But I guess he doesn’t love me enough to spell my name correctly » « So what else is new?

Prayer poll

Not another one of these — all over the country, towns open their council meetings with pointless prayers, and when someone points out that that is unconstitutional and stupid, they go whining to their local paper or radio station and make an appeal to the Christian sheep in their region. So this is just one out of a multitude, but go ahead, try to wake up the parochial little pissants in Rowlett, Texas.

Should prayer continue before Rowlett City Council meetings?

Yes 69%
No 31%

But I guess he doesn’t love me enough to spell my name correctly » « So what else is new?

Comments

  5. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Funny how an omnipresent being has to be called in by invoking its name. Almost sounds like some type of fantasy game.

  6. Rawnaeris, FREEZE PEACHES says

    45/55

    Unfortunately the attached article is correct that prayer is common in DFW council meetings.

    @doublereed, a church attempting a reverse-phayrngulation is somewhat more likely, as wfaa is a legit news source. The last time we pharyngulated a poll in DFW, it made the news, several different outlets, for being so far the opposite of the expected result. (I’m from the area, so I remember little stuff like that.)

  7. Gvlgeologist, FCD says

    Loved the 1st comment:

    If you do not beleave in God you do not have to pray just shut your mouth and let those that do pray.

    My response was: “So much for the 1st amendment, eh, Acadian?”

    Incidentally, you can **cough**vote more than once**cough**.

  8. thumper1990 says

    BWAhahaha! Yes- 32% No- 68%. Well done, the Horde™!

    Also, Gvlgeologist is correct; refreshing the page allows you to vote again :) I may have voted twice *looks sheepish*.

  10. says

    Now at Yes: 24% – No: 76%
    Total votes are at 516. We stand a good chance of not only swinging this poll, but smashing it out of the park.

  11. thumper1990 says

    I wonder if there’ll be a last minute pushback from… Oh, I dunno… 200 Mums, or something? The Rowlett Empty Chair Conversationalists Committee?

  12. says

    “I am an agnostic atheist. I don’t know if there is a god, but I see no reason to believe in one,” explained Chad Aldridge, who is one of several non-believers on a sort of crusade against the prayers that precede Council confabs.
    “It’s very simple: Just give us a moment of silence. You can pray during that moment of silence or not,” he said.

    Sounds like a simple, even solution that everyone can live with. Those who want to pray, can pray. Those who want to pick their nose, can pick their nose.

    Pastor Shane Pruitt of the Community Connection Church frequently conducts the ritual. He said it’s very generic, and that there’s certainly no design on converting anyone.
    “We’re definitely not preaching one way or the other, and I am definitely not sharing like I would in my church,” the clergyman said.
    Pruitt said he offers up the same kind of prayer you’d hear at Council meetings in many cities. “So I really do not know why it has become an issue here,” he said.
    Pruitt points out that every time the invocation is given, so is a disclaimer — those who don’t believe don’t have to participate.

    Alternative solution: keep the prayer, but have it delivered by someone from the Church of Satan. You can even keep the disclaimer, so the Christians don’t have to participate. Everybody’s happy.
    Right?

  13. David Marjanović says

    Yes 17% 131
    No 83% 627
    Total Votes: 758

    Ye who believe ye have voted twice, consider: when everyone votes at the same time, refreshing will show the vote count going up, regardless of whether your vote was counted.

  16. anuran says

    As always I say “Fine. No problem. Pray away.”
    Only thing, the prayrer has to start with
    “Alahu Akbar
    Bismillāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm
    Al ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn
    Ar raḥmāni r-raḥīm
    Māliki yawmi d-dīn
    Iyyāka naʿbudu wa iyyāka nastaʿīn
    Ihdinā ṣ-ṣirāṭa al-mustaqīm
    Ṣirāṭa al-laḏīna anʿamta ʿalayhim ġayri l-maġḍūbi ʿalayhim walā ḍ-ḍāllīn”

  18. Uncle Ebeneezer says

    Something tells me there will be no “well here’s what you had to say on our poll” follow up by the paper.

  19. otrame says

    Think they would object to “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”?

  20. Emrysmyrddin says

    Otrame, I thought glossalalia was pretty common with the US Christian lot… /snark

  22. eoleen says

    I just voted. The count now stands at…. 9% Yes, 91% No..

    They’ve been PHARYNGULATED!!!!!

  23. says

    @anuran @16:

    Or if you want to go with Buddhism:

    Buddham saranam gacchāmi
    Dhammam saranam gacchāmi
    Sangham saranam gacchāmi
    –
    @otrame @19:

    No summoning Great Old Ones at council meetings. Everybody being reduced to only being capable of nonverbal twitching would further inhibit taking care of business.

  26. Ulysses says

    Everybody being reduced to only being capable of nonverbal twitching would further inhibit taking care of business.

    You say that like it’s a bad thing.

  27. peterh says

    “But . . . but . . . .but . . . everyone else is doing it!” That’s the juvenile comeback every parent of a teenager has heard a thousand times. Just does not cut it. 92% & climbing.

  28. Lofty says

    Vote yes, vote no, what to do? I’ll think I’ll let a 2000 year dead non-existent superhero guide my finger.
    No.
    92%

  29. loopyj says

    @12 – Exactly. And if the pastor from the Church of Satan isn’t available, I’m sure these inclusive, non-denominational and ecumenically-minded Christians would have no problem having an Imam lead the ‘generic prayer’.

  30. rrede says

    93% no, 7% yes.

    Rowlett is just down the road a ways from where we live and work.

    When we came to the little rural university, it was typical to start everything with prayers.

    Faculty protest has mostly shut that down at at the major events in terms of administrators doing it, or bringing in ministers, but there is still spontaneous outbreak of prayer from commencement speakers *sigh*

  31. Lyn M: Necrodunker of death, nothing but net says

    210 to 2825.

    Looks like another one bit the dust.

  35. thumper1990 says

    It now stands at 8% Yes, 92% No, with 4000 votes.

    Yes has gone up a percent! They’re making a comeback, people!