Holy Guacamole. DeSantis went off the deep end, then he found a way to go off a DEEPER end. Next thing you know, he'll be mandating teacher-led prayer before classes, maybe after, too, just for fun. This isn't just about his "where woke goes to die" crap; this is about dismantling the separation of State and Church and throwing the door wide open to a Christian theocracy.
And he's doing it out loud and in public ... and I would dearly love to know how much public blowback he's getting.
Especially when the Bible says that Jesus said to pray in your closets, because the people preaching on street corners aren't doing it for the glory but to make sure their NEIGHBORS see them praying.
I always thought it would be hilarious to give an invocation at a public event by quoting the part about praying in one’s closet. That would be my entire invocation. Or maybe append a plea to Jesus to help us not pray in public.
Yeah, I get that, but in today's diminished imaginations it's a cross. I had to point out one day that the Methodist cross is on fire, you know like the KKK do, to shake loose someone's misapprehension that white supremacy isn't couched, at least in some configurations, in Christianity, in some configurations.
Yes! Anglicans believed private prayer is the only legitimate form of prayer. Some protestants fled England specifically so they could ignore this verse and other verses that they didn't agree with, even though those were J.C.'s own words. It seems that all protestants are rebellious against the original texts, and that's why they have a whole bunch of new versions where they just make shit up. American conservatives rewrote the bible over and over so they could trick others into believing what they believe. It's narcissistic.
The public schools are paid for by everyone's tax dollars, regardless of the religion one does or does not practice. Never the less, conservative Christians can never stop trying to mark their territory in this public space. I would hope this move would result in a massive drop out rate of kids willing to be subjected to these prayers. Ron DeSantis panders to the preachers, while making sure nothing is done about gun violence. Long on religion, devoid of morality.
The Chief Twit and the Twit who would be Chief... what a combination. Anybody who had any doubts that Elon loves fascism, please take note and bonk yourself with a clue-by-four.
I actually was surprised when that black Republican dimwit announced he's running. If he seriously thinks the party that insists that black lives DON'T matter is going to get behind him he's a walking illustration of at least half of the DSM.
At this point, I'm pretty sure he's not, considering the current Repub party is doing things that would make Satan take notes.
My other half is convinced the current crop of Repubs is actively attempting to destroy the US government, and already it's all but impossible to argue his point. I've lost track of the number of times I've cried for the death of the US as a nation in the last few years, and I expect that trend to continue.
What happens to the losers? Do they rend their garments over being denied by their god? Do they renounce him and pray to another deity? And is YHVH sitting up their laughing his cloudy ass off over the foolishness of his creations?
That reminds me of a comic I haven't been able to find again. There are two football teams in huddles on a field. One of the players looks up at the other team and says, "They're praying too. Now what do we do?"
There is a link to something that is kept in a folder on my hard drive? I guess I could try and find it again though but the last time I looked it wasn't on the 1st page at least. Still – something to do on these long winter nights. :)
He played for the Arizona Cardinals before enlisting to serve his country in Iraq and Afghanistan. He didn't realize the nature of Bush's War for lies and oil. He was killed by friendly fire.
In actuality, this analogy is akin to two people hearing a gospel message, one responds to the message and the other doesn't. Who or what made the difference? The answer, at least biblically is God made the difference since "it is not of yourself, but a gift of God, not of works".
So in your case, clearly it was decided by God that one team would lose despite prayers. So, if His will is settled beforehand, the real question is why pray anyway? God is going to do what He is going to do. Pray offers little to nothing.
I concur. It "might" make one feel good. So that is something else. But the results will not change only perhaps someone's psychological reaction to the results.
Oh, forget it. Christians never do what their alleged savior told them to do about praying in secret, away from the eyes of others. They really should call themselves something else because they're sure as shit not Christians.
On the Colorado thread they claimed to be a Marxists. On yesterday's thread they claimed to be a Deleuzian Thatcherite (whatever that is). Pick an ideology already.
That’s funny because he accused me of being like Thatcher. And he thinks that any prison, especially the Gulag, is for the folks who are classists. Prisons are there only to enforce an unfair class system and the Gulag was an especially egregious one. Weaponized ignorance if I ever saw it.
