Firstly, an apology: I screwed up; it should have been #431, not 415.
Secondly, I agree with everything you said.
Thirdly, you, as many frame the situation in antagonistic terms and then rightfully get offended.
At the very beginning of this thread I said that I would never walk out under the circumstances. At the same time, one can question why the minister had to insist on this partiocular prayer.
The answer to this question lies in thinking of how we have prayers on Capitol Hill and our armed forces, and yet this issue does not arize. This proves that there are plenty of prayers that do not constitute any "dilution" of Christianity.
People on this thread choose to ignore this simle fact: according to them, any prayer that does not include "int he nane of Jesus" is a dilution of Christianity. I am not a specialist in religion, but this does not look right: all the chaplains in the army and the Capitol Hill cannot be traitors to Christianity.
Why was prayer removed from our schools?
http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/back/myth.html A Supreme Court decision banned government-sponsored prayer from the public schools.
That decision was made some 26 years ago on June 25, 1962 in Engel v. Vitale. Engel, a Jewish resident of New York, objected to the prayer composed by the New York State Board of Regents and recommended for adoption by the public school districts of New York. The prayer read as follows:
"Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachings and ourcountry."
I can only say that I am not an expert on religion. I do know what I was taught and what I believe. A "Christian", believes in Jesus Christ as their savior. They also believe in the scriptures, which states you always pray to God in the name of Jesus. There is at least, one TV Minister that never mentions the name of Jesus. I don't consider him a Christian.
Their are some TV Ministers that do pray to Jesus Christ that I don't consider Christians either.