---------------------- Forwarded by Eric Bass/HOU/ECT on 06/29/2000 03:01 PM 
---------------------------


"Larry W. Bass" <lwbthemarine@bigplanet.com> on 06/29/2000 02:48:25 PM
To: peggy dan maynard <peggy@airmail.net>, Pam Day <pkjday@yahoo.com>, 
michael don ferguson <mfe252@mail.airmail.net>, "Marsters, Linda" 
<lmarsters@fortbend.k12.tx.us>, Julie & Mark Stevens <JUMACK@airmail.net>, 
joni drude <jfdr@chevron.com>, jason <jason.bass2@compaq.com>, "Henry C. 
McGill" <hmcgill-satx@worldnet.att.net>, gail stoops <Ggstops@aol.com>, Frank 
Marsters <marstersco@earthlink.net>, eric preston bass <Eric.Bass@enron.com>, 
christine marsters <wxranch@airmail.net>, Bill Daniel <bdaniel@pflash.com>, 
beth dahlberg <dhlbrg@aol.com>, Barbara Bass <xwb2@flash.net>, Andrea Lyles 
<andrearonnie@cs.com>, ryan darr <fastfeet15@aol.com>, richard and marty darr 
<Rdarr@flash.net>, lauren darr <L2giveJ@aol.com>
cc:  
Subject: Fw: When in Rome



?
----- Original Message -----  
From: Jack Rains  
To: jmrtexas@swbell.net 
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2000 7:45 AM
Subject: When in Rome

?

Another view. I suspect we  have not heard the last of this debate

?

JR

?




?

?

Boy, if this ain't the  truth...

> > This just about sums it up!!
> >
> >  The following article ran in the Times Record News, Wichita  Falls,
Texas:
> >
> > When in Rome, Pray As........
>  > By: NICK GHOLSON
> >
> > Some people, it seems, get  offended way too easily.? I mean, isn't that
what all this prayer  hullabaloo is all about - people getting offended?
> >
> > At  least that's what I hear the courts and the ACLU telling us.? I am
not  easily offended.? Outside of getting run off the road by a Mack  truck,
nothing much offends me.? Daddy and Mama gave little Nicky a  sense of humor.
> >
> > Some people, however, either weren't  born with a sense of humor or they
lost it in a crap game.?? These  people are still in the minority, but those
of us in the majority are always  tippy-toeing around, trying to make sure we
don't step on the toes or hurt  the feelings of the humorless. And you can
bet there's a lawyer standing on  every corner making sure we don't.
> >
> > Take this prayer  deal.? It's absolutely ridiculous.? Some atheist goes
to a high  school football game, hears a kid say a short prayer before the
game and gets  offended.? So he hires a lawyer and goes to court and asks
somebody to  pay him a whole bunch of money for all the damage done to him.
You would have  thought the kid kicked him in the crotch.? Damaged for life
by a  30-second prayer?
> >
> > Am I missing something here? I don't  believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not
going to sue somebody for singing a  Ho-Ho-Ho song in December.? I don't
agree with Darwin, but I didn't go  out and hire a lawyer when my high school
teacher taught his theory of  evolution.
> >
> > Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness  will not be endangered
because someone says a 30-second prayer before a  football game. So what's
the big deal?? It's not like somebody is up  there reading the entire book of
Acts.
> >
> > They're just  talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant
safety to the  players on the field and the fans going home from the game.
> >
>  > "But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue. Yes, and this is  the
United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles And  we
are in the Bible Belt.? According to our very own phone book,  Christian
churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1.? So what  would you
expect - somebody chanting Hare Krishna?? If I went to a  football game in
> > Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish  prayer.? If I went to a
soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a  Muslim prayer.? If I went
to a ping pong match in China, I would expect  to hear someone pray to
Buddha.
> >
> > And I wouldn't be  offended.? It wouldn't bother me one bit. When in
Rome...
>  >
> > "But what about the atheists?" is another argument.? What  about them?
Nobody is asking them to be baptized.? We're not going to  pass the
collection plate.? Just humor us for 30 seconds.? If  that's asking too much,
bring a walkman or a pair of ear plugs.? Go to  the bathroom.? Visit? the
concession stand.? Call your  lawyer.
> >
> > Unfortunately, one or two will make that call.  One or two will tell
thousands what they can and cannot do.? I don't  think a short prayer at a
football game is going to shake the world's  foundations.? Nor do I believe
that not praying will result in more  serious injuries on the field or more
fatal car crashes after the game.?  In fact, I'm not so sure God would even
> > be at all these games if He  didn't have to be.? That's just one of the
downsides of omnipresence. If  God really liked sports, the Russians would
never have won a single gold  medal, New York would never play in a World
Series and Deon Sanders' toe  would be healed by now.
> >
> > Christians are just sick and  tired of turning the other cheek while our
courts strip us of all our  rights.? Our parents and grandparents taught us
to pray before eating,  to pray before we go to sleep.? Our Bible tells us
just to pray without  ceasing.? Now a handful of people and their lawyers are
telling us to  cease praying.? God, help us.
> >
> > And if that last  sentence offends you - well............just sue  me.
>
>