Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. I’m going to be taking a break from our series to look at a situation that has happened recently concerning prayer at a high school graduation. Many of us when we graduated had a prayer said and the older you are, I would think it’s more likely that that took place.
However, the Medina Valley School District in Texas has ordered that public prayer be prohibited at a high school graduation ceremony. (Link at bottom) Note that in the link when clicked, the judge says that if there is a prayer said, the family and their son will suffer irreparable harm.
What?!
So if someone dares mention the name of Jesus publicly (Except of course if they’re using the name of the person that Christians hold in the highest esteem as the perfection of all that is good and holy) then this family will suffer great harm? Exactly what kind of harm are we talking about? Are we talking about being on a psychiatrist’s couch for years saying “It was awful. They actually said ‘Jesus’ around me and prayed.”
When some of us were growing up, we actually learned how to deal with that which did not go our way and did not try to shape the rest of the world to fit our particular tastes. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change the world, but this is simply forcing everyone else in the area to bow to the sensitivities of one family without cause.
This is along the lines of people who are told at their workplace to not say “Merry Christmas” but “Happy Holidays” lest someone get offended. If a Jew comes up to me and wishes me a happy Passover or a Muslim wishes me a happy Ramadan, I’m not going to be offended. I would in fact be happy to discuss their religious beliefs with them.
Strangely enough, this offense is never a big deal when it goes the other way. Jesus can be openly mocked and maligned anywhere, after all, that only offends Christians. If someone wants to mock Jesus, that’s their right. I also have a right to respond to them, but the way to do it is not through bullying in the courts but in debating our worldviews.
There is also much mockery for Christian practice in the world. I know someone who is a devout Christian who recently got a job at a Wal-Mart where he works with several guys his age. He is a college student and he is often mocked because as a single man, he is a virgin and plans to stay that way until marriage, a common Christian practice.
Is what’s being done to him wrong? You bet it is. Offensive? No doubt. Painful? Sure. What’s the proper way to handle it? The way he’s doing it. He’s looking for reasons why he does think pre-marital sex is wrong and until then, just not giving in. If some people want to be jerks, let them be jerks. For now, he’s dealing with something obviously wrong and he’s not whining to the court system. He’s growing up and taking it for the time being believing standing strong in his virtue will win out.
Instead, our culture has become so weak that we’re crying out that the worst thing you can do to someone is offend them. There is no place for needless offenses of course, but there are some offenses that ought to just be overlooked instead of thinking that one has to be a victim entirely to one’s circumstances.
This family however thinks it’s more beneficial to treat their son like a child who must have everything go his way and make everyone else go without a simple prayer just because of the cause of offense. The early Christians were thrown to the lions and set on fire and in response, they wrote to the emperor and stated their case. They simply wanted toleration.
For the people who often speak the most about tolerance, you’d think they’d be willing to tolerate some. Apparently not. Tolerance is a great virtue, provided everyone else practice it.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/02/prayer-prohibited-at-graduation-ceremony/
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