I think us Southerners take this for granted. I go to a private Christian school, but the public schools around here openly have prayer, along with ENORMOUS prayer meetings at the school every morning. Before EVERY sports event around here, the officiators lead the fans in prayer. Before the public school's football games, the National Anthem is sung and a prayer is said. In my soccer game a week ago, the refs led both teams and all the fans in prayer. In the soccer tournament my school hosted this weekend, our Athletic Director did the same thing. No one asked if it was okay. No one had to.

Sometimes I thank my lucky stars I was born in the South.

Logos Teen

Dear Teen:

I remember being assigned to ref a soccer match here in the burbs between two "Christian" high schools. My assistant referees and I began walking down the halfway stripe toward the center circle at the start of the match when the teams all of a sudden started walking toward each other.

After a few seconds of panic on our part that a fight was going to ensue, the guys took a knee and prayed together. Certainly not something we're used to up here.

Yours,

kl

As someone who grew up Jewish, I would ask you to remember the Jew, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Jain, the ___________ who are in school with you, who are at the football game with you, who work with you.

We are uncomfortable when we hear of Christians living under Sharia. Why (aside from the fact that we are talking about culture rather than law) should this be different?


Sharon

Sharia Law is much more extreme then what we are talking about here. In the U.S, non-Christians don't have to pay a special tax, don't have to study their "holy" books in private, or face death if they try to convert a Christian to something else.

I'm sorry, but I just don't see the comparison between Christian kids having prayer meeting of their own freewill and accord and Sharia Law.

Columcille

Columcille,

It goes beyond that. When a public school day begins with prayer, when prayer is a public part of public school sports activities, and when the 10 Commandments are "enshrined" by personal fiat in the courthouse and hundreds of your neighbors rally to keep it there - that's more than a few students having a prayer meeting.

I fully agree that no non-Christian in the US is subject to restrictive laws - I belieeve I already said that. But when not only popular culture but also governmental entities support one particular religious tradition, there's a BIG problem.

Sharon

Even if one religious tradition leads to life eternal, and the others do not?

Glory to Jesus Christ!

This is not in my area of expertise, and I am hesitant to post because of that. However:

The churches who first developed parochial school systems in the USA (Roman and Eastern Catholics, members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) did so partially in response to the "generic Protestant" atmosphere which prevailed in the US public schools. Scripture readings, prayers, public testimony, and a great deal of peer pressure, were all from the Baptist/Methodist/Presbyterian side of the world. And this was also true in orphanages, in hospitals, in prisons, any place that was "secular" in nature.

If you haven'te been part of a group that's "excluded," especially as a child, you don't know how insidious that can be. You might try asking a ByzCat or UkCat kid who goes to a RC parochial school about other kids reacting to our "funny" way of making the Sign of the Cross, for example.

At one time, our society was less complicated than it is today. Nonetheless, it is that way in 2003.

And, if you really think that this cannot happen, you need to talk to non-Mormons who live in Utah and the surrounding states, where Mormons form a plurality or better in the population. You'll find out just how much the "secular" environment changes. And you won't like it much, either.

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA