Be Not Idle

“The prayer station helps people see, whether it’s 9/11 or Chrysler or GM about to go into bankruptcy, we always share a need for God…. The station becomes a vehicle toward life change, not just offering a prayer.”  - Tom Grassano,  member of Urban Harvest Ministries

Christine Ferretti, a Detroit News reporter, wrote an interesting and well-balanced story. A nonprofit set up a prayer booth in Warren City Hall as a place for unemployed or financially-distressed people who might want prayers or spiritual comfort.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) has raised a hue and cry, but it sounds like Mayor Fouts isn’t giving in.    

As a former resident of Warren, where I had my first apartment, I opine that FFRF isn’t going to win the hearts and minds of residents.  The FFRF is based in Wisconsin, so perhaps their members are unaware that Michigan has been in a one-state recession for several years before the current economic downturn. As an added bonus, the GM Tech Center is in Warren.

Not that I’m trying to support FFRF’s agenda, but strictly as a practical and rational matter, its leadership should take a different tact. They could set up an atheistic alternative support booth for the unemployed and financially-teetering. Heck, they wouldn’t even have to rent it from City Hall – there are plenty of vacant buildings for rent!

Instead, the FFRF is providing a valuable advertisement for Christianity.  The Christians are letting people come to the booth of their own volition. They offer prayer, but they don’t force it on anyone.

In contrast, the FFRF isn’t concerning itself with the needs of the unemployed, let alone those most pathetic losers - those who seek spiritual comfort (aka “superstition”).  They’re more concerned with people who believe as they do, people who might be “uncomfortable” by public displays of (religious) affection.  They have a different take on the Establishment Clause** :

This is ridiculous. Prayer should be private. -  Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president

(Note to my non-Americentric readers: In the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, there is a clause that forbids Congress from establishing a state religion.)