I can generally grasp philosophy. Lawrence M Krauss is way beyond me. Physics is simple and fairly easy but he is orders of magnitude beyond me in "A Universe From Nothing." I have not tried any other Krauss titles.
Sex Abuse in Catholic Church: Over 1,900 Minors Abused in Illinois, State Says
A new report by the attorney general of Illinois covering decades names more than 450 credibly accused sexual abusers, including priests and lay religious brothers.
The DeSantis account is particularly noteworthy, as it was created shortly after the governor signed a bill allowing him to redact his travel records on state and private planes from public record — just before this week’s expected announcement of a 2024 presidential campaign.
I'm willing to bet my entire fortune of $15.38, a paperclip, and some pocket lint that the entire reason he's waited this long to formally announce his run was to duck campaign finance laws. His whole "I'm totally not a candidate, honest!" routine wouldn't hold up under the faintest hint of scrutiny, and it would be 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 so nice if 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 would take a peek under the hood of his operation.
OT but obviously the idiots didn't see this coming. Signing off, going for a walk in the bush, hopefully when I get back I can get a better Internet connection.
Of course they saw this. I said it yesterday, this is an added bonus. Whenever they can hurt the vulnerable minority they make sure to make it hurt as many folks as possible. They don’t want cis-het women to be able to get access to healthcare either. They prefer women all just died in childbirth so they can keep taking younger brides. Or just express the violent rage they feel about women.
Hey! Exciting news from Misery, oops Missouri. Yesterday they passed a bill to allow bible electives in class. Not shop class or Shakespeare, but fake deity nonsense. So happy my kid is way past needing to fight this with a doctorate in a science based profession. But I guess the Catholics have been doing it forever at the school down the road which is why my kid didn’t go there. Also religion: blah. I still fight, he’s just busy saving lives.
My parents attempted for years to convince me that Christians are just better people. Over and over and over we had that discussion. Now Christians are pretty much in charge, and guess what, Mom and Dad? They're even worse bullies than the ones we usually see in politics because they throw a tantrum every time they get told they can't have something the way they want it.
This sort of prayer, as observed many many times on FA, is precisely what Matthew 6:5-15 rails against, and yet, somehow we're still hearing from Christians demanding to pray loudly in public and force everyone else in the vicinity to listen. Most of the time, when someone wants to pray at some semi-social event (weddings, dinners, etc.) I'm polite enough to pretend to go along. At this point, I'm considering changing that just because I'm sick of dancing to that tune; I'm probably going to start with eye rolling. I don't see any reason I should be held hostage to a faith I don't believe in just because some Christians can't mind their own manners and behave like the rest of us are humans too.
These 'prayers' over the loudspeakers are just sanctimonious self righteousness at its very worst.
For your parents if they are still alive "Do you ever heard about this mysterious and nearly unknown continent called Europe where christians religious wars started in the 16th century and lasted until the 20th ?"
They're deceased, as it turns out. They weren't interested in being reasonable about it in any case, they wanted to make sure I attended church no matter what; it really didn't matter to them what I actually thought on the subject. Yes, it was obedience training rather than learning anything new about Christianity, their bible, or Jesus, and so far as I can tell, par for the course for many Protestant branches. Thanks for the thought anyway. :)
Holy Guacamole. DeSantis went off the deep end, then he found a way to go off a DEEPER end. Next thing you know, he'll be mandating teacher-led prayer before classes, maybe after, too, just for fun. This isn't just about his "where woke goes to die" crap; this is about dismantling the separation of State and Church and throwing the door wide open to a Christian theocracy.
And he's doing it out loud and in public ... and I would dearly love to know how much public blowback he's getting.
Not nearly enough.
Any negative is filtered out and marked as suspicious by underlings. It is how dictatorships work.
Of course it is, the Christian nationalists have been hacking at that wall for years.
Every time it looks like he's hit rock bottom, he pulls out a p̸i̸c̸k̸a̸x̸e̸ j̸a̸c̸k̸h̸a̸m̸m̸e̸r̸ tunnel boring machine.
He passed up the Balrog quite some time ago.
I read that as "ball gag."
You make me giggle.
