How was he blindsided? Did they hold him down and force the Jesus right into him?

They had a prayer. Work places don't have to be secular.

Illuminati
Posted via RS Mobile

It is a private ie invite only event right?

Their event, their rules.

If you don't like it, you can walk out; I assume no one put a gun to your head?

Next time say "and most of all, we thank you for fast cars" :lawl:

Completely inappropriate and of very poor taste in my books.

By refusing to hang your head you looked like an asshat. Just stfu and go with it. You atheists are worse than catholics, always trying to prove your point.
Posted via RS Mobile

Saying grace is annoying for athiests.

Thanks to the farmers, the vegetable pickers, the slaughterhouse workers, the truck drivers, the delivery people, the grocery store owners, the grocery store cashiers, the people who made the plastic bags, petroleum engineers and gas station owners, people who make stoves, people who made cutlery, the napkin making people, Jesus the mexican farmer, the people who delivers electricity, the cooks, whew.. it just gets to be a mouthful.

Pretty jealous of those who can simply attribute their food to a single deity.

When I was a lad, I was raised Christian (Anglican to be specific); as I got older, I kind of outgrew it since there was nobody who could really answer my faith-based questions, and everyone basically said "You just have to believe". Very annoying.

As I entered my late teens and early twenties I got very frustrated with a lot of the 'godliness' that we keep in our modern culture despite it supposedly being secular. I used to get offended at things like the JWs who would come around and on the back of their pamphlet it said "We said a prayer for you before we knocked at your door" and all that. I got all indignant; "Who says that your prayers will help me? Who says we believe in anything even remotely close to the same thing?"

But. I've mellowed out in my old age. I started thinking about my hypocrisy and double standards regarding religion. When it came to non-christian rites, I viewed what they were doing as a sign of respect; they were willing to extend their cultural values to me. Whereas I found Christians just being pushy--but this was my own internal bias.

Saying a prayer doesn't constitute evangelism. Constantly telling you that you can't be a good person without going to church does. When it comes time for someone to say a prayer, or ask for a moment of contemplation or what have you, then just acknowledge that this time is important for them. There's no need for you to participate in it at all, just acknowledge their desire for reassurance or what have you.

People who attend the church pay a tithe, ie. A donation to the church.
This supports the church expenses. Everything is by donation.
At my church, some people donate between $1-$500 every Sunday.

Edit: I realized I didn't answer your question. For new churches, organizations fund raise money or the new church is an upgrade from an older church. All churches rely of donations from people. Though, Catholic churches get money from the Vatican. Somee of the bigger churches in thegvrr have huge budgets and collect tons of money in tithes.
Posted via RS Mobile

Churches are businesses. They're handled and operated as one. Some are independent while others are apart of a conglomerate of churches as one big organization. Fundraising and donations are the most common forms of receiving money as well as personal sponsorships given by individual members affiliated with the church.

I have a few religious friends, and they say generally devoted people will donate 5-10% of their income to the church.

rofl, grow a thicker skin.

Ever watch NASCAR on TV? Last thing before "Gentleman, Start Your Engines" is the anthem and a prayer over the PA system for 100,000+ people (and however many millions more don't mute the sound on TV). Don't think I've heard many complaints about it or people being "offended" by it. Or maybe they're just afraid of pissing off the Jesus-lovin', shotgun-totin' good ol' boys.

Ever been to a CFL game? Right after every game, the players from both teams gather for a group prayer in the middle of the field, usually upwards of half of them. Not once have I ever heard of anyone watching being "offended" by this, finding it "inappropriate", or out-of-place, despite being about as public as you can get.

This. It's a simple thing: you're in someone else's "house", you follow their rules/procedures/rituals. They want you to take off your shoes at the door, nobody is FORCING you do - you do it out of respect. They want to say grace before dinner, it's not gonna kill you to respect it.

