Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Prayer at Medal of Honor Ceremony -- WHY?????

The Medal of Honor is rarely awarded to someone whose bravery didn't cost them their life.  In this case, it cost the soldier a limb.  He deserves the honor and recognition of the award, but I don't see why they needed to begin the ceremony with a prayer (video). It's followed by a presidential speech.  Why not start with a generic speech by a general, and then the president could bring up all the points the chaplain worked into his prayer, without the rhetoric of "God" blessing the nation and making us special blah blah blah

The chaplain starts by crediting God but then segues to the guy's honor and courage, then goes back to asking God for blessings again.  At the end, he quotes Calvin Coolidge (not a Biblical "author"): "A nation that forgets defenders itself will be forgotten..." and then follows with a very Christian ending "in thy holy name, Amen."

The man's colleagues were saved by his bravery and quick thinking, not by prayer or a higher power, or else they'd be awarding the Medal of Honor to Zombie Jebus instead.  They were honoring a PERSON and they didn't need to sully his accomplishment by referencing an invisible sky daddy, even if they believed there was a sky daddy behind it.

It cheapens the award to make him share the credit with a God, and it denigrates other soldiers to call upon God for continued safety instead of the bravery of the soldiers themselves.  If that's not reason enough to eliminate prayer during government ceremonies, I don't know what is.

6 comments:

Avicenna said...

I don't mind it as much. If the person recieving the medal wants a prayer then there is no reason to not have one.

It should be upto the recepient. I wouldn't want one on mine.

A

Anonymous said...

Just another bauble with a pretty ribbon attached. Millions of selfless acts are committed, every day, without recognition of any kind. It impresses the worldly mind, though, that their sacrifice is actually acknowledged and appreciated, when it isn't. Human beings are chattel to their governments - livestock, nothing more - to be traded, slaughtered at will.

This kind of thing would naturally impress you, LA. You're easily led and manipulated by a system that would delete your ass in a second if you ever posed a serious threat (LOL!) to it... if boring it to death could be considered a threat!

Anonymous said...
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Avicenna said...

Actually to hold a medal is a pretty big deal. The entire point is it is recognising an incredibly brave act either of self sacrifice or of valour in combat.

Please don't detract from it, you are merely a bystander. Trust me it takes a lot to respond in an emergency and it takes even more to place yourself at risk.

LadyAtheist said...

Reminder: Please don't feed the troll. I left one post up because Avicenna replied to it. Please ignore any further posts by him/it/her.

Robert the Skeptic said...

Yeah I doubt if many soldiers leave their Kevlar back at base and instead pray that bullets will bounce off them because they're bathed in god's grace.