A service I happily supply. :)
Math tests every day! Every fukken day!
Cannot the universe's most powerful being, its creator not hear the prayers without assistance? It's she hard of hearing? And ...
https://youtu.be/WYW_lPlekiQ
It's all about Christians marking their territory, and trying to force rote conformity.
Especially when the Bible says that Jesus said to pray in your closets, because the people preaching on street corners aren't doing it for the glory but to make sure their NEIGHBORS see them praying.
AKA Performance Art.
Now they're coming out of the closet.
I always thought it would be hilarious to give an invocation at a public event by quoting the part about praying in one’s closet. That would be my entire invocation. Or maybe append a plea to Jesus to help us not pray in public.
The cross as a fascist symbol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzBWuE_ECdk
Huzzah. Think of it, we've already seen it last century, a perverted cross on a red field!
It is actually a religious symbol reversed. Seen on a templer/church/whateritiscalled in Chicago.
Eeeeshhesh. But I was talking about the crooked cross of the nazis...
BO is right, it's originally a symbol representing the sun in Asia (and maybe for some American Native tribes too).
Yeah, I get that, but in today's diminished imaginations it's a cross. I had to point out one day that the Methodist cross is on fire, you know like the KKK do, to shake loose someone's misapprehension that white supremacy isn't couched, at least in some configurations, in Christianity, in some configurations.
I stated it is "actually a religious symbol reversed." Re read my original post
Ahhhhhh.
More likely bored, jaded and distracted. Like Elon Musk.
In Stan Lee's epic poem "God Woke," he stated that the Almighty was bored with the ceaseless prayers of believers.
Ah yes, the slaver nepo baby.
He keeps trying to philosophize on morality. He does not get to speak on morality, see above.
Four minutes of loudspeaker prayers? Muslims will be ecstatic.
I mean, prayers are prayers, right? Right?
I demand equal time.
https://forwardky.com/content/images/2022/05/Idol_Moloch.jpeg
They're going to need more than that to serve a crowd that size.
If Jesus could do it with a few loaves and fishes, so can any other deity.
They need tenderizing first.
https://i.imgur.com/5ZxXQ.jpg
https://pinkplankton.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/vigeland-park-thumb.jpg
If those are child actors he's savaging, I'm for it.
This says a great deal about the sculptor's mindset.
Saw this in Bern last year.
https://external-preview.redd.it/z8C7tvM59oClkMjGmDay4-y2ucWHmF7BwP3TtncC2-o.jpg?auto=webp&s=0060d6aeab45e6d27d8df84f2e27bc72b59e9cbf
"Bible reveals secret to happiness?"
Not sure what image was supposed to be here, but I'm not seeing it.
That's the secret!
Ah!
Perhaps more prayer and a tithe........................ ;)
The church in my town that I used to tell y’all about the sign has this beauty up. You can see why I was reminded of it.
“America is free, so is salvation.”
So, 10% of your income is free, no wonder Americans are happy with the GOP stripping us of our rights.
Knew there was a catch. There's always a catch. :)
Where's the mop with the barbeque sauce?
Only to the right divinity.
*Gone to worship the divinity of BL whoever they may be*.
Considering the risk of injury to sportsball players, I'd think the Litany Against Fear would serve them better than prayers would.
Wastes less time than four minutes of bowing and scraping, too.
Bombs, vests and timers not included. See you Imam for details.
Sounds like MAGAts at the Capitol on Jan. 6
Team 1 - God is on our side!
Team 2 - No, god is on our side!
Team 1 - No, god is on our side!
Team 2 - No, god is on our side!
Etc..... for 4 minutes.
Rabbit season!
Duck season!
Elmer season.
Matthew 6:5? Hello?
That verse is like precedent, it doesn’t matter anymore.
If it restricts the religious from shoving their religion down other people’s throats, it isn’t relevant and no one has to follow it.
They'll follow that right after they turn the other cheek.
And stop coveting, worshipping graven images, judging while demanding to not be judged…
Yes! Anglicans believed private prayer is the only legitimate form of prayer. Some protestants fled England specifically so they could ignore this verse and other verses that they didn't agree with, even though those were J.C.'s own words. It seems that all protestants are rebellious against the original texts, and that's why they have a whole bunch of new versions where they just make shit up. American conservatives rewrote the bible over and over so they could trick others into believing what they believe. It's narcissistic.
