I think I am going to move to Portland and join that man's church. Best prayer I have

[yellowdogintexas]

heard in a really really long time.

[msongs]

1. church of john lennon: imagine there's no heaven, and no religion too :-) nt

[ThePhoenix]

4. I am a member

of the same church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3hWtbpvbYg

:)

[Booster]

2. I totally agree. That prayer was totally appropriate for the night.

[FirstLight]

3. Thanks for bringing it up...

I think it was a lovely ending for the evening. Focuing on unity of ALL, which ois the only way we can heal our wounded land. I love the part "we have tried to figure this out for ourselves..."
nice to end with a moment of reflection, not forced religion, just a nod to faith and ideals that helped he founding fathers come up with the "all men are created equal" paradigm

I truly think Jesus was a LIBERAL!

amen!

[Kat45]

5. We have prayers like that in my church.

UCC. Lots about peace and justice, unity, everyone welcome.

[CaptJasHook]

6. I'm from Portland, didn't catch the church's name.

What was it?

[gratuitous]

7. Not sure, I think he's in Gresham

But if you feel like popping by Peace Church of the Brethren (12727 SE Market), we'll pour you a cup of coffee.

[CaptJasHook]

8. Thanks for the offer

[PumaJ]

9. Good prayer, but.... what about separation of church and state?

I could have done without the "Father God" and Jesus part as I am Jewish, though I liked the rest of the prayer.

That said, part of the $ for the DNC comes out of our tax monies, therefore it seems to me that
there shouldn't be any prayer due to the constitutional issue of separation of church and state.

There is also the issue that we live in a nation of many different beliefs. So, if the leaders of the DNC feel that
closing each session with a prayer is necessary, I do hope we get to have a night each for other faiths such as Judaism,
Islam, and maybe even just a time of quiet reflection on the meaning of being in service to our nation and each other.

Overall, on a deep level I was very bothered by the fact of a religious benediction at all.





PumaJ

[yellowdogintexas]

10. the last few conventions have featured a different faith tradition in the opening

blessing and closing benediction throughout the convention.

so I would expect to see a Rabbi, an Imam, a Catholic and/or Orthodox priest, at least. (I think we had a minister and a rabbi officiate at our local convention either this time or the last one I attended in 2006).

This was not your typical churchy Christian prayer. Trust me I know this one. The man is a Christian pastor, so sure he will give a Christian prayer.

and there has never been a convention yet that didn't open and close each session with prayer, R or D in my living memory, and I am 60 years old.

on edit: separation of church and state bottom line is this:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...." meaning there can't be an Official Religion of the United States that everyone has to join
(direct slap at the Church of England and the Roman Catholic king/god's anointed stuff of the rest of Europe)

"or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." ..meaning that no religious group can be prohibited from practising their faith.

This was not a lawmaking function of government tonight, and despite the fact that it was a Christian prayer, no one is saying everyone has to now follow this tradition and no one is saying that everyone can't continue to follow the path they currently prefer.

Fact remains this nation is a nation of faith and it would not go over well to exclude an accomodation of faith in the public meetings. Can you imagine what the Dark Side would do to us if we just left that off? It is sort of an expected thing at large public gatherings anyway.

Now a wholly different discussion would involve the muddying of those perimeters over the years like the adding of the In God We Trust phrase to money and the pledge of allegiance, and the removal of official prayers from public schools on a daily basis (I remember when we prayed every morning before classes in school)..and removing official prayers in no way prohibits anyone from attending the church of their choice or silently praying over the algebra test.