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For Conservatives: Religion and Valedictorian speechs [W:83]

Would you have an issue with a valedictorian reading the Call to Prayer


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Zyphlin

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Referencing THIS story.

A question for Conservatives.

If a Valedictorian in a south carolina school decided to rip up their speech and instead read the islamic Call to Prayer, would you have an issue with that? If so, what would the reason for your taking issue with it?
 
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I fully support genuine expressions of faith in any forum. Those expressions of faith, however, should not overshadow the express purpose of the event in which they are expressed. Saying a prayer prior to a commencement address is one thing, dispensing with the address entirely and substituting it with the call to prayer is another.
 
Referencing THIS story.

A question for Conservatives.

If a Valedictorian in a south carolina school decided to rip up their speech and instead read the islamic Call to Prayer, would you have an issue with that? If so, what would the reason for your taking issue with it?

First, it wasn't a call to prayer. He read a portion of Scripture. 2nd, no I wouldn't take issue, wouldn't like it at all as I personally believe Islam to be a religion of war and an enemy of the US, but it is freedom of speech.
 
First, it wasn't a call to prayer. He read a portion of Scripture. 2nd, no I wouldn't take issue, wouldn't like it at all as I personally believe Islam to be a religion of war and an enemy of the US, but it is freedom of speech.

Wouldn't a very simple solution be to just pray before or after the ceremony?

Why do people, of any faith, feel the need to be heard when they pray or read scripture?
 
Wouldn't a very simple solution be to just pray before or after the ceremony?

Why do people, of any faith, feel the need to be heard when they pray or read scripture?


Public expression of faith is an article of belief in many religions, and protected speech under the 1st Amendment.

Given that the country is, depending on what survey you believe, 70% or more self-identifying as Christian, it stands to reason that there's going to be a certain amount of public expression.

If a Jewish student wished to say a few words from the Torah, I would have no issue with that.

Now in all honesty, I'm not a big fan of Islam just the now, for obvious reasons. But if the valedictorian was Islamic and wanted to say something briefly as an affirmation of his/her faith, I don't think that is outside the bounds of reason either.
 
Wouldn't a very simple solution be to just pray before or after the ceremony?

Why do people, of any faith, feel the need to be heard when they pray or read scripture?

We are tired of our rights being squelched.
 
Referencing THIS story.

A question for Conservatives.

If a Valedictorian in a south carolina school decided to rip up their speech and instead read the islamic Call to Prayer, would you have an issue with that? If so, what would the reason for your taking issue with it?

I wouldn't like it but I respect his or her right to say it!!!
 
Why do people, of any faith, feel the need to be heard when they pray or read scripture?

Harold_Camping_Attention_Whore.jpg
 
First, it wasn't a call to prayer.

The "Call to Prayer" or the Adhan is, to my understanding, something similar to the Lord's Prayer for Christians. I was meaning that, not an actual like "Yo peeps, everybody bow your heads and pray with me" calling for prayer if that's what you thought I meant. ;)
 
The "Call to Prayer" or the Adhan is, to my understanding, something similar to the Lord's Prayer for Christians. I was meaning that, not an actual like "Yo peeps, everybody bow your heads and pray with me" calling for prayer if that's what you thought I meant. ;)

Thanks for the clarification, I did misunderstand that.
 
Wouldn't a very simple solution be to just pray before or after the ceremony?

Why do people, of any faith, feel the need to be heard when they pray or read scripture?

If you go by the posts in this forum, nobody feels the need to be heard more than the endlessly shrieking atheists.
 
Guys, can we please not make this into a "RELIGION IS BAD - - - SCREW THE ATHIESTS" mud slinging fest arguing about whose more of an attention whore or what not. There's an actual topic and question here, why not answering that rather than multiple people trying to devirt things down their pet line of conversation?
 
Public expression of faith is an article of belief in many religions, and protected speech under the 1st Amendment.

Given that the country is, depending on what survey you believe, 70% or more self-identifying as Christian, it stands to reason that there's going to be a certain amount of public expression.