ALL male gods are versions of man's failings.
'murica
AAAAH, Matthew 6:5-6 is for wimps! 🤦♂️
Trump 1:1. They let you grab 'em by the pussy.
The public schools are paid for by everyone's tax dollars, regardless of the religion one does or does not practice. Never the less, conservative Christians can never stop trying to mark their territory in this public space. I would hope this move would result in a massive drop out rate of kids willing to be subjected to these prayers. Ron DeSantis panders to the preachers, while making sure nothing is done about gun violence. Long on religion, devoid of morality.
“Long on religion, devoid of morality.”
The GOP in a nutshell.
But overflowing with hypocrisy.
OT- Deathsentence is apparently letting Muskrat announce the announcement of the Presidential campaign he's already been running for months, as if anybody is actually going to be surprised by it at this point: https://apnews.com/article/desantis-running-for-president-2024-eb577e660cad143513bf3c6b39a45d0d
The Chief Twit and the Twit who would be Chief... what a combination. Anybody who had any doubts that Elon loves fascism, please take note and bonk yourself with a clue-by-four.
I actually was surprised when that black Republican dimwit announced he's running. If he seriously thinks the party that insists that black lives DON'T matter is going to get behind him he's a walking illustration of at least half of the DSM.
Musky's angling for a spot on the ticket as VP.
Volunteer Peabrain?
Close enough.
And to think, this used to be a joke: https://i.etsystatic.com/35775485/r/il/9ff1fb/4011906321/il_fullxfull.4011906321_duuo.jpg
Are we sure Cthulu is the greater evil?
At this point, I'm pretty sure he's not, considering the current Repub party is doing things that would make Satan take notes.
My other half is convinced the current crop of Repubs is actively attempting to destroy the US government, and already it's all but impossible to argue his point. I've lost track of the number of times I've cried for the death of the US as a nation in the last few years, and I expect that trend to continue.
Greater, yes, but not necessarily greatest.
"King Lear" 4:1
The worst is not, so long as we can say ‘This is the worst’.
I'd still vote for the Great Old One over anyone from the GQP.
He may drive us mad and devour us, but at least he's not a Nazi.
Two teams meet and both pray for victory.
What happens to the losers? Do they rend their garments over being denied by their god? Do they renounce him and pray to another deity? And is YHVH sitting up their laughing his cloudy ass off over the foolishness of his creations?
That reminds me of a comic I haven't been able to find again. There are two football teams in huddles on a field. One of the players looks up at the other team and says, "They're praying too. Now what do we do?"
I've got that somewhere in my memes folder – but of course you can't post memes anywhere except Patheos.
Surely you can post the link.
There is a link to something that is kept in a folder on my hard drive? I guess I could try and find it again though but the last time I looked it wasn't on the 1st page at least. Still – something to do on these long winter nights. :)
If you can find it, just drag and drop it into a Disqus comment box to get a link. You can use https://thedevilspanties.com/ as I do.
I was thinking about that one. Also the one with the player who blames God for their team's loss on the field that day.
NSFW: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a5a2a356bfe1bbce94c9dbedf424504dd6c4c9d4f338476cfead44f9dbedefa1.jpg
That's the one.
Two teams enter, one team leaves.
Jack and Jill went up the hill both with a buck and a quarter.
Jill came down with $2.50
In hockey, when one team beats another in the playoffs, they all shake hands.
I've got a feeling shaking hands is the last thing on the minds of two teams claiming that "God is on our side!"
Can you fit a suicide vest under all that padding?
QBs are only expected to throw bombs, not be bombs.
If I had my druthers I'd like to see ALL professional athletes wear suicide vests. Well, maybe not Gus Kenworthy...
Or Pat Tillman.
He played for the Arizona Cardinals before enlisting to serve his country in Iraq and Afghanistan. He didn't realize the nature of Bush's War for lies and oil. He was killed by friendly fire.
Tillman was an atheist.
