kristoff wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:51 am
Thanks or not, it was still wrong, even then.
Yes, it was wrong, and I wasn't - in any way - excusing it.
I'm from a small East Texas town. We had a small Catholic church - I knew one kid that was Catholic - and we had one Jewish family, man, wife, and son - a couple years older than I.
The father was a doctor, which is probably why they were tolerated. Still, it was something whispered about, "They're Jews," like they were somehow tainted. Hell, the first time I heard it, overheard probably in a conversation between my grandmother and another lady, I had no idea what a Jew was. From the way they said it, I knew, however, it wasn't something I wanted to be.
Most people were either Baptists - the church to which I went - or Methodists. The Catholic kid was one of my best friends, but we all thought his church was weird.
Through high school, I went to church every Sunday - had no choice, my parents made me go, even though they never went. I didn't think anything about the school prayers, because I'd grown up in a society permeated by the Christian religion. I was probably a senior in high school before I began questioning the validity of the god of the Bible. I remember asking a friend, "Do you really believe in God?"
He said, "It's safer to believe in God." (or something to that effect).
Even then, I questioned whether that was a good reason to believe in God. I joined the Army after high school, and I seldom after went to church. By the time I was out of the Army, I no longer believed.
I remember several times, while I was in the Army, that we were either pressured to attend religious events - always Christian - or were led in prayers by someone in authority. This was a long time ago, before school prayers were outlawed.
That a commander today, would pressure his troops to attend a religious concert - why did they even allow a religious concert? - is wrong. He should be shown the nearest exit; it should be a career ending move.
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