If a Jewish student wished to say a few words from the Torah, I would have no issue with that.

Now in all honesty, I'm not a big fan of Islam just the now, for obvious reasons. But if the valedictorian was Islamic and wanted to say something briefly as an affirmation of his/her faith, I don't think that is outside the bounds of reason either.

Obviously, it's legal. But in many cases, it is inconsiderate - such as this one. There are people of different faiths in attendance at public gatherings, and people who just don't want to hear it. Either way, the issue could very simply be avoided if people would just keep it to themselves, or in the church.
 
Obviously, it's legal. But in many cases, it is inconsiderate - such as this one. There are people of different faiths in attendance at public gatherings, and people who just don't want to hear it. Either way, the issue could very simply be avoided if people would just keep it to themselves, or in the church.

Then the other way around. I don't want to hear that there is no God and that Evolution is true. But if I say that people would cry foul, why is it any different here?
 
Obviously, it's legal. But in many cases, it is inconsiderate - such as this one. There are people of different faiths in attendance at public gatherings, and people who just don't want to hear it. Either way, the issue could very simply be avoided if people would just keep it to themselves, or in the church.


I'll grant you some people are sometimes overly pushy about their religion, and that is something even I find annoying, even when it is my own co-religionists.

I don't think a brief prayer or a "... and I want to thank God for what I've been able to accomplish" would be at all excessive, though.
 
We are tired of our rights being squelched.

No one is squelching your rights... :roll:

It's a matter of respect and consideration for others. If you are at a public event, just pray to yourself or read your bible silently. God can still hear you :peace
 
No one is squelching your rights... :roll:

It's a matter of respect and consideration for others. If you are at a public event, just pray to yourself or read your bible silently. God can still hear you :peace

While we can be battered by the religion of athiesm with no protest?
 
Then the other way around. I don't want to hear that there is no God and that Evolution is true. But if I say that people would cry foul, why is it any different here?

Because nobody reads darwin or professes their non belief at the podium during a ceremony :roll:
 
I'll grant you some people are sometimes overly pushy about their religion, and that is something even I find annoying, even when it is my own co-religionists.

I don't think a brief prayer or a "... and I want to thank God for what I've been able to accomplish" would be at all excessive, though.

I don't either, I agree completely with this post.

Edit: I disagree with the brief prayer part. Thanking God IMO is acceptable.
 
Because nobody reads darwin or professes their non belief at the podium during a ceremony :roll:

I can assure you, they do. Not to mention they blast the theories in school as well which is actually worse than what happened in this instance.
 
Guys, can we please not make this into a "RELIGION IS BAD - - - SCREW THE ATHIESTS" mud slinging fest arguing about whose more of an attention whore or what not. There's an actual topic and question here, why not answering that rather than multiple people trying to devirt things down their pet line of conversation?

Fair enough. Sorry for my role in the derailment.

While I hold a lot of conservative positions religion isn't one of them. I'm more agnostic than anything else, but I don't even take that all too seriously.

In respect to the OP, I wouldn't be all that offended hearing an Islamic call to prayer at a commencement. Likewise, I wouldn't be offended by a Christian or Jewish prayer. I wouldn't be offended if some not-as-smart-as-he-thinks-he-is kid started going of on some demon/devil worship tirade, or hearing a wiccan incantation, or a diatribe on scientific materialisim.

The bottom line is that sitting in on a commencement ceremony or convocation is going to suck ass no matter what I hear there, and it's likely going to be hot, and I'm going to wish I were elsewhere doing other things.

It's bad enough that I have to sit through a B-list celebrity being witty and a 20-year-old kid explaining to me how HIS graduating class has an obligation to make the world a better place. Hearing a prayer isn't going to make it any worse.
 
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I can assure you, they do.

Riiight... Please... enlighten me.

Not to mention they blast the theories in school as well which is actually worse than what happened in this instance.

If you are referring to teaching evolution over the creation story, that is an entirely different discussion and has already been discussed ad nauseum on these boards.

Oh, and btw, that's ridiculous.
 
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