I am upset with what I saw in the Navy Times today. Apparently some of the Midshipmen at the US Naval Academy feel that the noontime payer is “coercive.” They contacted the ACLU and now has been blown way out of proportion. Pardon me, but a speech done once a day to boost morale in one’s life doesn’t seem like anything that would offend anyone. Yes, it is directed towards God, who not a lot of people believe in this day and age.
For one of the Midshipmen:
Over time, the officer’s feelings on the issue evolved. For her first two years at the school, she came to attention and pretended to pray. Only in the last two did she stand at parade rest and wait the prayers out.
“It became really frustrating to decide what to do, whether to play along or have to stand out,” she said. “I was worried that people would think differently of me if I chose not to participate. I have to imagine that there are a lot more midshipmen out there who won’t speak up for themselves because they don’t want to stand out.
“It is very naive to say you won’t be judged. Everybody can see you, and there is a lot of pressure to conform. There is a lot of peer pressure.”
What she did here was set herself up. She made people believe that praying was okay and deep down she didn’t want to do it. Had she been comfortable with herself and let people know what she really felt at the beginning, no doubt that anyone would have thought differently of her, except that it was not something she did and that’s how she was raised, and people have no choice to accept that. The fact that she went along with it so that she not be looked at differently made her out to look like she didn’t respect the thought of her peers, and that they wouldn’t have respected her.
I was brought up Christian and I am not ashamed to say it, though in reality you wouldn’t know it. I haven’t been to church voluntarily in a long time, but at no point have I stopped believing. We have an evening prayer every night when my ship is out at sea and believe it or not, the people I work with don’t mind what they here. In fact, at the end of every prayer, she closes with “Good Night, (Ship).” and I can say it makes me feel at peace. I honestly could care less about those who don’t like the evening prayer, though I have yet to find anyone who does. Even then, I wouldn’t pressure them to accept it. At no point should personal belief be looked down upon, and certainly at no point would I judge someone for what they do, or refuse to believe.
As future Officers of the Navy or Marine Corps, religion should be the last thing that would bother me during the day. How about did I do well on that test, or I hope my rack is squared away for inspection, and even I hope my family is doing well with out me? All those things, whether we know it or not, are prayers to someone in hopes that they are listening and help us get through the day. To ask for help or guidance, even in your head, in my opinion constitutes a prayer.
Everyone prays, we just don’t realize it.
I don’t like the evening prayer. I just shut my mouth about it… perhaps I should be “comfortable about myself” and boisterously claim that I am upset or annoyed each evening?
To have people stand with one another at either attention or parade rest during prayer I think is totally different than the evening prayers we receive and the prayers you mention we make in our head. The difference is one is public the other private. Religion should be a private affair.
Religion is all around us, the US Motto: In God We Trust, Pledge of Allegiance: One Nation Under God. It can never be a private affair and I will be long dead when it does.
What you are talking about and what they are complaining about is different. They feel that if they don’t pray, the will be treated unfairly and looked at differently, which is indeed fucked up. One of them did it to conform, and to say that if she didn’t she would be treated differently? If I was one of her classmates, I would be appalled to have someone be fake to me because he or she things I’ll treat her different? I could care less about what people believe in. Even when they tell me one thing and years down the line they say “Yeah I did it because I didn’t know what you would think” I still wouldn’t care. What pisses me off is that you’ll assume that I’ll treat you unfair and it is then broadcast to the ACLU and big Navy?
That right there is fucked up.
How about you punish those who are found to be coercive towards those who don’t pray.
The military is totally volunteer. Nobody is forcing them to come in and have to listen to a prayer. And besides, listening to a prayer is no different than hearing someone’s thoughts and concerns spoken for all to hear. Nobody in the military has EVER pressured me to go to church or believe in something I don’t want to. Either listen to it, or don’t! The choice is easy. It must be a pretty thin skinned person to get offended by words as kind as a prayer. (and no, I’m not a Christian)