Quote:
Originally Posted by fredbowsnowski
I have a dilemma. I am a life long, card carrying Atheist. But I also agree with the Republicans on economic issues most of the time. Democrats stand behind social programs, too much. They believe in stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. I do not. No hand outs here.
But as you know, many Republicans tend to be passionate, righteous, Christian Right parrots, who quote Rush Limbaugh or some other opinionated, narrow minded, big mouth. I live in an area where I fear to state my beliefs publicly.
Unfortunately, no other political parties count. So I stand behind the Republican party and hope that they do not force my children to pray in school or go on a witch hunt for the truly godless.
What to do......  |
Stand firm in your convictions.
If you go to a party meeting, in my experience even in different states and counties, they begin a meeting citing the Pledge and then followed by a prayer. In many cases it is not simply a generic prayer, but a prayer to Jesus and if a pastor is doing the prayer it usually turns into a sermon. A gentle reminder to the Chair that not everyone is a Christian, wants to be converted and that the meeting is not a religious service usually helps for a few months - you have to be persistent. Another option is to become the chair and set the agenda, excluding the prayer all together. But actually, this is not a Republican Party issue, generally in some parts of the country, even at youth football games they will do a prayer right after or before playing the national anthem, it can be a bad example to the kids when the home team announcer is asking Jesus to help the home team rip the little heads off of the other team, figuratively. I have also gone to civic and service organization meeting where they do the same thing. I generally don't go to Democratic Party functions and I don't know what they do. When I was in the Libertarian Party, they made it a point not to pray, but they did read the party mission statement before each meeting - to me the first 5 or 10 minutes of any meeting is a good time to do some manicure work, so I always bring a nail file and clippers.