No formal prayers or clergy at 10th anniversary ceremony of 9/11

[naomi24]

Right or wrong?

http://religion.blogs...gy-or-formal-prayers/

Fernado Cabrera a New York City councilman and the pastor of New Life Outreach International church in the Bronx, said he was "Utterly disappointed and surprised," over the decision not to include any clergy in the ceremony. He added that at his time at Ground Zero he "saw it first hand, the power of prayer".

I wonder how many prayers were offered by the doomed passengers of those planes as they were flown into the towers?

None of them worked.

[MarkRae]

I couldn't agree more! Reductio ad absurdum will tell you that none of this would ever have happened if there had been no organised religion, nor the crusades, the troubles in Ireland and the Middle East etc...

[mibn2cweus]

//I wonder how many prayers were offered by the doomed passengers of those planes as they were flown into the towers?

None of them worked.//

I would appear that if 'God' does indeed answer prayer, it was the prayers of those bent on death and destruction 'He' favoured on that fateful day. Go figure . . .


Welcome back to the sty, Naomi. As before, I hope your pearls do not go unappreciated.

[sandyRoe]

There would have to have been an Iman there for a full set. It was thoughtful of the powers that be to invite none rather than leave one out.

[mibn2cweus]

^^^ 'It' would appear . . . I missed out the 't' in all my excitement. :o)

[boxtops]

I commented about this earlier today, Naomi - I was listening to Edward Sturton on "Sunday" early this morning, and it was discussed that the decision was made to invite no religious representatives at all, to save stirring up unrest.
I guess it would be hard to include everyone of faith who might have been affected (including the Green Orthodox congregation whose church was destroyed during 9-11 and is yet to be rebuilt), but there would be those who would feel that to have all three Abrahamic faiths represented would be inappropriate.
I don't think it's inappropriate, an Imam could have represented the feelings of millions of Muslims who abhor what happened - but that was what was decided by the powers that be, who organised the event.

[wildwood]

The tragedy showed yet again how unfounded all religions are. The reasons for 9/11 spouted by faiths ranges from the ridiculous to the offensive.

[emmie]

Peoples can use any excuse to fight one another, religion is just one.

[keyplus90]

I believe few prayers might have been answered here by not getting religion involved. After all you do not have to be a religious person but you might still have wishes in your heart and God knows what is in your heart. And then wishes are like prayers.

In simple words God listens to the wishes of everyone, including the ones who do not believe in him.

[Tangent]

"Free will" anyone???

[RATTER15]

Keyplus, Who's prayers was he answering when the planes hit those towers!!

You are totally deluded and sick!!!

[wildwood]

Yes keyplus. It seems the last prayers of the terrorists were indeed answered. They couldn't have wished for a better result.

Maybe their religion was better than the passenger's!?

Oh no... that's right, the thousands of victim's families should be grateful that the almighty used them to test their faith.

[MsEVP]

Good Morning, Naomi, nice to see you again.

Interesting thread you`ve started here and I have to say that I do agree with MarkRae. However, even without organised religion, this being the physical world (dimension) that it is, there could always have been deluded souls bent on their own agenda for whatever reason.

[naomi24]

Mibs, my thoughts precisely - and thanks for the welcome. Grunt. :o)

Keyplus, //In simple words God listens to the wishes of everyone, including the ones who do not believe in him.//

Since you cannot possibly know whether or not a god exists, and far less whether he listens to anyone's wishes, that's rather grand statement. If he does exist and if, as you claim, he does indeed listen to the wishes of everyone, he certainly consistently ignores those who need his attention - and action - the most. Some loving god!!

Tangent, free will wasn't an option for the passengers and crews.

Hi Tina, nice to see you too. I hope you're well.

[nightmare]

So, people who pray for something are doing so in the hope that their prayers will cause God to change his (her ?) actions in some way.
They are even more deluded if they have the presumption to believe this.
Free will (even for God) and an omniscient, omnipotent God are completely incompatible.

[naomi24]

I agree Nightmare. If, as we're told, this god predetermines everything and knows what is going to happen before it happens, he can change nothing. Therefore prayer is futile.

[nescio]

It is good to see you back, naomi

[naomi24]

Thanks nescio. :o)

[LogicA]

I don't know why people here think you are a good respondent to serious questions...
Just recently in my field I came across a man even more an example of your belief that prayer is idiocy. He is a convert, died of cancer, prayed tons, and left this wonderful testimony on his company's website.

http://www.labanswer.com/Bob_Patterson.asp
Blessed after Cancer ©
If God would have stopped my Cancer from coming,
Would I have focused on Him or continued on life’s humming?
If I was never sick and always well,
Would I keep Christ to myself, or would I tell?
If we never knew we were going to die,
Would we listen to God, or believe the lie?
God says all things are temporal and will soon fade away,
But in Him you can stay even until that very last day!
So I am truly blessed, though sick with Cancer,
I am closer to God and we know He is the answer!
I pray in our journey we always see God’s hand,
Though we have heartache and sickness, these He never planned.
These bad things began so long ago,
They are in our system from our head to our toe.
We’ve adapted to this system through envy and strife,
Believing the lie that this is the only life!
God’s plan is better, eternal life indeed;
There is nothing for you to do, if you will only heed!
On the cross Christ said, “It is Finished!”
Do you believe?

[bibblebub]

Humphrey Bogart said it better "I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis."

[LogicA]

MarkRae does not understand what reduction ad absurdum is. But what gets me is how he excuses people, holds no one accountable. If you kill someone in Ireland or the Middle East and it's murder then religion is just a cover. Shame on people like him who pretend to be following some higher standard but will excuse atrocities because they were under the influence of religioni. An evil person is an evil person, period. Posing as religious only makes it worse.

And what a kind face.