Political Correctness Run Amuck
I went to my brother-in-law's graduation ceremony this weekend. He finished his MBA and my wife and I were proud to participate in his commencement experience. There were two prayers offered by one of his peers, one at the beginning and one at the end. This was not surprising as it is a private Jesuit school. What was surprising was the content of the prayers. There was no mention of Jesus, the Bible, the Word, the Holy Spirit, or anything else one would expect to find in a Catholic or any Christian prayer. What was mentioned several times was "the God of all faiths".I am no religious scholar so can somebody tell me who that is? Is it the Hebrew God? Is it Buddha? Is it Mother Earth from the Wiccans? Is it the Sun or the Moon or the Sea?
Had a standard Christian prayer absent explicitly mentioning Jesus or the Holy Spirit with something like "Lord be with all of us regardless of faith" in it we would not have noticed, cared, or been offended. The lengths that were taken to make this prayer non-offensive to every possible religion made it a non-prayer. It was a secular well wishing.
In attempting to avoid offending anyone they managed to offend me, and I am not easily offended. If I go to a ceremony at a Jewish school I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer, possibly in Hebrew. If I went to a Muslim school I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer, possibly in Arabic. If I went to a state funded public school I would not be surprised to not hear any prayer. I went to a Jesuit school and heard two "prayers" that weren't prayers at all. I, for one, am sick and tired of this silliness. If you are bothered by the possibility of hearing Christian prayers why did you decide to go to a private Christian school? Anyone who could have been offended by a standard Christian Benediction at a Jesuit commencement should have stayed home, hermetically sealed in a box with no radio or TV because you are too easily offended to deal with the real world. It is your problem, not ours.
You do not show respect for others by pretending to be something you are not. You respect others by being who you are and recognizing that others who are "different" are worthy of respect and entitled to different religious views.
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