Clearly one team cheated and the only solution is a Crusade to their town.🧐
In actuality, this analogy is akin to two people hearing a gospel message, one responds to the message and the other doesn't. Who or what made the difference? The answer, at least biblically is God made the difference since "it is not of yourself, but a gift of God, not of works".
So in your case, clearly it was decided by God that one team would lose despite prayers. So, if His will is settled beforehand, the real question is why pray anyway? God is going to do what He is going to do. Pray offers little to nothing.
"Pray offers little to nothing."
I opt for "nothing."
I concur. It "might" make one feel good. So that is something else. But the results will not change only perhaps someone's psychological reaction to the results.
Yup. It's Christian masturbation, nothing more.
I did post about one hand clapping earlier...
I masturbate to quite different things altogether.
Me too.
Sometimes I masturbate with others. And our mutual fondling really does produce results for others. :)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Ballgame
Go read "Religious aspects" 😁
Maya Ballgame, wasn't she on The Big Bang Theory?
"And when you pray, do not be like..."
Oh, forget it. Christians never do what their alleged savior told them to do about praying in secret, away from the eyes of others. They really should call themselves something else because they're sure as shit not Christians.
I'm praying for Florida. It's the least I can do.
Zeus has given up on Florida.
"You are blocked from liking this comment"
Stop trying, it will save you a lot of aggravation.
I am blocked from liking someone else also, but I am able to reply to both. Senseless is the best description I can think of.
It appears to be random. I can like his earlier posts a few days back.
Try liking. If it doesn't take, refresh and try again.
That worked for me the one time it happened to one of my attempts.
Editing doesz not work. so read my above commennt.
friendlyatheist_substack.com
Russian troll on yesterday’s article and the Colorado school board article.
On the Colorado thread they claimed to be a Marxists. On yesterday's thread they claimed to be a Deleuzian Thatcherite (whatever that is). Pick an ideology already.
That’s funny because he accused me of being like Thatcher. And he thinks that any prison, especially the Gulag, is for the folks who are classists. Prisons are there only to enforce an unfair class system and the Gulag was an especially egregious one. Weaponized ignorance if I ever saw it.
Thatcherite I guess it has something to do with margaret thatcher. Deleuzian maybe a contraction between delusional and Armenian 🤔
Actually, I think Deleuzian refers to a French guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze
Never heard of him but I would eat meat before reading a philosophy book.
I can generally grasp philosophy. Lawrence M Krauss is way beyond me. Physics is simple and fairly easy but he is orders of magnitude beyond me in "A Universe From Nothing." I have not tried any other Krauss titles.
I am not allowed to like his posts.
TO: Hemant Mehta,
Why is this?
Roger that. Saw his crap. Ignored it.
I just sent screenshots to Hemant of the Colorado trolling.
OT:
Sex Abuse in Catholic Church: Over 1,900 Minors Abused in Illinois, State Says
A new report by the attorney general of Illinois covering decades names more than 450 credibly accused sexual abusers, including priests and lay religious brothers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/us/illinois-catholic-church-sex-abuse.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
That's a lot of bad apples. Might want to cut down the tree. (And the whole orchard while you're at it.)
Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
Wait a minute, there is a substantial dollar amount attached to this facility.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Now where have I heard that before...
But it’s the drag queens that are a problem.
And transgender people.
They are one and the same, dontcha know.
Of course, they make Ronnie boy look like the schlub he is. Both mentally and physically.
"Only" 1900 ? WOW they really followed the catholic calendar about sex s/
OT - Heeheeheee
𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤’𝐬 𝐣𝐞𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐨𝐨
The DeSantis account is particularly noteworthy, as it was created shortly after the governor signed a bill allowing him to redact his travel records on state and private planes from public record — just before this week’s expected announcement of a 2024 presidential campaign.
https://news.yahoo.com/student-tracked-elon-musk-jet-160300685.html
What's the problem ? It's not like taxpayers pay for it, right ?
I expect he travels free with gifts from donors, likely in an illegal manner and/or to do wildly inappropriate things.
See Thomas, Clarence.
