Why is there a prayer to God & pledge to the flag to open the U.S. HOUSE?

[Philosoraptor]

There didn't used to be did there? When did this start and why? Is this not blending church and state and isn't this worshiping idols?

Every day a guest chaplain, priest, rabbi, mullah or preacher gets to offer a prayer for understanding, tolerance, conciliation, and cooperation between the opposing factions.

Why is it always a priest, rabbi or reverend? Why not a Santa Ria worshiper or an atheist prayer? Why not a voodoo priest with a chicken to sacrifice?

pat robertson infiltrated our government with over 150 of his most zealous followers and now they are demanding that we all pray every day, even if we don't want to, this is just too, too cozy, having all these wackos in our government.

Some jerk republican on cspan said that we should all pray for the president, be he or she repub or Democrat....yeah, right, I'm sure they prayed their asses of for Bill Clinton.

[JNelson6563]

1. Fear of all loving bible-god

Simple.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

2. i would think an atheist prayer might be a little short

any idea how that might go? who would they be speaking to? or would it just be the atheist wish?

sP

[jakem]

3. Technically, many Buddhist prayers would be atheist.

But Buddhists get in more than their share of prayers.

[Philosoraptor]

4. "Dear God, stop making so many stupid people"

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. sorry...the oxymoron just caught me unprepared this morning...

nice way to start the day with a laugh...

sP

[valerief]

17. It would be a passage read from Darwin's The Origin of the Species. nt

[CBGLuthier]

19. I have to disagree on that point

While evolution is not compatible with fundamentalism it is compatible with other religous viewpoints.

There are more than a few people of faith who are able to reconcile Darwin's theory with their faith.

[valerief]

21. Correct, but it's not scripture of any kind. and it is science. nt

[bdamomma]

6. I think it's all about protocol, and hasn't this been done for a while.

[genie_weenie]

7. The Satanists, Secular Humanists, and Jainists

are all under represented!

[CBGLuthier]

8. They have been doing it for over 200 years

And like many things in life there is nothing anyone can do about it except to run for congress and try to pass legislation against it.

[Philosoraptor]

9. The flag pledge is only a few decades old.

[MrSlayer]

15. No it isn't. The "under god" part is.

The pledge originated in 1892.

[Double T]

10. Give me separation of church and state so we don't have too watch........

the damn fools in congress make hypocrites of themselves as they daily sellout their fellow Americans and act anything but reverent while conducting the 'business' of our country.

[mrcheerful]

11. Actually both it seems started some time in the 1900's

Remember the pledge wasn't written until the late 1890's or 80's, so before it became popular it wasn't said. I did a search on it but the only things I could find were ACLU court cases against both or wing nut sites that said there was a history of over 200 years that congress opened with both the pledge and prayer, can of hard to believe as going back 200 years seems odd as the pledge wasn't written until after americas first 100 years. I believe that it started in the 1950's when McCarthy was on his red scare.

[Philosoraptor]

12. "Under God" was added in the fifties.

[mrcheerful]

14. Again the pledge was not written until the late 1800's so the congress couldn't pledge a pledge

before it was written. It was said in schools as early as the 1920's but I couldn't find anything about it being said by congress before the 1950's.

[valerief]

16. The 1950s, along with god being added to currency. nt

[Buzz Clik]

13. Ever hear the Little League Pledge?

The first words:

"I trust in God and love my country..."
http://www.littleleague.org/about/pledge.asp

After hearing that shit every friggin' game, it becomes totally meaningless. I tune it out.

[WilliamPitt]

18. Tradition.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Red-baiting.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. The politicians need to do as much CYA as they can - thus the prayer to the judge.

As for the Pledge...as meaningful as the obligatory "God Bless America" spouted by the same politicians.

[eagler]

22. This shouldn't even be an issue

[Tesha]

24. Because our "separation of church and state" has become just a bad joke. (NT)

[seriousstan]

25. They have had a opening prayer since the Continental Congress

They simply continued the practice.

Google is your friend.