Last Thursday was the annual celebration of futility known as the National Day of Prayer. There were events in Cleveland from 9:30am until 2:00pm in Public Square downtown. The Plain Dealer sent a reporter and photographer to cover the event. The report did not estimate how many people showed up (usually a sign that few attended) and the photos seem to confirm that.
You will notice that the photographer was careful to crouch and point the camera upwards at people from close up, which is the way that they hide the lack of people in the background. The single panoramic shot showed hardly anyone, but lots of empty chairs
I hope this is a sign that either people do not approve of public religiosity or they think that such an event is a waste of time.
I would say neither. My family like many others prayed in private. We had a family prayer time that was a little longer than normal before bed time to discuss what the day means to us. My children ages 5 & 9 both appreciated the time we spent talking about the day and what it means to be Christian. A day of thanks for all God has provided for us. Many thanks Mano for talking about the great day.
“The strongest man on earth is he who stands alone(on this blog)” Henrik Ibsen
You’re not ‘standing’ for anything, Dan-o, you’re just oozing around FTB infesting the comment sections with your particular brand of arrogant faithism.
what’s wrong dano? no soldier ass to kiss?
No one is objecting to what you do in your private life. Mano explicitly refers to the display of “pubic religiosity”.
Ing, sorry to hurt your feelings but I did not go out for lunch today. Saved me $10 + any soldiers lunch I would have bought. You can always hope for tomorrow or for sure on Friday. Glad to see you enjoy following my day to day adventures so much. Best wishes my friend.
Our bronze age tribal unit sacrificed a goat.
While it accomplished the same thing your that publicly announced “private” day of prayer did -- that is nothing -- we did enjoy a delicious goat roti.
Afterwards we stoned an adulterous woman to death, beat some of the slaves (but being careful to avoid serious injury to eyes or teeth) and sexually mutilated some of the children, who were unusually quiet afterwards, no doubt reflecting on all that god had provided for them and what it really means to accept absurd truth propositions without the slightest shred of evidence.
Steve, you really write some long winded stories. I hope you enjoyed your festivities for the day. Did your family join in with your tribal unit or was it only your elders? Can’t say it sounds like fun on a holdiday but to each their own. Best wishes my friend & may a Chipotle Burrito be in your future.
Hey Dano, why don’t you explain this statement to us again?
If I have answered this once I have answered it a dozen times. You seem to be taking notes on me so please just repost what I said last time about killing in the name of God. Are you up to the challenge my young avenger?
If you can I will then change your status to 3 Gold Stars. That’s right T-H-R-E-E. Only two to go until the free crock pot. Be well my friend.
OK Dano, here you go.
OK, so you claim you wouldn’t make a judgement call to kill even when supposedly commanded by god… until you’re ‘faced with a dilemma.’
OK… then you post this:
ugh, blockquote fail, the last paragraph is mine.
I also want to add: I’m not your ‘friend’.
I’m not your friend.
If you are asking me if I have ever been asked by God to kill the answer is no. Have I had to make some extreme and courageous decisions during war the answer is yes. I do not wish to exagerate on this as it was along time ago but I can say I made my decision based on the facts presented to me while in the face of danger. The two are not the same if that is what you are trying to say.
It is a little surprising, all other things being equal. But Cleveland seems lazily religious in a cultural fashion, only turning out in force when some religious thing is “threatened”, or for events like the Feast of the Assumption, which is more like the rib burn-off than a religious celebration.
I object to the inculcation of anti-human bronze age dogma on defenseless children.
If this was on a weekday then people were probably too busy working to bother going to this kind of event. I don’t know many christians who are so devout they’ll take a day off to pray just for the sake of praying. I do know a lot who will take days off to go protest at abortion clinics though.
Several members of the Cleveland Freethinkers went down to the NDP event this year. They set up on the periphery of the event space and displayed signs offering a counterpoint to the event. Last year there were only three of us who were there, but we had a few interesting conversations with people who wanted to know what our signs were about and why we were “protesting prayer.” This year many more members were able to attend, unfortunately I wasn’t able to myself.
The 2011 event was pretty sparsely attended as well. We stuck around for a few hours, and I estimate the largest crowd at any one point was maybe 50 -- 80. It was kind of hard to tell who was there for the event and who was passing through the area and stopped to see what was going on. They hold the event in a common thoroughfare for foot traffic downtown, in front of the building that houses a mall and the light rail station. Rather obnoxious, I think.
Those who were the this year said it was pretty thin on attendance again, despite the unseasonably pleasant weather.