I'm willing to bet my entire fortune of $15.38, a paperclip, and some pocket lint that the entire reason he's waited this long to formally announce his run was to duck campaign finance laws. His whole "I'm totally not a candidate, honest!" routine wouldn't hold up under the faintest hint of scrutiny, and it would be 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 so nice if 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 would take a peek under the hood of his operation.
I have a couple of cool rocks to throw in with you.
I thought maybe it had something to do with his ongoing tussles with Disney and how the Mouse is throwing a monkey wrench into DeInsane's plans.
Can't wait for 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 tantrum! Wonder if he's gonna try to ban the FAA next. It'd be right on brand...
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/23/1177542605/abortion-bans-drive-off-doctors-and-put-other-health-care-at-risk
OT but obviously the idiots didn't see this coming. Signing off, going for a walk in the bush, hopefully when I get back I can get a better Internet connection.
The cruelty is the point.
As long as theirs aren't affected. And as long as they have money, they'll have doctors.
More proof that consewertives are too stupid to think.
Of course they saw this. I said it yesterday, this is an added bonus. Whenever they can hurt the vulnerable minority they make sure to make it hurt as many folks as possible. They don’t want cis-het women to be able to get access to healthcare either. They prefer women all just died in childbirth so they can keep taking younger brides. Or just express the violent rage they feel about women.
Several states are making moves to end no-fault divorce. All to force women to stay in abusive marriages.
I am aware, I’m (sadly and sickeningly) following Steven Crowder’s divorce proceedings on TYT.
This move will only bring us death. Which is why they’re pushing for it. Same as abortion and myriad other “policies”.
I would no longer like to see Montana
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/montana-governor-greg-gianforte-law-sex-only-male-or-female/
There's nothing to see in Montana except sky. Big sky.
Hey, that'd make a pretty good state motto. "𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘢- 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺'𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴!"
I sometimes tell Christians that they're praying to an empty sky.
Huh, didn’t know law could dictate biological reality. What’s that, it can’t? Huh. Maybe someone should let them know…
If you go, don't count on cell service on the interstates. (Went through Montana on the way to Yellowstone from Northern California)
Lots of stretches like that in WY too. Even a short piece of I25 between Cheyenne and Fort Collins CO (45 miles) is pretty patchy,
Gov. Giantfart is a clueless numbskull living in an alternate reality.
I'm just worried our governor is taking notes.
And our governor has opted not to seek another term
*bites nails*
Hey! Exciting news from Misery, oops Missouri. Yesterday they passed a bill to allow bible electives in class. Not shop class or Shakespeare, but fake deity nonsense. So happy my kid is way past needing to fight this with a doctorate in a science based profession. But I guess the Catholics have been doing it forever at the school down the road which is why my kid didn’t go there. Also religion: blah. I still fight, he’s just busy saving lives.
Nice job breaking it, Christians.
My parents attempted for years to convince me that Christians are just better people. Over and over and over we had that discussion. Now Christians are pretty much in charge, and guess what, Mom and Dad? They're even worse bullies than the ones we usually see in politics because they throw a tantrum every time they get told they can't have something the way they want it.
This sort of prayer, as observed many many times on FA, is precisely what Matthew 6:5-15 rails against, and yet, somehow we're still hearing from Christians demanding to pray loudly in public and force everyone else in the vicinity to listen. Most of the time, when someone wants to pray at some semi-social event (weddings, dinners, etc.) I'm polite enough to pretend to go along. At this point, I'm considering changing that just because I'm sick of dancing to that tune; I'm probably going to start with eye rolling. I don't see any reason I should be held hostage to a faith I don't believe in just because some Christians can't mind their own manners and behave like the rest of us are humans too.
These 'prayers' over the loudspeakers are just sanctimonious self righteousness at its very worst.
For your parents if they are still alive "Do you ever heard about this mysterious and nearly unknown continent called Europe where christians religious wars started in the 16th century and lasted until the 20th ?"
They're deceased, as it turns out. They weren't interested in being reasonable about it in any case, they wanted to make sure I attended church no matter what; it really didn't matter to them what I actually thought on the subject. Yes, it was obedience training rather than learning anything new about Christianity, their bible, or Jesus, and so far as I can tell, par for the course for many Protestant branches. Thanks for the thought anyway. :)