Thanks for dropping in! Take a load off and relax for a few minutes before you elbow your way back out onto the home page madness. You want some coffee while we chat? Sugar's over there. Sorry I'm outta cream. You all settled? Okay, here's the deal. I'm hashing over a situation that has me sorta stymied. Wierdly enough (at least for me), it has to do with baseball. Little League to be exact. And prayer.
Our eight-year-old son is in his second year of little league. Same folks as last year running the thing. Same board members, same coaches, same kids. What's changed? Prayer. I don't remember a single instance last year where prayer/religion was an issue.
But on opening day a few weeks ago, amidst all of the chaos, one of the board members (unsure of his title. He may be the prez.) said, "Let's bow for a moment in prayer." Um, well . . . okay. I guess. I wasn't offended at first as much as it took me completely by surprise. Then I was offended. It was one of those moments that makes you fling your eyebrows up to your hairline and then instantly pull them down tight.
Now, those of you who've run into me around these parts, especially the threads discussing religion, know that I'm not anti-God. To the contrary, the reasons that I'm a Democrat stem directly from the religious tenets with which I was raised. Dad and grandpa were both Methodist ministers. I was raised in the church. And I believe that anyone who wants to pray should pray. They should pray in their houses. They should pray in their backyards. They should pray in Pastor Dan's "Brothers and Sisters" threads. They should pray in their cars and in their churches and in otherwise empty elevators. Should they pray at opening day of Little League? No. I really don't think so. Little League is not an inherently religious institution.
"Neither is the United States Senate, Hon, but they pray regularly! Have their own chaplain and everything!"
"Hmmmmm, yeah, thanks for pointing that out, I guess..."
Sorry about that. My husband. He loves playing devil's advocate. And he does make some interesting points sometimes.
The word God does appear in the Little League pledge. And they've gotten in some trouble over it. But most teams don't recite the pledge and most people don't even know that the pledge exists. Here it is:
"I trust in God. I love my country and will respect it's laws. I will play fair and strive to win. But win or lose, I will always do my best."
People have taken issue with it at times. To me it seems mostly like just another leftover from the duck-and-cover days. I suppose it's disengenuous not to take issue with the pledge if I'm going to get wadded up about all of this, but as I said, we don't recite the pledge. If we did, I'd be hammering on that, too. Anyway, there's more:
Here's the other part of my tiny little tempest. At the game last Wednesday evening, the wife of Mr. Shall We Pray asked if I'd give her a hand with the concession stand. "Sure!" I said. We started hauling the year's supplies in, firing stuff up, she stops and turns on the radio, fiddles with the dial and finally lands on some guy talking. I wonder instantly if it's a Christian station, but I don't audibly suck in my breath until the announcer says, "Welcome back to Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson!" Uh huh.
Just then another one of the board members comes walking through bringing in some supplies, moving things around and she remarks, "Is that Focus on the Family?" "Yeah!" replies Mrs. Shall We Pray. "Oh." says board member #2, nodding and smiling as she walks out.
And suddenly, even as a person of faith, I felt eerily outnumbered and surrounded. James Dobson droned on. He was easy to ignore. What I couldn't shake was the knowledge that I was in the minority and that to raise a flag over this situation would be extremely divisive.
I hate confrontation. But I don't like the fact that these otherwise wonderful people assume that James Dobson is acceptable listening at a Little League game. But I really don't want to become "that satanist hussy that hates God and eats kittens" either. But if someone doesn't stop them - uh - they won't stop. But...
I like these people. They're kind and funny and dedicated. They're generous and responsible and they're buggin' me.
So, take the poll. Whaddaya think?