The thing is, pretty much all religions have prayers of thanksgiving, believe in at least one God, respect Jesus as an important figure and teacher if nothing else... and oddly, most other religions are more respectful of Christianity than Christianity is of them. There's nothing stopping those of other religions in a situation like this from offering their own silent prayers to their own God(s). For that matter, there's nothing stopping the atheists from taking advantage of the 15s to go over their shopping list for later, or do some mental gymnastics, or whatever else they want to occupy themselves with.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb...96tlo1_500.jpg

I would not say churches are a business - some people on the forums might take it too literally. Businesses are usually driven by profit; buy low sell high.

Not for profit organizations , what churches are categorized as - have the goal of breaking even and must spend XX% of "donations received" on charitable activities.

oh man, don't kid yourself. religion is big business.

the only religion that should exist out there should be common sense. there is no god only our perceived reality and reality itself. You are allowed to believe whatever you want and express it wherever you want even if you are told you cannot. It is an expression of the freedom we have had since we were born.

...Isn't that Catholic church worth BILLIONS of dollars!?

I know it's a far-fetched example, but it's TRUTH. My religion included, relies on large donations to run their operations. There are political and financial motivations behind all these institutions. There's nothing wrong with that, in theory, but it's important to recognize that is how churches are run rather than thinking that they're built and run solely on the kindness of people's hearts. Priests get paid, housed and compensated for their services, infrastructures needs to be built to support the growing number of people and a need for expansion costs a lot of money. This is how businesses work.

Ticket to Heaven - Dire Straits

"To the man with the diamond ring."

DIRE STRAITS LYRICS - Ticket To Heaven

Yup, just look up Aga Khan.

I never get offended by that stuff. I just find it interesting. I go to MRP a lot and have never witnessed anything like it. That's all.

merry Christmas


are you offended by that as well? or would you prefer me to say "happy holidays" while you unwrap your presents on Christmas day? (I know, not everyone celebrates Christmas, but ill bet 90%+ of the people here do)

isn't it a day(originally) where you celebrate Jesus' "birthday"? I dunno...but it seems pretty hypocritical to me that you can celebrate and take part in that, yet find a prayer at a dinner inappropriate..

^
to add on that...

I think people are forgetting they live in north america. which was basically founded by jesus christ himself after he got kicked outta england.

we live in a christian dominant culture.

if this were asia, you'd be expected to tolerate taoist/buddhist rituals.

if this were the middle east, you'd be expected to tolerate islamic rituals.

but no... this is north america. you are expected to tolerate christian rituals.

like stewie says... you celebrate christmas. you take easter holidays. etc.

you live on a continent paved by christians.



i aint no christian lover, don't get me wrong. I think they're the biggest cult on the planet.

but i have to respect the fact that I live in their land.


or else soon, what, the indians, the chinese, and all immigrants will start to bitch when we sing oh canada.
u can sure as hell bet, many immigrants here don't consider themselves "canadian". they don't give two shits about singing oh canada. but they still stand up when its time to "sing".

when its time to "say a prayer". just look down at your feet and like others have said, think about what you're going to jerk off to on xhamster later that night.


it's just about respect.
just cuz you're an italian mobster doesn't mean you can't respect triad syndicate traditions right?

you might not agree with them, but you're in their territory, surrounded by them.



random out of date fact:
#1 land owner in the world is the catholic church.

#2 is... drum roll... mcdonalds.

in fact, mcdonalds could be #1 in the world now.

Agree! How do you think church pay for all the maintance, property tax, bills. Why do you think they charge thousands of dollars when you want to perferm a cermeory inside a church? Or take donations every Sunday?

As for the OP. I would think is inapporiate thae these women would stare down at you. I am is not with or against any regilon and there are friends who beleive in God and try to get me to convert. Simply I just told them I am not interested and most of them do respect that.

You're absolutely right. I hate preachy Christians too. But you're far more likely to get this attitude from other Christian denominations (IE: Jehovans, Evangelicals, etc) than from Catholics.

These "Christians" didn't respect the fact that Native Americans were on this land first.

It doesn't matter that they 'paved' the way or whatever you said.

Things change. I fully support people standing up rituals like saying grace being mocked for not holding the head down and saying 'Amen'. To me it's the same as fighting the "Christian" definition of marriage.

We got rid of prayers in school, are you suggesting that we bring it back for respect? Since according to you we are 'surrounded' by Christians?


Please.