Another reason I hope Meade County Commissioner Alan Aker does not succeed in censoring the commission minutes is that I want to know what the heck rookie commissioner Galen Niederwerder is up to. Appointed to fill now-Rep. Gary Cammack's commission vacancy just two months ago, Commissioner Niederwerder as placed on Tuesday's Meade County Commission agenda Item 3c: "Discuss beginning the commission meetings with a Prayer."
Not just any prayer, apparently, but Prayer with a capital P.
A Meade County neighbor tells me the commission does not currently launch its monthly show with a prayer, although the commissioners do mention God in the Pledge of Allegiance. If I had to speculate, I'd say Neiderwerder is either responding to constituent questions (which I would translate to mean fundie agitators are asking him to get the commission to promote their preferred faith) or maybe he wants Sturgis to get its share of the piety-notoriety that Rapid City is currently enjoying with its regular and willful violations of the First Amendment.
Included with Niederwerder's agenda item is Aaron Orlowski's smart Feb. 24 summary of the murky mix of court rulings on official government prayers. After Niederwerder gets done leading the Meade County Commission through a seminar on church-state court precedents, perhaps he can raise a resolution outlawing homosexuals from the Sturgis Rally. Niederwerder has likened homosexuals to pedophiles and bigamists and feels authorized to tell people whom they can love. Uff da: and Neiderwerder's fellow commissioners picked him over eight other candidates.
Meade County Commissioners, I've driven through Sturgis and Meade County. Trust me, you've got bigger issues to spend your time on than whether you should open your meetings with a prayer.
Related: Former NCAA basketball coach Bobby Knight spoke on NPR this weekend. He explained why he never had his team pray before games:
I'll tell you what.... I watched the guy that hits a home run, and he comes across the plate, and he points skyward, like thanking the Almighty for the help to hit the home run. And as he does that, I say to myself, 'God screwed the pitcher.' And I don't know how else you look at it. I've always felt that the Almighty has a lot of things to do other than help my basketball team [Bobby Knight, quoted in "A 'Negative' Message: Don't Just Hope, Work," NPR: Weekend Edition Saturday, 2013.03.02].
http://farm-payments.findthedata.org/l/621889/Galen-Niederwerder
Cory, you do not keep it a secret that you are an atheist. And people still read what you write even if they are not. Well most people do. The government is supposed to be for everyone. Not just for Christians trying to be Christian or for atheists trying to be atheists. If they pray in their meetings, most people will still listen to the other things they are saying also. As for the capital P on prayer. If one actually does believe in a God, then their prayer would be a serious thing to them. Anything less would be blasphemy. If their prayers do any good or not is more dependent on if there is a God than if we agree with them or not.
I'm pretty tolerant of prayer, Roger. And my lack of faith is also well known. But I don't open my French class with a vocal affirmation of my atheism; I get to work.
The Bible says to pray in private, not in public. I think all types of religion should be banned from anything political.
I agree with Joan----If the commissioners want to pray-do so in their own private and quiet way.
Cory, Joan, and Charlie hit it on the head. And it has nothing to do with being an atheist or anti-religion. It is about a public setting that is being done on the taxpayers dime. Prayer does not belong at a public meeting. Time to get on with the business of the people. All of the people.
It doesn't matter what the religion is if a person is so entrenched in that religion, they will either use their faith as a crutch or as a club. That's a fact. When I bow my head while someone is saying a prayer it is because of the respect that I have for that person, not necessarily the religion.
From the sixth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament " But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
Or in words that anybody can understand. "
"But you, when you pray, enter into your inner
chamber, and having shut your door, pray to
your Father who is in secret, and your Father
who sees in secret will reward you openly."
All this time I thought that the Bible was the one and only book needed for a Christian to survive in this world. I thought you had to be "all in or all out" in order to be a good Christian. I guess I have to admit I was wrong. It looks like you can pick the parts of the book to support your own particular agenda while completely ignoring the others. WTF
"One man in each century is given the power to control time. The man chosen to receive this power is carefully selected. He must be kind. He must be fair. He must be brave. You have fulfilled these requirements; and, we of the Outer Galaxies designate to you the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Atlas. YOU are CAPTAIN 11!"
Where the hell is the New Captian11? The last one is dead and its a new century.
Don't laugh it makes just as much since as the dribble that is being said at the start of these meetings.
How can you tell a con artist from a regular person? Its the prayer they pretend to say.These people are always looking for a little something more, power. They think if they can just get one more wrong on the ladder "prayer at a city council meeting, or a school board meeting," it equals power. It doesn't matter what the religion is, if a person is so entrenched in that religion, they will either use their faith as a crutch or as a club. That's a fact.
I drink good whiskey, not to excess, I smoke pot, not to excess, I write, sometimes to excess like I am now. If you think that makes me a bad person here is a little something for you. Matthew 7:1 Judge not lest ye be judged Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Lets face it. "The power of the pulpit" has more to do with how far the smell of the methane gas emitted from the person doing the preaching reaches to the back of the church then religion itself.
Here at THE CHURCH OF BILL we try to stimulate your mind, not brow beat it into submission. You change your oil dont you? Fundamentalist in every religion are insulting, controlling, demanding, and fundamentally wrong. Isn't it time you looked at your dipstick? NUFF SAID
Ps Pulpit humor, "A skunk smell its own hole first."
And this, "Keep it in the closet with your Playboys."
From the pulpit of
The Blindman
Politicians if they offer any prayers, should be praying to the Devil. Without him, they would have nothing to do. Of course, without him, they would not need any other God either. It is a good case of less is more.