Owen's Take on God & Politics: The Prayer Vigil.
Owen at Boots and Sabers posts a piece on mixing God and Politics.
The post is mostly a criticism of the Prayer Vigil held outside of the Ward Churchill speech, that the vigil trivialized faith in God.
Owen recognizes the fact that people's policy preferences are going to be informed by their faith and does not have a problem with that.
The money quote:
While it was crass and hypocritical for the liberal moonbats to shout insults during the prayer, I can’t entirely blame them. What did the protesters expect? The prayer was part of a political protest. One can’t bludgeon one’s opponents during the roil and boil of a political contest with a religious act and expect obedient silence. If you bring a sword to a fight, you have to expect it to get bloody.
Jib over at Jiblog has a great take on it.
Jib states the event was not a political rally disguised as a prayer vigil but a vigil period. This makes sense. Prayer vigils like this are public and are going to draw attention whether we like it or not. Since the Ward Churchill affair is all charged with politics anything close to that fire is going to be seared with politcs whether or not it is political.
A common occasion of public prayer is at abortion protests. Again the very nature of the situation casts a political hue on it and I am sure fair amounts of scorn are heaped upon the protestors at those events. When going to such events I do not expect the other side to be respectful and if they fail to be so, well that is their problem not mine.
Owen is right to be concerned about whether or not the event was a political grandstand but Jib makes the case it was not and since Jib was on the scene I go with Jib.
One last comment. Owen, why did you expect to "piss off everyone"? Your blog is very well reasoned and written. It isn't in anyone's face it is a quality piece of work.
The post is mostly a criticism of the Prayer Vigil held outside of the Ward Churchill speech, that the vigil trivialized faith in God.
Owen recognizes the fact that people's policy preferences are going to be informed by their faith and does not have a problem with that.
The money quote:
While it was crass and hypocritical for the liberal moonbats to shout insults during the prayer, I can’t entirely blame them. What did the protesters expect? The prayer was part of a political protest. One can’t bludgeon one’s opponents during the roil and boil of a political contest with a religious act and expect obedient silence. If you bring a sword to a fight, you have to expect it to get bloody.
Jib over at Jiblog has a great take on it.
Jib states the event was not a political rally disguised as a prayer vigil but a vigil period. This makes sense. Prayer vigils like this are public and are going to draw attention whether we like it or not. Since the Ward Churchill affair is all charged with politics anything close to that fire is going to be seared with politcs whether or not it is political.
A common occasion of public prayer is at abortion protests. Again the very nature of the situation casts a political hue on it and I am sure fair amounts of scorn are heaped upon the protestors at those events. When going to such events I do not expect the other side to be respectful and if they fail to be so, well that is their problem not mine.
Owen is right to be concerned about whether or not the event was a political grandstand but Jib makes the case it was not and since Jib was on the scene I go with Jib.
One last comment. Owen, why did you expect to "piss off everyone"? Your blog is very well reasoned and written. It isn't in anyone's face it is a quality piece of work.
posted by Marcus Aurelius at 8:02 AM
<< Home